By National Teams of Ice Hockey
Andorra national ice hockey team will be playing for the first time at the end of the month.
It will be hosting the first edition of the 2017 Development Cup, which will be held at the Palau de Gel d’Andorra in Canillo from September 29 to October 1st.
It is being organized by the Andorran Ice Sports Federation and the participating countries are Portugal, Ireland and Morocco along with hosts Andorra.
The project emerged at the international congress of the international Ice Hockey Federation that was held in Moscow in May of last year. “40% of the countries do not play in IIHF Tournaments so in order to develop our sport we can play amongst ourselves,” says Aleix Mañosas, vice president of Andorran Ice Sports Federation.
Of the conversations that took place in the Russian capital came the idea of the Development Cup, which “as a future project can go far if everyone implies”. The international Ice Hockey Federation is not officially involve in it, but it supports some members of its structure to disseminate it through its means.
Argentina wanted to part in this first edition but could not make up a team. For the next editions there are interests from countries like Greece, Brazil and Armenia. “A competition like this helps to promote ice hockey in each country where it is not practiced as much, and in addition to making it known it is a way to make new partnerships ,” says Mañosas.
The intention is that the Development Cup event is to be a rotating tournament every year in selected country.
The 2017 Development Cup at the end of the month will be “a first stepping stone of this project that must have a progression, that every year the tournament grows. We can always say that the beginning of everything was in Andorra. “
This will be the first time the Andorran national team will compete. The coach will be Oriol Boronat, player of the Spanish national team and the C.G Puigcerdà.
With his resume and “his experience we believe it will help bring our players to excel at an international competition”. Each team will be composed of a maximum number of 18 players.
On September 29th and 30th the Development Cup will begin with the teams facing off each other. The first two teams will play the final on October 1, and the remaining two will play for third and fourth place. Instead of playing three periods of 20 minutes, each period will be 15 minutes.
On September 29th and 30th the Development Cup will begin with the teams facing off each other. The first two teams will play the final on October 1, and the remaining two will play for third and fourth place. Instead of playing three periods of 20 minutes, each period will be 15 minutes.
