Poles close to promotion dream

Poland’s fairytale tournament continues – and after victory over Korea, the Division IA newcomer is one win away from a happy ending to its promotion campaign.

Two goals from Grzegorz Jeziorski and a four-point game from Alan Lyszczarczyk (1+3) paced a 7-0 verdict for the Poles in Wednesday’s early game. Krystian Dziubinski (two), Kamil Walega and Marcin Kolusz also found the back of the Korean net. With promotion rivals Great Britain and Italy set to meet on Friday, a Polish win over Romania would secure back-to-back promotions for Robert Kalaber’s team and seal a place in next year’s top division. That would be the first time in the elite since 2002.

Korea came into this game lifted by its victory over Romania on Tuesday. That result gives the Asian nation a great chance of retaining its place in this division as it continues its transition to a post-PyeongChang generation. Against Poland, that also meant a competitive start from a team playing under less pressure than at the start of the tournament.

However, while the Koreans can move the puck prettily and at pace, they often lack a cutting edge. Poland did not quite reproduce the high-octane forecheck that disrupted Italy less than 24 hours earlier, but enjoyed a physical advantage and took a more direct route to goal.

That saw Lyszczarczyk break the deadlock midway through the first period. He exchanged passes with Pawel Zygmunt, turned sharply to wrong-foot defender Hyoseok Jee, then wired in a wrister from the top of the circle to beat John Murray.

Things got even better for the promotion-chasing Poles in the last minute of the opening frame. Korea lost possession in its own zone, Dziubinski dished the puck of to Bartosz Ciura and his shot cannoned off the back boards for Jeziorski to shoot home the second goal.

In the second period, penalty trouble saw Korea fall away. Midway through the session, Seungjae Lee got a double minor for high sticking and saw Poland score two. The first came on a tic-tac-toe play, with Walega and Pawel Zygmunt combining to set up Jeziorski’s second of the game. Then Walega’s snipe made it 4-0 and took the game away from Korea.

Although Korea isn’t usually noted as a physical team, rising frustration saw Don Ku Lee grappling on the floor with Filip Starzynski, ushering in more penalty trouble late in the middle frame. He was back on the ice, but his place in the box was taken by Ingyo Oh and Dziubinski claimed another power play goal when his feed for Zygmunt…