SOFIA – Today, January 8th, the U18 national women's team started its World Championship campaign in Division 2 Group B in the Bulgarian capital Sofia. They faced-off their first game in prime time against host country Bulgaria.
During the first period, both teams kept the zero on the scoreboard. However, the Belgians grabbed two penalties - too many players and hooking (Van Hoof #14) - but through effective penalty killing they prevented the Bulgarians from taking full advantage of their power play. The Belgians also got an extra chance through penalty time for an illegal hit by the Bulgarian Georgieva (#19), but they also failed to convert the power play into a goal opportunity.
During the second period, the Belgian Blades continued to keep up the pressure on the Bulgarian net. Just before the end of the period, the Belgian girls got another chance after Nikova (#23) was sent to the penalty bench for yet another illegal hit. However, goalie Nedyalkova (#1) keeps the Bulgarian nets safe and can block another hard shot just before the buzzer.
In the final period, both teams put everything on the line. With 2 Bulgarians on the penalty bench, the Belgians again get opportunities and the pressure on the Bulgarian goal is kept high. However, goalie Nedyalkova keeps her team in the game and blocks all Belgian shots. Some nice strategic plays from the Belgians follow, but the Bulgarian goalie holds the fort. A Belgian break-away is also stopped. Hence, the third period also ends undecided, and the game goes into Overtime.
Also in OT, the Bulgarian goalie performs well. But after constant pressure, Camille Sommerschuh (#18) manages to score on an assist from Louise Paulissen (#17).
"In the heat of the moment, we got the win in overtime. We have a determined team," said coach Tim Vos. "The girls were super tense, and this also showed in the 1st period. Further down the game we got more of an upper hand, but the finishing touch didn't happen. Our opponent had a strong goalie between the posts. Our shots did not impress her that much. The Overtime proved that goals had to be scored by playing off the goalie or through the rebound."
Final score: 1-0 (0-0; 0-0; 0-0; 1-0) (OT)
MVP Team BEL: Jirne Wagemans (#8)
Results & Game Schedule
08.01 – 19:00 - BEL vs. BUL: 1-0
09.01 – 15:30 – BEL vs. ISL
11.01 – 12:00 – BEL vs. RSA
13.01 – 19:00 - NZL vs. BEL
14.01 – 19:00 – MEX vs. BEL