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News updated: January 20, 2012 |
| 20/01/2012 - SPONSORSHIP PACKAGES FOR THE NATIONAL TEAM |
Support the National Team and help in the effort to win
a medal at the World Championships Div.III that will be
held in Erzurum, Turkey from 15-21/04/2012.
If
you are interested in helping in this effort and become
part of the success, contact us at
sponsors@icehockey.gr or
hisf@otenet.gr and
you will be informed about the Federation’s sponsorship
packages.
The Federation has a wide range of
sponsorship packages to enable all those interested in
supporting our National Team to take part!
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| 13/01/2012 - WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Div. III
2012 in TURKEY |
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| 28/12/2011 -
New Coucil and new hope for HISF |
 Following the sudden death of the president of the Hellenic Ice Sports Federation (HISF) and the resignations of important council members, it was imperative that elections needed to be held.
The new members of the Board of Directors are:
President: George Markouizos, Vice Presidents: Phaidon Kaloterakis and Dimitris Kalyvas,
General Secretary: Michael Syrellis, Deputy Gen. Secr.: George Lianos,
Treasurer: Elias Karidis and Deputy Treasurer: George Gkelntis.
Responsible for all matters of ice hockey in Greece is Dimitris Kalyvas.
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| 08/12/2011 -
THE NATIONAL ICE HOCKEY TEAM 2010 |
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| 08/12/2011 -
THANK YOU...FOR MAKING US PROUD |
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| 15/10/2011 -
Sudden death of HISF President |
 The
President of the Hellenic Ice Sports Federation Christos
Chatziathanasiou died this morning from a heart attack at the
age of 60.
Deepest condolences to his family and closest
people from all the players and the coaching staff of Iptameni
Athens and the 2010 National Team.
Chatziathanasiou passes away
Founded and chaired Ice Sports
Federation in Greece since 1986
iihf.com |
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| 01/07/2011 -
REMEMBERING THE GOOD OL' DAYS |
Articles that were posted on
the official sites of the
International Ice Hockey
Federation (iihf.com) and
the National Hockey League
(nhl.com) mentioning the
efforts made by the players
to save their sport but also
the success of the National
Team without having a proper
ice rink in Greece.
Great and proud
moments of Greek Ice Hockey:
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Greek hockey gets
back in the game
(nhl.com) |
20/02/2008 |
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Greeks going to
Luxembourg
(iihf.com) |
17/02/2008 |
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Impressive Greek
comeback
(iihf.com) |
16/02/2008 |
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Greek hockey -
against all odds
(iihf.com)
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06/12/2007 |
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Team Greece winning
uphill battle for
survival
(nhl.com) |
28/09/2006 |
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A few quotes
from the articles:
NHL.com:
"The members of
Team Greece have
pulled off one of
the most remarkable
comebacks in
international hockey
history. After a
nine-year absence
from international
competition, they've
made a successful
return. Even more
notably, the team
has fought to
preserve a sport
that was on the
brink on extinction
and given it hope
for the future".
IIHF.com:
"If there was a gold
medal awarded for
perseverance and
determination to
overcome severe
hardships, the
national hockey team
of Greece would be a
richly deserving
winner. The story of
the players’
inspiring fight to
keep their team
together – and keep
the sport of ice
hockey alive in
their homeland – has
all the makings of a
Hollywood film".
(and we add: or of a
Greek Disaster...) |
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| 18/04/2011 -
REMEBERING THE GOOD TIMES! |
| Silver medal winners at the World Championship Div.III... just one
year ago. |
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| 18/02/2011 -
IT WAS A GOOD RUN...FOR THE BEST NATIONAL TEAM |
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| 24/02/2011 -
SETTING THE BAR HIGH |
 The
President of the Hellenic Ice Sports Federation's
decision to dismantle last year's National Team, despite
the enormous success of the silver medal won at the
World Championship 2010 DivIIIA which was held in
Luxemburg, and to replace the best athletes with
customer-players, has without a doubt closed the chapter
of the
Men’s NATIONAL Ice Hockey TEAM 2008-2010
for good, since hardly any players from last year's team
will appear on the roster of the new "National Team",
even though the players still have alot to offer.
