ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s junior national ice hockey team beat hosts Austria 5:2 to win bronze at the World Junior Ice Hockey Championship under 20, Division I Group A, on Dec. 20.
Earlier, the team defeated Norway in a Dec. 17 comeback 4:3 and shut out Italy 7:0 on Dec. 16. But the start of the tournament was rougher with two losses; one to Latvia 3:5 and to Germany 2:3.
With eight points, the team took bronze, while Austria with nine points, despite the loss, took silver and Latvia came out on top with gold and 14 points.
Thus, Latvia has been promoted to the 2017 International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Junior Championship, while Italy has been relegated to the 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey U20 World Championship Division I Group B.
Kazakhstan’s Vladimir Volkov finished the tournament second among scoring leaders with seven points (two goals, five assists), while his teammate Alikhan Assetov finished third with six points – six goals, the most among goal scorers.