# 2022 IIHF World Championship Division III

The 2022 IIHF World Championship Division III was an international ice hockey tournament run by the International Ice Hockey Federation.
The Group A tournament was held in Kockelscheuer, Luxembourg from 3 to 8 April and the Group B tournament in Cape Town, South Africa from 13 to 18 March 2022.
After the tournament was cancelled the two previous years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all teams stayed put in their divisions.
The United Arab Emirates secured the top spot in Group A and were promoted to Division II, while South Africa won the Group B tournament and were promoted to Group A.
During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia and Belarus were suspended from the 2022 and 2023 editions of the World Championship. In order to fill each group of the World Championships back to their normal amount of teams, the IIHF made the decision following the tournament not to relegate Luxembourg or Bosnia and Herzegovina, who finished last in Groups A and B respectively, but instead to promote Turkey and Thailand, the runners-up of each group.

## Group A tournament
### Participants

| Team | Qualification |
| North Korea | Placed 6th in Division II B last edition and was relegated. |
| Turkey | Placed 2nd in Division III last edition. |
| Turkmenistan | Placed 3rd in Division III last edition. |
| Luxembourg | Host, placed 4th in Division III last edition. |
| Chinese Taipei | Placed 5th in Division III last edition. |
| United Arab Emirates | Placed 1st in Division III Q last edition and was promoted. |

### Match officials

Three referees and five linesmen were selected for the tournament.
| Referees | Linesmen |
| Ofer Rashal Jonathan Burger Đorđe Fazekas | Maarten Van den Acker Tomislav Grozaj Vincent Zede Lodewijk Beelen David Perduv |

### Standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
| 1 | United Arab Emirates (P) | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 41 | 11 | +30 | 12 | Promoted to the 2023 Division II B |
| 2 | Turkey (P) | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 23 | 22 | +1 | 9 | Promoted to the 2023 Division II B |
| 3 | Turkmenistan | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 17 | 23 | −6 | 4 | |
| 4 | Chinese Taipei | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 11 | 23 | −12 | 3 | |
| 5 | Luxembourg (H) | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 11 | 24 | −13 | 2 | |
| 6 | North Korea | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Withdrawn |
* ↑ North Korea withdrew their team on 3 February 2022 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the travel restrictions.

### Results

All times are local (UTC+2)

### Statistics
#### Scoring leaders

List shows the top skaters sorted by points, then goals.
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM | POS |
| Maksim Zakharau | 4 | 7 | 15 | 22 | +19 | 2 | F |
| Ilia Chuikov | 4 | 10 | 9 | 19 | +14 | 4 | F |
| Serkan Gümüş | 4 | 7 | 6 | 13 | +1 | 4 | F |
| Juma Al-Dhaheri | 4 | 6 | 6 | 12 | +16 | 2 | F |
| Artur Zainutdinov | 4 | 6 | 5 | 11 | +12 | 2 | F |
| Ömer Karş | 4 | 3 | 7 | 10 | +3 | 6 | F |
| Alexander Usenko | 4 | 5 | 3 | 7 | +7 | 4 | F |
| Sait Bingol | 4 | 3 | 5 | 8 | +1 | 0 | F |
| Nils Remess | 4 | 0 | 7 | 7 | +13 | 0 | D |
| Dzmitry Shapavalau | 4 | 2 | 4 | 6 | +10 | 10 | D |
GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− = Plus/Minus; PIM = Penalties in Minutes; POS = Position Source: IIHF.com

#### Goaltending leaders

Only the top five goaltenders, based on save percentage, who have played at least 40% of their team's minutes, are included in this list.
| Player | TOI | GA | GAA | SA | Sv% | SO |
| Ahmed Al-Dhaheri | 180:00 | 10 | 3.33 | 76 | 86.84 | 0 |
| Philippe Lepage | 220:12 | 22 | 5.99 | 166 | 86.75 | 0 |
| Li Yi-cheng | 152:07 | 12 | 4.73 | 90 | 86.67 | 0 |
| Rahman Myradov | 199:33 | 14 | 4.21 | 92 | 84.78 | 0 |
| Tolga Bozacı | 233:24 | 21 | 5.40 | 95 | 77.89 | 0 |
TOI = time on ice (minutes:seconds); SA = shots against; GA = goals against; GAA = goals against average; Sv% = save percentage; SO = shutouts Source: IIHF.com

### Awards

| Position | Player |
| Goaltender | Philippe Lepage |
| Defenceman | Dzmitry Shapavalau |
| Forward | Serkan Gümüş |

## Group B tournament
### Participants

| Team | Qualification |
| South Africa | Host, placed 6th in Division III last edition and was relegated. |
| Hong Kong | Placed 2nd in Division III Q last edition. |
| Thailand | Placed 3rd in Division III Q last edition. |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | Placed 4th in Division III Q last edition. |

### Match officials

Two referees and three linesmen were selected for the tournament.
| Referees | Linesmen |
| Stef Oosterling Martin Jobbágy | Martin Boyadijev Morne Moses Ahmed Al-Farsi |

### Standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
| 1 | South Africa (H, P) | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 24 | 13 | +11 | 10 | Promoted to the 2023 Division III A |
| 2 | Thailand (P) | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 20 | 17 | +3 | 8 | Promoted to the 2023 Division III A |
| 3 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 12 | 26 | −14 | 0 | |
| 4 | Hong Kong | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Withdrawn |
* ↑ Hong Kong withdrew their team on 14 February 2022 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

### Results

All times are local (UTC+2)

### Statistics
#### Scoring leaders

List shows the top skaters sorted by points, then goals.
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM | POS |
| Jan Isaksson | 4 | 5 | 7 | 12 | +8 | 4 | F |
| Uthman Samaai | 4 | 4 | 5 | 9 | +9 | 2 | F |
| Phanuruj Suwachirat | 4 | 5 | 1 | 6 | +4 | 2 | F |
| Mirza Omer | 4 | 4 | 2 | 6 | −5 | 6 | F |
| Masato Kitayama | 4 | 5 | 0 | 5 | −3 | 0 | F |
| Nikko Gaković | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | −4 | 0 | F |
| Cameron Birrell | 4 | 2 | 3 | 5 | +7 | 6 | D |
| John Venter | 4 | 2 | 3 | 5 | +3 | 2 | F |
| Patrick Forstner | 4 | 1 | 4 | 5 | +4 | 8 | F |
| Dylan Compton | 4 | 3 | 1 | 4 | +4 | 8 | F |
GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− = Plus/Minus; PIM = Penalties in Minutes; POS = Position Source: IIHF.com

#### Goaltending leaders

Only the top five goaltenders, based on save percentage, who have played at least 40% of their team's minutes, are included in this list.
| Player | TOI | GA | GAA | SA | Sv% | SO |
| Benjamin Kleinechay | 245:00 | 17 | 4.16 | 164 | 89.63 | 0 |
| Ryan Boyd | 245:00 | 12 | 2.94 | 94 | 87.23 | 0 |
| Dino Pašović | 239:25 | 26 | 6.52 | 173 | 84.97 | 0 |
TOI = time on ice (minutes:seconds); SA = shots against; GA = goals against; GAA = goals against average; Sv% = save percentage; SO = shutouts Source: IIHF.com

### Awards

| Position | Player |
| Goaltender | Benjamin Kleinechay |
| Defenceman | Cameron Birrell |
| Forward | Uthman Samaai |