Icehockey.gr, wanting to honor this team, remembers
some of the accomplishments and also some historical
facts in order for the younger in age to learn and the
older to remember.
- Panagiotis Efkarpidis and
Yannis Tilios have won bronze medal in
1992 as players and a silver medal in 2010 as coaches of
Hellenic National Men's Ice Hockey Team.
- Orestis Tilios,
Yannis Ziakas and
Kostas Lembessis have won both National
Team medals as players, bronze in 1992 and silver in
2010.
- Orestis Tilios,
Yannis Ziakas,
Kostas Lembessis and Dimitris
Kalyvas were members of the First National Team
created in 1989 and took part in the World Junior
Championship Pool C held in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.
- Orestis Tilios and
Yannis Ziakas have the most appearances in the
Men's Nationals having played in all Men's World
Championships (7 in total)
- Dimitris Kalyvas is top
scorer in the history of the Greek National ice hockey
team with 24 goals and 20 assists having played in 6
World Championships. He was top scorer of the Greek team
in the 2008, 2009 and 2010 World Championships.
Specifically, in the 2008 and 2010 he was overall top
scorer of the World Championships as well.
- Also for the 2008, 2009 and 2010 World
Championships, Dimitris was followed by
John Koufis with 13 goals and 7
assists,
Nikos Papadopoulos with 4 goals and 16
assists and
George Kalyvas with 10 goals and 9
assists.
- Libor Ploutsis was named Most
Valuable Goalkeeper of the 2009 World Championships and
although not being chosen as MVP goalie of the 2010
World Championship, he was by far the best goalie of the
tournament, having a 94,44% SVS (Save percentage on
shots on goal) with 5 goals in 90 shots.
- Nikos Papadopoulos was, based
on statistics, the best defense of the 2008 and 2010
World Championships, having 4 goals and 16 assists.
- Themistoklis Lambridis was
the Most Improved Player of the National Team during the
past years, scoring the winning goal against Luxembourg
that gave the silver medal to the National Team.
Together with
Alexandros Valsamas-Rallis and
Iason Pachos
they formed the "young line" (aka "Cone Heads") which
gave hope to the veterans of the National Team, despite
the lack of an ice rink in Greece, there was a bright
future for the team.
Of course none of this would have been possible
if the other players didn't also contribute to create
this great
TEAM. George Fiotakis, Lazaros
Efkarpidis, Panagiotis Iatridis, Nikos Chatzigiannis,
Giorgos Kouleles, Diogenis Souras and Kyriakos Adamidis.
Together with the rest they form a strong group of
people that came together under difficult conditions
with one goal in mind,
SUCCESS!
As a team they managed to be in the top positions in almost all
categories of the team statistics. At the 2010 World
Championship, Greece was in second place in Scoring
Efficiency, while in Penalty Killing, Powerplay and
Goalkeeping it was in first place.
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE PLAYERS OF THE
2010 GREEK NATIONAL TEAM, THE BEST TEAM IN GREEK ICE
HOCKEY HISTORY:
Giorgos Kalyvas, Orestis Tilios, Panagiotis
Iatridis, Kostas Lembessis, Lazaros Efkarpidis, Giorgos
Kouleles, Themistoklis Lambridis, Alexandros
Valsamas-Rallis, Iasonas Pachos, Giorgos Fiotakis,
Spyros-Libor Ploutsis, Nikos Papadopoulos, Ioannis
Ziakas, Diogenis Souras, Ioannis Koufis, Nikos
Chatzigiannis, Kyriakos Adamidis and Dimitris Kalyvas.
We would like to specially thank the 2010
NATIONAL TEAM HEAD COACH IGOR APOSTOLIDIS,
for his valuable support and guidance. Igor, in addition
to being the coach, is also the best professional player
who ever played on the Greek Men's National Team.
