Argentina on top in IIHF Women’s 3×3 Series

Argentina won the inaugural IIHF Women’s 3×3 Series in Sao Paulo, Brazil. A 7-3 victory over Puerto Rico in Wednesday night’s gold medal game completed an undefeated run for the most prolific offence in the competition. Playmaker Alma Ameigeiras was a key figure and capped off a fine individual tournament with a great goal to open a two-goal lead early in the final.

Puerto Rico, which held Argentina to a 3-3 tie in the opening game of the series, was notable for its impressive defence. With a roster of just seven players – Argentina brought 13 – the team played a compact game. Goalie Liv Bernard was frequently the star player.

In the gold medal game, Argentina settled down first and jumped into a 2-0 lead. Puerto Rico pulled one back in the first period when Allegra Jenkins converted a penalty shot – instead of the traditional power play, in 3×3 any foul results in a penalty shot. But two unanswered Argentinian goals in the second period opened a 4-1 lead that felt unassailable.

In adversity, Puerto Rice battled hard and almost produced an unlikely recovery. Alyssa Jimenez got one back early in the third, and a flicker of hope became a flame when Eva Macci-Garcia made it a one-goal game with 3:13 to play.

However, Argentina’s greater depth made the difference. As the Puerto Rican team became tired, Argentina captain Iara Haiek stepped up with two crucial goals. Iara is part of a hockey dynasty: her father Jorge and brother Owen were on the coaching staff in Sao Paulo. Uma Apo-Tsang completed the scoring in the final seconds to finish the job.

Earlier on Wednesday, host nation Brazil took on Colombia for bronze. Despite vocal home support, it ended in a comfortable 6-1 win for a youthful Colombian roster that included two 14-year-olds, Sofia Lozano and Torres Magaby.

Rapid progress

Blanka Elekes Szentagotai, the IIHF Women’s Program Manager, attended the Sao Paulo series.  She was excited by what she saw during her week in Brazil.

“It’s amazing to see the development, even over six or seven days,” Szentagotai told tournament broadcaster Big Hockey Brazil . “Every single team has developed. The players got better and became more of a team. That’s always the goal of such an event and I think we achieved that tremendously here.

“Also, seeing the fans here, the atmosphere when Brazil walked in for the bronze medal game…it doesn’t get much better than that. Brazil clearly…