No mercy for hosts – Israel U20 belts second win in Bulgaria

Team Israel’s quest for gold at the 2024 IIHF U20 World Championship continued with an emphatic 7-3 win over the host nation Bulgaria with Mike Levin scoring three on the ice of Winter Sports Palace in Sofia.

The first period was a one-way traffic all the way. With a 31-3 shot count in our favor, the Bulgarians should have been happy to go back to the locker room trailing by just one goal. Adi Rigler’s powerplay marker midway through the opening frame separated the teams at the first intermission.

So, when in the 24^th minute Aleksandar Stanimirov leveled the score via a rare hosts’ counter attack one couldn’t beat the feeling that it all went against the run of play. Happily enough, justice was restored soon: Mike Levin put us back in front after just 42 seconds, and he only needed 47 seconds more to make the score 3-1. In the 34^th minute, after Nikita Zitserman, the youngest player of Evgeni Kozhevnikov’s team at the tender age of 15, netted the fourth, Israel seemed to be cruising.

But it is always tricky to play the hosts at any level. Bulgarians proved it with two quick goals later in the frame, with Stefan Pirotski and Aleksandar Kozhuharov giving the home crowd something to cheer for during the second intermission. With a 4-3 score, local supporters felt that anything was possible.

But it was not to be. In the third period, Kozhevnikov’s boys looked determined not to make any mistakes and gave the opponents no chance at all. Ori Segal and Yann Raskin scored a minute apart and Levin, later to be named Man of the Match, completed his hat-trick in the 59^th minute to secure the second win in as many days.

So, after two days of action, Israel tops the standings with Turkey being the only other team to win two of two. Early days, of course, but their head-to-head clash on Saturday, January 27^th, seems to be crucial for both squads.

But first, it is Kyrgyzstan, our next opponent, when the play resumes on Thursday. The puck drops at 16:30 Israel time. Stay tuned!

All 2024 IIHF U20 World Championship can be watched live