Also special thanks to coaches
Panagiotis Efkarpidis and
Mirel Dumitrake for their contribution
over the years since everybody knows that almost all the
players of the National team learned the tricks of
hockey from them.
In closing we'd like to mention a few quotes
that inspire the Hellenic National Ice Hockey Team:
«TOGETHER we stand, TOGETHER we fall,
TOGETHER we win, and winners take ALL»
«Coming together is a beginning, keeping
together is progress and working together is success»
«Teamwork is the fuel that allows common people
to attain uncommon results»
«You measure the size of the accomplishment by
the obstacles you had to overcome to reach your goals»
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| 16/02/2011 -
GAME OVER FOR IPTAMENI AND "SILVER" NATIONAL TEAM |
 The
New Year reserved an unpleasant surprise for the players
of Iptameni Athens. The schedule of the 2011 Greek
Championship was announced and the Greek Champions were
not on it. The reason was that the president and members
of Iptameni decided to suspend operations of the club
for financial reasons. This decision literally kept the
3 time back-to-back Greek Champions
outside the Greek League.
The problems all started
early on due to the financial difficulties that the club
was facing that had a major impact on the players since
they were asked to cover the high training costs at the
Athens Heart ice rink since the players of Iptameni
requested 2 and 3 practices a week in order to prepare
for the World Championships as well. The policy of the
ice rink was "the more you
want to practice, the more you have pay",
basically the National Team was treated like any other
club in the Greek league, a position that was also
shockingly supported by the federation with a letter
sent to the Iptameni and National Team players in early
December. The players of iptameni and the National Team
didn't understand why funds were required as they were
always led to believe the government had provided
adequate funding to the federation. Additionally they
were also told this funding was also in response to the
continued improvement of the National Team results at
the World Championships since its return to the IIHF in
2008. Absent any solid and truthful reasoning why funds
were now needed, the players chose not to cope with the
new economic reality, and this resulted in the
cancellation of all Iptameni practices and National Team
practices since mid-December. The board members of the
club and the board members of the federation didn't care
enough to find a solution in order for the players of
Iptameni, who are also members of the National Team, to
continue practicing and therefore practices were halted.
It seems that the Greek federation only cares
about paid participation now (regarless whether the
funds are actually needed) and therefore the new
national team will be comprised of those who can pay
regardless of skill.
It is only logical that the decision to shut down the club closed the
door of the 2011 National Team to these players since
they have not trained for nearly 2,5 months and have not
participated in any league games. The lack of
preparation can only result in serious injury, something
that no player of Iptameni Athens can sacrifice. Even if
the players start practicing today, time is not enough
to get ready, especially since Greece does not have a
proper rink. We hope that the Federation puts the safety
of athletes above all and will not ask these athletes,
who have not practiced for 2,5 months and have not
participated in any league game, to participate in the
National Team and risk getting injured, as ice hockey as
we all know, is a tough sport and dynamic sport.
Unfortunately the disappointing development does
not allow the National Team to defend the silver medal
won at the 2010 World Championship DivIIIA that was held
in Luxembourg. We hope that the decision of the
Federation to renew the National team, does not destroy
the good work that has been done in recent years by the
people in charge of the National Team,
resulting in the silver medal and the movement
in world rankings. The fact that the National
Team practices have not started though, 1,5 months
before the start of the World Championship, is a little
alarming.
We only hope that the players of the new
national team to do their duty and not disgrace their
country, especially in these difficult economic times,
and mainly in front of the Greek Diaspora of South
Africa. It is essential of all those chosen by the
Federation to give their very best in order to avoid
embarrassment and to not link their names with the worst
results in the history of the sport in Greece. Awaiting
the names of the new and renewed National Team.
Good luck to the new and renewed
National men's ice hockey team.
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| 01/02/2011 -
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2010: GREEK NATIONAL TEAM |
Click
here to view photos |
| 11/11/2010 -
SILVER MEDAL: NATIONAL ICE HOCKEY TEAM 2010
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| 28/09/2010 -
Recap of the 2010 World Championship Div.IIIA
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 A
few weeks before the start of the Greek ice Hockey
season, let’s remember what happened in last year's
World Championship.
