ICE HOCKEY WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

Fifth year De La Salle students Mathew Meehan and Martin Grant recently travelled to Mexico City to take part in the Ice Hockey World Championships at under 18 level.

There were five countries involved altogether and the tournament took place over a period of six days. The competitors consisted of teams from South Africa, Iceland, Israel, Mexico and Republic of Ireland.

Mathew, the assistant captain of the Irish team explained 'We played all four other teams and the final four teams were selected on wins and goal difference. I played in defence and Martin was a forward. The matches were gruelling because we were playing at an altitude of 2500 metres above sea level. Because of the thinness of the atmosphere at that level we had to have oxygen tanks at the benches which we were constantly running to. The local team was used to it and a few of the other teams had been training in these conditions beforehand so that left us at a disadvantage.'

The upshot of all this was that our boys did not make it through to the semi-finals. In the end Iceland was crowned World Champions with Mexico being the runners-up.
It wasn't all bad though as Martin Grant explained, 'We had a great experience. Just travelling to Mexico and seeing a bit of the country was brilliant. We also got to know the other lads from the other countries which was great too. We learned a lot from the experience which we hope to put to good use in the future.'