IIHF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Div.III

DUNEDIN, NEW ZEALAND

The New Zealand Ice Hockey Federation is proud to be hosting the 2009 International Ice Hockey Federation Davison III World Championships in Dunedin from April 10th to 16th, 2009.
 
The New Zealand Ice Blacks are the top ranked in the tournament at 39th in the world and will compete against Ireland (40th), Turkey (41st), Luxembourg (43rd), Mongolia (45th) and Greece (46th). The tournament will be held at the recently renovated Dunedin Ice Stadium in St Kilda.
 
This will be the third IIHF World Championship tournament the NZIHF have hosted on New Zealand soil; winning the Gold Medal at the 2003 IIHF Division III World Championships and hosting again in 2006 for the IIHF Division II World Championships. Both tournaments were held in Auckland.
 
In 2008, the Ice Blacks competed at the Division II Championships in Newcastle, Australia narrowly losing to Iceland (3-6), Mexico (0-2), China (3-5), Australia (2-4) and Spain (4-5) and were relegated back to Division III in 2009.
 
This year, the Ice Blacks are looking to regain their Gold Medal form, hopefully remaining unbeaten throughout the tournament. This will certainly be a Championship not to be missed.