The Men’s National
Ice Hockey Team won the silver medal at the 2010 World
Championship Div.IIIA that was held in
Luxembourg April 14 to 17 2010.
It is without a doubt THE GREATEST
ACHIEVEMENT IN THE HISTORY OF THE NATIONAL TEAM and
Greek Ice Hockey in general.
This success is even greater if someone takes
into consideration the many problems that the team faced
during the whole year. Despite the cancelation of the
World Championship in Athens, the lack of a proper ice
rink, the insufficient preparation and the many
obstacles the team had to surpass during the whole
season, this year was undoubtedly a great
success.
It is only certain that if the
World Championship was held in Athens and the National
Team received the support it deserved, then Greece would
of won gold and together the promotion to Division II.
The National Team will be competing in the World
Championship for the 4th straight time. This alone is a
great accomplishment for Greece since it has never
occured in the past. Also, the team moved up one
position in the World Ranking, which helped avoid the
qualification round that will be introduced next year
from the IIHF.
All of the above proves that the
people in charge of the Hellenic National ICE HOCKEY
Team are doing a great job, ignoring the negative
critics, the envious people and the “verbal-specialist”
and working hard for the good of the sport. Of course
nothing would have been possible if this team wasn’t
comprised of great athletes and even greater coaches.
Let’s just hope that they continue to fight, despite the
obstacles they face, to reach even greater results.
The National Team by numbers:
The National Team had the least goals scored against in
the whole tournament (5 goals) than any other team.
Dimitris Kalyvas was again top-scorer of the World
Championship, tying for first place with 6 points (1
goals and 5 assists) and George Kalyvas was in 3rd place
with 5 points (4 goals and 1 assist). In the top goals
category, George Kalyvas was 3rd with 4 goals. In the
top assists category, Dimitris Kalyvas was in first
place with 5 assists and Nikos Papadopoulos was in
2nd place with 4 assists. Nikos Papadopoulos was also in
first place in the top defenceman category with 4
points. Spyros Ploutsis was the best goalie in the
tournament, despite not being chosen as MVP goalie of
the World Championship, having a 94,44% Save percentage
on shots on goal (5 goals in 90 shots), the best
percentage from any other goalie by far. Orestis Tilios
was named MVP of the Hellenic National Team. And
all this without a proper ice rink!
The golden boys of the National Team: Giorgos
Kalyvas, Orestis Tilios, Panagiotis Iatridis, Kostas
Lembessis, Lazaros Efkarpidis, Giorgos Kouleles, Pavlos
Kasampoulis, Themistoklis Lambridis, Alexandros
Valsamas-Rallis, Iasonas Pachos, Giorgos Fiotakis,
Spyros-Libor Ploutsis, Nikos Papadopoulos, Ioannis
Ziakas, Diogenis Souras, Ioannis Koufis, Nikos
Chatzigiannis, Kyriakos Adamidis and Dimitris Kalyvas.
The players would like to thank, HEAD COACH IGOR
APOSTOLIDIS
for the valuable help that he provided during the whole
year, and are eagerly waiting for his return to Greece.
New challenges and more victories are ahead. They also
want to thank assistant coaches, Giotis Efkarpidis and
Yannis Tilios.
Click
here for full list of
statistics
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| 17/05/2010 -
THREE-PEAT for IPTAMENI ATHENS |
 IPTAMENI
ATHENS did it again, winning the
GREEK CHAMPIONSHIP with ease for a 3rd straight
year proving that they are by far the best team in Greece. Based on
statistics, results and performance, Iptameni Athens has the best
offence, the best defence and the best goalies of any other team in
the Greek League.
Iptameni Athens scored a total of 156 goals in 6 games (2 gamed
were cancelled) and had 8 goals against. They were basically scoring
a total of 26 goals per game, a record in ice hockey and were
rightfully named
2010 GREEK CHAMPIONS!
Iptameni Athens have a total of 6 Championships, the most of
any other team, and as the results clearly show it will be difficult
for this to change in the coming years.
