Poland relegated following final loss

Poland couldn’t generate enough of a push. Entering the third period tied 1-1 against Kazakhstan and needing a regulation win to avoid relegation from the IIHF World Championship, the Poles simply didn’t do enough to put the Kazakhs on their heels in the final frame.

On the other side, Kazakhstan scored a pair of goals to take control and avoid relegation. Goals by Valeriy Orekhov and Roman Starchenko in the final frame gave Kazakhstan a 3-1 win over Poland. The result means Poland will be relegated down to the Division 1 World Championship in 2025.

The two Kazakh goals came within four minutes. At 10:20, Orekhov walked in from the left point and hammered home the puck top shelf with a screen in front of Polish goaltender John Murray to make it 2-1.

Then, at 14:25, Kazakhstan made it 3-1 with a breakaway goal by Starchenkov, whp was playing in his 50th career game at the Worlds for the Kazakhs.
 

“We stuck to our game and we knew the goals would come if we played the right way,” said Kazakh defender Tamirlan Gaitamirov. “We stuck to our game and did what the coaches said. Thanks to our goalie, thanks to Andrey, if not for him, it wouldn’t have been possible. It’s a big win for us, finally.”

Poland generated a late push to try and cut into the lead. With four minutes to play and on a powerplay, Murray came out of the net to give his team a 6-on-4 advantage and the Poles some fight. The Kazakhs killed the penalty but Poland kept the pressure on during a 6-on-5 advantage and almost scored, but Patryk Wronka fanned on a bouncing puck with an empty net to shoot at.

Somehow, an exhausted Kazakhstan side held off Poland’s late, but relentless, attack. With the win, Kazakhstan finishes with six points, currently good for sixth place in Group B but, most importantly, enough to stick in  the top division for another year.

The result will sting for a Polish team that showed fight and resiliency throughout its seven preliminary-round games at this year’s Worlds but couldn’t find enough offence to stick around for another year. This, after the Poles returned to the main tournament for the first time since 2002.

Poland got off to a dream start in the game, taking advantage of a powerplay midway through the first. Coming into the game mired in a 0-for-18 slump with the man advantage, Kamil Walega broke the ugly streak when he got inside position on the Kazakhstan defence and slammed the puck past…