Following their stubborn resistance over Spain which lasted for 40 minutes, the Luxembourg Liuons were next in action on Tuesday against New Zealand in the ice hockey championship being held in Granada, Spain.
While Luxembourg went a step further and stayed with New Zealand for 50 minutes but ultimately faded in the last 10 minutes. Undefeated New Zealand started the game as expected, they kept the puck control and put the pressure on Luxembourg’s net. Gilles Mangen had a busy afternoon as he made total 50 saves in the game.
Despite the 28 shots in the first period, New Zealand managed to score only once. In the second period, the same storyline continued and New Zealand managed to schore two goals this time. In the middle of the period, Lions got their chance to get into the game when Mirko Mosr scored his second goal of the tournament by deflecting a Claude Mossongs pass. The teams went to the break with 1-3 on the scoreboard.
Those scores lasted until 50 minutes when New Zealand finally started to get pucks in and they scored four goals and the game ended 1-7 for the Kiwis.
Gilles Mangen was awarded Luxembourg’s man of the match. Mangen said after the game that the game plan was to play humble defensive game so it is obvious that then lots of shots will come.
New Zealand’s coach Adam Blanchette gave his full respect to Lions, their fighting spirit and he likes the way team presents on ice and off ice.
Now the Lions’ tournament really starts when they will meet their main opponents over the last two games. In the next game they will face Mexico who has lost their all games, including 5-2 against North Korea. This means that by defeating Mexico, team Luxembourg will confirm their place in the division 2b for the next season. The game will play at 13:00on Thursday. Then, on Friday at the same time, will be the last game against North Korea.