The GREEK CHAMPIONS are: Giorgos Kalyvas,
Dimitris Kalyvas, Orestis Tilios, Panagiotis Iatridis, Kostas
Lembessis, Lazaros Efkarpidis, Giorgos Kouleles, Themistoklis
Lambridis, Alexandros Valsamas-Rallis, Iasonas Pachos, Giorgos
Fiotakis, Spyros-Libor Ploutsis, Ioannis Ziakas, Diogenis Souras,
Ioannis Koufis, Nikos Chatzigiannis, John Lachance, Viktor
Mateevitsi, Igor Apostolidis and Christos Mandalios.
Next
challenge for the team is the Continental Cup in
September 2010, where they will go against the Champions of other
European Nations.
As for the GREEK WOMAN'S CHAMPIONSHIP, with
4 wins and 1 loss, team PEGASUS
was named CHAMPIONS!
Click
here for scores and standing
Click
here for Iptameni Athens website
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| 22/04/2010 -
HELLAS - Luxembourg 2:1 and SILVER MEDAL! |
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 Last
day of the 2010 World Championship DivIIIA and the
game between Greece and Luxembourg decided the
silver medal winner.
The result: Greece 2 – Luxembourg 1
and the biggest success of Greek Ice Hockey is a
reality. Greece won the Silver medal at the 2010
World Championship DivIIIA!!!
The 1100 fans that gathered at the
ice rink had the opportunity to watch a great game.
Both teams played defensive hockey during
the first period which ended 0-0. Same defensive
game in the second period but a five minute penalty
against Luxembourg in the last minutes of the second
period gave the Greek Team the opportunity to take
the lead with a goal by Georgios Kalyvas assisted by
Orestis Tilios.
Another goal came in the middle
of the third period that gave the Greek Team a 2
goal lead, this time by Themis Lambridis assisted by
Lazaros Efkarpidis. Five minutes before the end of
the game and a 2-man powerplay for Team Luxembourg
gave them the opportunity to score and bring the
game to 2-1. Everyone then started to remember the
2008 game between the two countries where Luxembourg
was leading 2-0 a few minutes before the end, but
Greece tied the game to bring it into overtime.
The final minutes saw Luxembourg pressuring for
the equalizer and the Greek Team playing defense,
many times falling face-first to block shots. The
great defense played by the Greek players and the
brilliant goaltending by Libor Ploutsis brought the
first silver medal to the Greek National Team!
The Players of the National Team want to
thank all the Greek and foreign hockey fans that
came from all parts of Europe to support the Greek
National Team with songs and cheers that helped push
the team to victory.
Goals by: G. Kalyvas (1),
Lambridis (1)
Assists by: Tilios (1),
Efkarpidis (1).
MVP of the Game: Dimitris Kalyvas
In the other
match: Ireland – UAE 8-2
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| 20/04/2010 -
Article on IIHF.com: From Abu Dhabi to the Acropolis
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 UAE
and Greece face challenges to ensure their future on ice
KOCKELSCHEUER, Luxembourg – The international
ice hockey community has welcomed a new World
Championship member. While most are focused on the
upcoming World Championship, the United Arab Emirates
made its international debut last Wednesday in a game
against Greece.
It marked the first time an Arab nation participated
at an IIHF World Championship. And it was a clash
between two teams from warmer countries that face
different challenges in developing the game.
April 14, 2010 will be the date a new chapter was
added to the hockey history books. In Kockelscheuer,
Luxembourg, twenty players dressed in red skated on the
ice for the face-off in what is the start of a new era
in Arab ice hockey.
In front of 150 spectators team captain Juma Al
Dhaheri and Team Greece captain Dimitrios Kalyvas shook
hands in what turned out to be a special game for the
two players. Both teams have reasons to be excited
participating in the World Championships albeit for
totally different reasons....
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