Tourney Time: World Cup of Hockey
Mercedini vs. Valanora: Match In-Review
@ Stadion General Axel Nadjur - Landsmark, Savojarna
Explosive Start As Eagles Soar
FINALWCOH | MD2MERCEDINI 8
VALANORA 1(1-0) (3-1) (4-0)
Landsmark, Savojarna
Mercedini have the trip to Landsmark following a re-draw which saw the format change from groups of six to groups of five, with the top two from each group moving on to the knockout rounds, beginning with the Round of 16. The re-draw saw Mercedini enter the group stages as the 3rd seed at the tournament, planting them firmly in a Pot 1 position. However, the group remained competitive throughout the draw with Mercedini being the very final name pulled out of the hat following a long ceremony, putting the previous edition's runners-up in the same group as record-champions Valanora and up and coming nations in Austrakia and Taeshan. Preparations were made for their time in Landmark, with every game taking place inside the Stadion General Axel Nadjur (colloquially known as 'The GenAx') for the duration of the group.
The Kingfishers entered the cauldron of the GenAx for their opening game, knowing full well that the tournament and the group was well underway with a previous round of fixtures taking place across the country just one day ago. The stadium was still littered with flags from the previous day's game between North Quadana and Austrakia, which result in a 2-1 victory for the Quadanans. This was the blockbuster match of the night for many hockey fans, domestic and abroad, with second-hand tickets selling for thousands on re-sale websites due to the quality and reputation of both sides on show. As would be expected, the match took on prime-time viewing in Valanora and Mercedini, while it was the first choice pick for many international channels. It was most streamed match of the listings with 900,000 viewers watching live during the game's peak, midway through the third period, and #MRCVAL was a multiverse-wide trend throughout the game. It was a 'where were you when...' kind of game, and the action certainly lived up to the hype.
A capacity crowd inside the Stadion GenAx greeted the two sides who came out to a big atmosphere created by the Mercedinians, the Vanorians and the locals who treated like a home game against CASK Thorsberg. The first period pucked off with little in the way of furore or animosity between the two teams as Valanora played their usual game featuring clean fast breaks and tricky play, while Dini started off slow as they normally do, conserving their energy for later in the period due to their enduring style of play which isn't seen anywhere else in the multiverse. The first major chance went the way of the Vanorians, with Jacob Sandberg's driving shot pinging off the near post, off the goalkeeper and back into clear ice. That was immediately pounced upon by Ayal Ismaat who took that as an opportunity to counter and race up the ice in pursuit of the opening goal after that narrow miss from his opposition. Ismaat to a swipe, but it was well smothered by Dahlberg in the Valanora net. We had to wait nearly eleven minutes in the first period for the opening goal in the game, with Mercedini scoring through Rotor Rogachevo front-man Max Morton after a spell of intense pressure on the Vanorian goal. It was a simple pass-and-move play between the three attackers which opened up enough space between the defender and the goaltender to squeeze the puck through the middle for the opener. Things got better with less than a minute to go in the first period, Valanora couldn't hold out for the buzzer as Ayal Ismaat, ever the threat, tapped home following a piercing move from Zach Arthur down the line. It allowed the Acoflosa Penguins attacker to square the puck over to Ismaat, who was waiting to tuck it neatly into the open side of the net for the second. When the buzzer rang out, it was only the Mercedinians who could make themselves heard, 2-0 as the teams went in the for the interval.
The second period came around not too long after, with Dini holding hat two goal lead which may have seemed a little harsh on the opponents, as both teams put together very good moves to forge chances from pretty much nothing, but it was Mercedini's clinical edge which gave them their lead. Play left off where it ended with Valanora on the front foot once again, but this time the outcome was different as they hit back straight after the break. Sandberg making up for his earlier miss by delicately lifting the puck over the head of Carshavington to halve the deficit with only a couple of minutes on the second-period clock. That seemed to spur on the Vanorians were riding a wave of momentum following that goal, and with a power play awarded to them after a silly tackle by Peter Pollock, it looked as if it would be the 10th seeds to score next, undoing all of the good work that Dini had put in during the first period. However, a conservative approach which hogged the puck gave the team in blue and black the chance to retreat, reset and kill the power play that Valanora deserved. The clock ran out with Pollock allowed to rejoin the ice. With both teams back to full strength, it was anyone's game.
Dini restored their lead and then some with two goals in as many minutes with five or so minutes of the second period. Much like the first period, it was the final ten minutes where Dini came into their own and started to pull the strings. First, second-period change Ansellini opened his account at the tournament with a simple slap-shot which evaded the glove of Dahlberg to wriggle into the net to 3-1. Before David Ornstein, a second-line defender, popped up at the right time to convert from a deflection which took it away from the glove of Dahlberg to leave Orstein their to sweep it up from under his feet into the Vanorian net. A glimmer of hope for the Vanorians had been cruelly snuffed out by the clinical movement of the Mercedinians. They are unbeatable on their day, and today was just one of those. It was nearly 5-1 before the buzzer when Morton returned to the pitch to cause havoc once again, but an appeal for icing was upheld by the officials, meaning it was chalked of right at the death. The buzzer sounded on what looked to be a good night for Dini, they held a comfortable 4-1 lead heading into the final period.
It was beginning to move away from the competitive dogfight many had expected it to be, with Valanora now needing nothing short of a miracle to turn the game around with Mercedini looking this good on the ice. The third period began, with no one expecting what was about to unfold on the ice, in front of a capacity crowd in Landsmark and millions watching on from the comfort of their own home. First, Ismaat netted his second and Dini's fifth of the game with another tap-in worked by Morton who found the space to take out his marker and send a puck in for Ismaat to connect with, after he lost his man in the movement to tip the puck into the roof of the net. Barely a minute later, Dini were at it again with Dahlberg powerless to stop another Morton slap-shot which deflected off the glove of the Vanorian goalkeeper, but couldn't deter the puck from pinging in off the underside of the crossbar.
At this point, with the score being 6-1, some fans had seen enough and departed the arena, either to avoid watching anymore of what they were seeing, or to beat the terrible traffic which would inevitably ensue upon the full-time buzzer. What looked to be a tight contest between two nations at the top of their game had turned into a blowout, with Dini out for blood following their disappointment in last edition's final. They hit seventh heaven with eight minutes to go in the game when Ismaat completed his hat-trick with a lovely dribbling move to battle past two players before slotting the puck in from close range. Cheers from one side and jeers from the other become immediatly apparent, a 7-1 scoreline featuring two sides within the World's Top 10 was certainly not of the cards here in Landsmark. The carnage was rounded out in the final minute when third-linesman Pedro Antic stroked home on the powerplay to add some finishing gloss to the scoreline and make it eight-one on the night. A night which left team one team battered and bruised, and it wasn't the team in black and blue. A complete blowout of a match which no one was expecting, Dini have swept the former champions aside by eight goals to one in Landsmark to kick off their campaign in style.
Kaboomlandia
Novaya Zemlya
Mercedini
Cosneolta
Northwest Kalactin
Kebec
Savojarna
