Nottingham. In the event, they beat Romania 6-2, Italy 4-2, and Lithuania and South Korea 7-0 each. They also lost 4-5 to Great Britain after extra time.

At next year’s elite World Championships, Poland will play after a 22-year break.

“Hopefully we’ll play against the United States, Canada, teams that they say are where the real hockey is. Congratulations to the whole team. I hope this is the start of a good time for hockey. Polish Olympic Committee, I will do my best, I hope PZHL will come out of its financial problems. I hope that sports results will speed up this process, that big sponsors will finally appear. It’s a great opportunity for everyone to create something fantastic. when it comes to ice hockey” – stressed Piesiewicz.

“What happened was a very long process. The union had quite a few problems in 2018, but we managed to reconcile with the players and hire a coach who is now shining. Hiring Robert Kalaber was our target Players with all their hard work with all their efforts, they got to what we can all enjoy now” – added PZHL President Mirosław Minkina.

The Slovak coach started working with the national team three years ago. A year ago, under his leadership, the Poles won the 1B Division World Championships in Tychy, and now they got another promotion.

On the other hand, the major problems mentioned by Minkina are the rapidly increasing debt and the conflict with staff members demanding payment of outstanding salaries.

“After the court battles, the boycott of the national team, we sat down at the table, we came to the conclusion to change something. We shook hands and everything went in the right direction” – said admitted the captain of the national team, Krystian Dziubiński.

Now the players have a break during the holidays and then return to training.

“There is a lot of work ahead of us, and this year will pass quickly. We need to do as many good things as possible” – noted Kalaber.

Players must not lack motivation, as they are aware that performance at the Elite World Championships can prove to be a springboard for a career. This was the case of Leszek Laszkiewicz, who after the 2002 World Cup signed a contract with the leading Czech team HC Vitkovice.

“The players will have everything in their hands. Many managers from all over the world come to the championships, so if they play at a good level, they can sign valuable contracts” – believes Laszkiewicz, who is currently the team manager of the Polish team.

“This championship was something wonderful. I had the opportunity to observe, among others, Jaromir Jagr. By playing against world-class players, I was able to learn, but I also felt proud to play against them and I was able to check my level” – he added.

A good time in Polish hockey also wants to use Minkin.

“We have several very large universal halls, but there are no permanent facilities dedicated to hockey. There is no infrastructure to organize a friendly match against Canada or Sweden, which would be attended by many fans. , overnight. We will work to ensure that as soon as possible “It is time to implement the National Ice Sports Center program. Poland needs a hall dedicated not only to hockey, but also to figure skating or curling. It is an installation for six to seven thousand spectators. To build hockey today, we definitely need new facilities” – he assessed.

BS, PAP