Recap: Day 1 – 2023 Men’s Olympic Ice Hockey Qualification Round 2, Group L

Spanish, Dutch earn wins
 
The Spanish easily disposed of Thailand, but Georgia, a replacement for Mexico in Group L men’s Olympic qualification, provided a stiffer test for the host Netherlands.

Spain 15-Thailand 2

Spain erupted for six unanswered goals in the opening period, including a hat trick from Nacho Granell, and coasted to a 15-2 victory over Thailand in the opening game of Group L action at the IJssportcentrum on the outskirts of Tilburg, Netherlands this afternoon.
 
The result was not unexpected given that the Spanish, with a World Ranking of 32, will play in Division I-B of this year’s Men’s World Championship while the Thais, ranked 44, play three levels down in III-A. In all, eight players scored for Spain while both Thai goals came off the stick of Nick Lampson in a two-minute span in the second. Lampson spent his formative years in the United States before joining the five-team Siam Hockey League in Bangkok a couple of seasons ago.
 
In all, six of Spain’s goal came on the power play, and three of those came early in the second after Patrick Forstner incurred an ill-timed boarding major and game misconduct.
 
Coach Luciano Basile, now in his fifth season with Spain, split the goaltending duties between Raul Barbo, who started and did not face a single shot in 28:26 of game action, and Sergi Reina, who played the back half of the game.
 
For Thailand, first-year coach Pattaranut Yannakornthanapun allowed Benjamin Kleineschay to go the distance. The Minnesotan has played the last four years in the SiamHL and faced 41 shots. Thailand, held without a single shot in the opening 20 minutes, managed just nine overall on Reina.
 
The Spanish took control of the game with an early goal by Oriol Rubio and capped the opening period with three goals in 59 seconds late to put the game out of reach. Four more goals on the power play early in the second made it 10-0 before Lampson beat Reina to make it 10-1. Teams exchanged goals soon after, and Spain added three in the third to close out the one-sided contest.

  Netherlands 8-Georgia 2

On paper, this game looked to be another mismatch as the Dutch, scheduled to play in Division I-B of the Men’s Worlds in the spring of 2024, faced off against a Georgia team playing two levels down (II-B) and some 24 spots south in the World Ranking (29 vs. 53). Yet Georgia gave the Netherlands all they could handle for two periods, fighting…