Greece national ice hockey team

The Greek National Ice Hockey Team is the national ice hockey team of Greece, and member of the International Ice Hockey Federation. Greece is in the Division III. There are five teams with 100 registered players but it is unsure how many of them are active as also the majority is of beginners/amateur players that they also establish the Greek National Team.
==History==
Ice Hockey started in Greece in 1984 by players that returned to Greece from abroad. The first official Greek Championship was held in 1989 in the Peace and Friendship Stadium with five teams taking place. It was the first time hockey games were held in a normal size rink. In 1990 the first Junior National Team was formed and took part in the World Junior Championship Pool C, held in Yugoslavia. In 1991 the Junior National Team took part in the World Junior Championship, held in Italy. In 1992 the first ever Men's Greek National Team was formed and took place in the World Championships Pool C held in South Africa. With only two weeks of serious training abroad and the support of the Greeks of South Africa, the National Team won the Bronze medal, placing them 21st overall. It was extraordinary for a team to win a medal in their first appearance at the World Championships. 
Despite the great achievement, the start of the decline of the sport came in 1993. Economic help was discontinued by the Greek Undersecretary of State for Sports and all expenses to keep ice hockey alive were passed over to the players. Practices stopped and many players quit. 
Since May 2003 the last ice rink in Greece closed and the national team was left without an ice rink. In the next 4 years, players of the national team traveled at their own expense in the Czech Republic in order to train themselves.
Ice hockey was slowly dying until the Greek National Ice Hockey Team tried to convince the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) that the National Team is still active and that development of the sport is continuing in Greece despite not having a rink. He later got the support of the Hellenic Ice Sports Federation. After many emails, the IIHF decided to send 2 delegates to Athens to investigate. After a review done by the IIHF in 2008, Greece retained its status within the IIHF, and took part in a qualification tournament against Armenia and Bosnia-Herzegovina in Sarajevo prior to the 2008 Division III championship in Luxembourg. They defeated both teams, beating Armenia 8 - 5 (although Armenia was forced to Forfeit each game 5 - 0), and Bosnia-Herzegovina 10 - 1.
==2009 World Championship Roster==
Forwards	Forwards	Forwards 	Forwards	Forwards	Forwards 	
# 	 	Player 	Position	Shoots 	Date of birth	Club
2 	 	Grigoris Apostolidis 	F 	R 	Sep. 5, 1969 	Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
3 	 	Lazaros Efkarpidis 	F 	L 	Feb. 18, 1979	Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
6 	 	Georgios Kouleles 	F 	R 	Oct. 2, 1983 	Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
8 	 	Iasonas Pachos 	F 	R 	Aug. 3, 1985 	Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
10 	 	Alexandros Valsamas-Rallis	F 	R 	Oct. 1, 1984 	Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
12 	 	Kyriakos Adamidis 	F 	L 	Dec. 03, 1990	PAOK Thessaloniki H.C.
13 	 	Ioannis Koufis 	F 	R 	Jun. 25, 1965	Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
15 	 	Themistoklis Lambridis 	F 	R 	Aug. 17, 1984	Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
16 	 	Victor Mateevitsi 	F 	R 	Sep. 20, 1984	Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
17 	 	Giorgos Adamidis 	F 	L 	Jan. 24, 1965	PAOK Thessaloniki H.C.
19 	 	Giorgos Kalyvas 	F 	L 	Dec. 6, 1978 	Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
21 	 	(C) Dimitris Kalyvas 	F 	L 	Dec. 11, 1973	Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
Defencemen	Defencemen	Defencemen 	Defencemen	Defencemen	Defencemen 	
# 	 	Player 	Position 	Shoots 	Date of birth	Club
5 	 	Nikos Chatzigiannis 	D 	L 	Jan. 20, 1978	Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
9 	 	(A) Ioannis Ziakas 	D 	L 	Jul. 31, 1972	Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
11 	 	(A) Orestis Tilios 	D 	L 	Nov. 7, 1974 	Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
22 	 	Kostas Lembesis 	D 	R 	Jun. 6, 1972 	Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
23 	 	Panagiotis Iatridis 	D 	L 	Oct. 18, 1978	Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
24 	 	Nikolaos Papadopoulos	D 	R 	Dec. 22, 1987	HC Pardubice
Goaltenders	Goaltenders	Goaltenders 	Goaltenders	Goaltenders	Goaltenders 	
