2015 WU: Team Draw for Ice Hockey and Curling

The Team Draw for the ice hockey tournament

GRANADA – The team draw for the ice hockey tournament of the 2015 Winter Universiade in Granada took place at the third session of the meeting of the heads of delegation this Thursday, 25 September 2014 in the host city. The draw took place under the direction of Robert Philip, Vice-Chair of the Technical Commission for the Winter Universiade. The results of the previous Universiade were taken into account in drawing the pools. Below are the results of the draw.

“In the first round of the men’s tournament Canada will already encounter Russia in Group B, which constitutes a very interesting game from the very start”, commented Robert Philip. “In fact, the groups are well balanced which will make it a very open and undecided tournament. In Group A, Spain will have a role to play at home and it is possible that the host team will qualify for the next rounds which will depend also from the level of China which is often weaker, at least in the men’s category. Group C will also be very open. A priori, Kazakhstan should be stronger than the USA and Japan, but these two teams are also very sharp.”

In the women’s tournament, we find triple champion Canada, traditionally a very strong team, and they will also face Russia in the early phase of the tournament (as in the Men’s Pool B). “Here too the match promises to be very interesting since it will be a re-match of the final in Trento in 2013. It will be a first for Kazakhstan since this nation has never participated in the Universiade women’s ice hockey tournament”, Philip explained. Group A will be a very balanced pool with three strong teams: Japan, China, and USA and an unknown, Spain. Playing at home, however, the host team should raise its level and could surprise everybody.

Curling

At this meeting, the participating teams for the curling competition were presented as well.

Final Team Selection for Men’s Curling Competition: 10 Teams

1 SWE – 2 GBR – 3 CAN – 4 NOR – 5 USA – 6 SUI – 7 RUS – 8 CZE – 9 ESP – 10 JPN

1st Reserve FIN – 2nd Reserve KOR

Final Team Selection for Women’s Curling Competition: 10 Teams

1 RUS – 2 KOR – 3 SUI – 4 GBR – 5 SWE – 6 CAN – 7 JPN – 8 NOR – 9 ESP – 10 USA

1st Reserve CHN

“Regarding the curling, we now have more and more countries wishing to register for the event”, The Vice-Chair added. “It is interesting to see that teams like China and Finland found themselves on the reserve list. It proves that the level rises and curling is progressing in all countries.”

Yvan Dufour, Editor-in-Chief