FINLAND, winners of the Yellow Division, marched into
the next phase of this year's tournament with a 13-7 victory over
Poland in the second of yesterday's Play-In matches at the University of
Manchester Armitage Centre.
And with victory Finland, who fought back from 2-1 down to triumph,
now have a chance of achieving a credible ninth place finish.
The Fins face Ireland in their next match today and, should they win,
a clash with Sweden or Wales would await them in the next phase.
Defeat to Ireland would result in a 12th place finish for Finland, a
drop of three places from what they achieved at the last FIL World
Championships in Ontario, Canada, four years ago.
Attackman John Snellman, from Fairfield University, top-scored with
seven goals for Finland as they recovered from a slow start to win the
second quarter 4-0 and established a 5-2 half-time lead.
Poland held firm in the
third quarter which saw shared 4-4, but it was Finland who finished the
stronger by winning the final quarter 4-1 to make sure they progressed.
Midfielder Rob Griffith was on target with a well-taken hat-trick,
while Petja Karhl, Samuli Harala, John Snellman and Arttu Kettula were
also on target.
Josh Coveleski, the tournament's leading points scorer, managed just
one goal as Finland did a good job of marking him out of the game.
It was left to midfielder Justin Rychlicki to bag a hat-trick for
Poland and Colin Jensen to score a double, with Derrek Ostrzyzek also on
target.
Earlier in the day Italy snatched a memorable 7-6 win victory over Switzerland and can now achieve a highest 17th place finish.
Italy clash
with Slovakia in the next stage with the loser set to finish 20th
overall, while the winner would play Latvia or Bermuda for that 17th
position.
Switzerland led 3-2 at half-time, but Italy hit back to win the
penultimate quarter 2-0 to lead by one goal and held on in dramatic
final period was shared 2-2;.
Ian Schoch and Tobias Burger scored twice, while Lucas Barne and
Oliver Kannape also netted, but Tim Fuchs scored four goals for Italy
and Federico Galperti, Steven Withford and Dario Giorgini all
contributed to a fine victory.
