Australia shutout Iceland 3-0 in IIHF World’s opener

The Mighty Roos have got their IIHF World’s campaign off to a strong start, with a 3-0 defeat of rivals Iceland in their opening game in Tilburg.

It was a good litmus test for Australia who have previously had a mixed bag of results against Iceland, including a 6-1 defeat in 2015 that relegated them to Division 2B.

Australia had a string of quality chances in the first frame. Tommy Powell was denied early by Iceland goaltender Dennis Hedstrom and then a 3 on 2 break for the Roos just moments later came up short. Cam Todd also had a great chance in front of the net off a nice feed from The Melbourne Ice’s Matt Armstrong. Beau Taylor nearly capitalised on the power play late in the third but strong goaltending from Hedstrom proved the difference.

But it was a trio of debutantes for the Mighty Roos who combined to strike first.

With both teams at 4-on-4, Matt Armstrong picked up the puck from the Newcastle North Stars’ Rob Haselhurst on his own blue line and skated into enemy territory. After drawing two Iceland players, Armstrong dished it off to an open Per Daniel Goransson who let rip with a wrist shot from the point and found the back of the net to put Australia up 1-0 with 2:57 left in the first period, where the score line would remain unchanged at the intermission.

The Roos started period two with more of the same aggressive play that they displayed in the first. However, despite peppering Hedstrom with rubber they were unable to capitalise and were limited to only a few quality chances. Rob Malloy had the best chance of the period when he snuck in behind the Iceland defence on a breakaway, only to be denied by a surging Hedstrom, who then also denied the rebound.

The shot count climbed to 27-14 in favour of Australia after 40 minutes.

The Roos were forced into 4 on 4 action early in the third after Powell got the gate for slashing, cancelling out the Roos’ power play to start the period. Australia dominated puck possession for most of the period but again Hedstrom continued to frustrate the Roos’ offence.

Armstrong had the best chance of the period with 5 minutes remaining when he skated in alone on a breakaway after splitting the Iceland defence, only to have his shot go high over the shoulder of Hedstrom and the score remained 1-0.

Iceland used their time out with 1:48 to go in regulation, hoping to claw back the one goal deficit.

It was to be in vain.

Iceland’s Edmunds Induss receiving two minutes for slashing opened the door for the Roos’ power play. The CBR Brave’s Wehebe Darge picked up the puck in the corner and fed it to Roos’ captain Lliam Webster at the point. Webster’s wrist shot found the stick between the legs of the Newcastle North Stars’ Rob Malloy, who was cutting across the slot, and the deflected puck beat Hedstrom to make the game 2-0 in favour of Australia.

The Melbourne Ice’s Tommy Powell added an empty net goal from his own zone moments later with 23 seconds remaining to make it 3-0, and that’s how the game would finish.

Anthony Kimlin stopped all 20 shots he faced for Australia in a game where the Roos piled on 39 shots of their own.

Goransson was named player of the game for Australia while Hedstrom was named the same for Iceland.

Australia will now face Belgium in it’s 2^nd game of the tournament on Tuesday night at 9pm AEST.

Tune in to the livestream: IJShockey Nederlands AUS v BEL, 24 April 13:00 GMT + 2