# 	 	Player 	Position 	Catches 	Date of birth	Club
1 	 	Giorgos Fiotakis	G 	L 	Jan. 25, 1971	Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
25 	 	Dalibor Ploutsis	G 	L 	Nov. 15, 1976	Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
Staff 	Staff	Staff 	Staff	Staff	Staff	Staff
Title 	 	Staff Member 	 	 	 	
General Manager 	 	Mirel Dumitrache 	 	 	 	
Head Coach 	 	Panagiotis Efkarpidis 	 	 	 	
Assistant Coach 	 	Yannis Giatagatzidis 	 	 	 	
Team Leader 	 	Christos Chatziathanassiou	 	 	 	
Equipment Manager	 	Ioannis Tilios 	 	 	 	
==2008 World Championship Roster==
Forwards	Forwards	Forwards 	Forwards	Forwards	Forwards 	
# 	 	Player 	Position	Shoots 	Date of birth	Club
2 	 	Grigoris Apostolidis 	F 	R 	Sep. 5, 1969 	Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
3 	 	Lazaros Efkarpidis 	F 	L 	Feb. 18, 1979	Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
8 	 	Iasonas Pachos 	F 	R 	Aug. 3, 1985 	Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
10 	 	Alexandros Valsamas-Rallis	F 	R 	Oct. 1, 1984 	Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
11 	 	(A) Orestis Tilios 	F 	L 	Nov. 7, 1974 	Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
12 	 	Thanasis Kesidis 	F 	L 	Apr. 15, 1964	Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
13 	 	Ioannis Koufis 	F 	R 	Jun. 25, 1965	Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
15 	 	Themistoklis Lambridis 	F 	R 	Aug. 17, 1984	Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
19 	 	Giorgos Kalyvas 	F 	L 	Dec. 6, 1978 	Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
21 	 	(C) Dimitris Kalyvas 	F 	L 	Dec. 11, 1973	Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
Defencemen	Defencemen	Defencemen 	Defencemen	Defencemen	Defencemen 	
# 	 	Player 	Position 	Shoots 	Date of birth	Club
2 	 	Fivos Kaminis 	D 	R 	Apr. 29, 1983	Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
5 	 	Nikos Chatzigiannis 	D 	L 	Jan. 20, 1978	Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
7 	 	Ionnis Giatagatzidis 	D 	R 	Jan 7, 1964 	Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
9 	 	(A) Ioannis Ziakas 	D 	L 	Jul. 31, 1972	Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
14 	 	Diogenis-Panagiotis Souras	D 	R 	Sep. 8, 1986 	Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
22 	 	Kostas Lembesis 	D 	R 	Jun. 6, 1972 	Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
23 	 	Panagiotis Iatridis 	D 	L 	Oct. 18, 1978	Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
24 	 	Nikolaos Papadopoulos 	D 	R 	Dec. 22, 1987	HC Pardubice
Goaltenders	Goaltenders	Goaltenders 	Goaltenders	Goaltenders	Goaltenders 	
# 	 	Player 	Position 	Catches 	Date of birth	Club
1 	 	Giorgos Fiotakis	G 	L 	Jan. 25, 1971	Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
25 	 	Dalibor Ploutsis	G 	L 	Nov. 15, 1976	Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
Staff 	Staff	Staff 	Staff	Staff	Staff	Staff
Title 	 	Staff Member 	 	 	 	
Head Coach 	 	Panagiotis Efkarpidis 	 	 	 	
Assistant Coach 	 	Ioannis Tilios 	 	 	 	
Team Leader 	 	Christos Chatziathanassiou	 	 	 	
Equipment Manager	 	Victor Mateevitsi 	 	 	 	
Equipment Manager	 	Pavlos Kasampoulis 	 	 	 	
Team Staff 	 	Georgios Kouleles 	 	 	 	
==World Championship record==
Year	Location 	Result
1992	Johannesburg, South Africa 	Bronze in Group B of Pool C (21st)
1995	Johannesburg, South Africa 	9th place in Group B of Pool C (38th)
1998	Krugersdorp / Pretoria, South Africa	8th place in Pool D (40th)
1999	Krugersdorp, South Africa 	8th place in Pool D (39th)
2008	Luxembourg, Luxembourg 	5th place in Div III (45th)
2009	Dunedin, New Zealand 	4th place in Div III (44th)
2010	Kockelscheuer, Luxembourg 	Silver in Group B of Division III
== All-time Record against other nations ==
As of May 25, 2009
Team	GP	W	T	L	GF	GA
 	6 	3	0	3	35	28
 	1 	1	0	0	10	1
 	1 	1	0	0	10	4
 	2 	1	0	1	8 	6
 	1 	1	0	0	8 	6
 	4 	2	0	2	15	16
 	3 	1	0	2	11	28
 	4 	1	0	3	16	22
 	2 	0	1	1	7 	19
 	1 	0	0	1	3 	7
 	1 	0	0	1	2 	10
 	1 	0	0	1	1 	20
 	2 	0	0	2	6 	20
 	4 	0	0	4	3 	42
 	1 	1	0	0	7 	1
==2010 World Championship==
The Greece national ice hockey team will compete in the 2010 IIHF World Championship Division III which was held in Luxembourg, from April 14- April 17. The Team was successful in winning the Silver Medal, Gold went to Ireland and the host country Luxembourg won Bronze 
==1992 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships Group C2==
Here are the Results of Team Greece's first medal winning championship in 1992.
Qualification-
==References==
* Greek National Team Roster
* Greek World Championship scores
Category:National teams