Photo Source: polskihokej.eu

The World Championships are the biggest showcase of the hockey year for countries like Poland. Everything else is almost a rehearsal for the big show at the end of the season. In the last two events, Poland has put up a great show, seeing them bring back two silver medals. Finishing second meant they were on the cusp of gold and promotion. They had just barely missed out on being one step back of the Elite. Poland hired a new head coach midseason in Canadian Joe Butkevich. In his debut, he led them to an impressive tournament win at a 4 Nations event. Would this be the year Poland finally overcame the final boss and won gold?

No, it wasn’t. This year was a step back for the women’s team. They opened the tournament with a common foe in Slovenia and their star goalie Pia Dukaric. Dukaric would make 65 saves, while Slovenia would score four times. The score suggested an easy 4-1 win for Slovenia, but they were outshot 66-32. In the next game, Poland would face off against a relentless Great Britain squad. One they had beaten 5-1 earlier this season. A comeback effort was needed after Poland fell behind 2-0 in the first period. After an empty net miss that will haunt Great Britain for a while, Tomczok scored the game-tying goal with 21 seconds left. Dziwok would net the game-winner a minute into overtime, hopefully getting the tournament on track for Poland. Unfortunately, that momentum would not carry over as Poland fell in their game against Italy 2-1 despite massive powerplay opportunities. With their backs against the wall and now facing relegation, Poland was up against the host Latvia in game four. A strong first period showed they had some fight left. Poland would fall apart in the second and never recover. Suffering their biggest loss in the tournament with a 6-0 final against Latvia. Poland clinched last place and relegation after the game four loss. In their final appearance for pride against gold winner Slovakia, the red and white fell 5-1.

The Gauntlet of Goalies

Group B is super competitive and has such a rough stretch of games. The biggest part is the number of top goalies you must go through. Pia Dukaric faced an average of over 60 shots per game and still finished with a .951 SV%. Italy has Martina Fedel, one of the top goalies in the Canadian university league. Great Britain’s Nicole Jackson has experience in the SDHL and still plays in Sweden. You also have EWHL starters for Latvia and Slovakia in Kristiana Apsite and Andrea Risianova. Poland also brings Sass, who led the EWHL in save percentage during the regular season. This tournament is stacked in goaltending, which makes it low-scoring in some games, but you still have to score eventually.

You have to Just Score Eventually.

Poland’s offense was dreadful at this tournament. We talked about this in our preview of the event. Poland got lucky last year in capturing a silver medal while only scoring eight goals. Poland needed to be 100% better. How they got worse is baffling. Scoring only 6 goals in five games on 200 shots is bad. As I just said the goalies are great, but you have to shoot better than 3%. Every other team in the group had to face the same goalies, and Poland scored just about half the amount of goals as every other team. Poland’s top forwards, depth, and defense all played bad. What was especially bad was the powerplay.

Throw Away The Powerplay

You must take advantage of the powerplay when you’re up against these top goalies and clubs on an equal or better level. This was another concern I had after Poland went 1 for 5 on the powerplay against Denmark in a game they lost 6-4 during the Four Nations tournament. Poland’s powerplay was dreadful and a pain to watch. Poland went 1 for 20, including 0-6 in the crucial one-goal game versus Italy. They lacked creativity, had bad shot choices, and the wrong players were on the ice. It felt like nothing changed during the tournament, no matter how bad it got. A lack of change is on the coaching staff.

The Dud of a Debut

Joe Butkevich successfully debuted in his first week with Poland, winning the Four Nations tournament, but his IIHF debut can only be described as a dud. Poland and he went into this tournament with gold ambitions. He talked about them in an interview with Planet of Hockey and shared his goal of helping Polish players with the little things. Poland going from two straight silvers and being a game away from promotion to being relegated to Division 2 for the first time since 2016 is a disaster. I don’t know if it was overthinking or a language barrier, but this team especially looks worse regarding the little things. I agree with Joe Butkevich on a lot of the things that need to be improved. I also don’t believe you can do those things when you are not in Poland full-time. Poland is going to have to reevaluate this coaching decision immediately.

What is Next?

What is next? This feels like a wasted year for Poland, that turns into two wasted years or more trying to escape Division 2 now. Was the past tournaments just a bit of luck behind outstanding goaltending performances by Sass, or is Poland a team that belongs in Division 1? This tournament didn’t look like a team that belongs in Division one. Poland played well the entire EWHL season but had no chemistry. Poland has players in strong leagues around Europe, but no one stepped up as a star. Poland is going to be in Division 2 next year. With that lower competition I would say its best to try out a lot more young players, especially on the defense and adding hockey prodigy Malgorzata Zakrzewska.

Quick Thoughts

• Congrats to former Polish national team and GKS Tychy forward Jaroslaw Rzeszutko on his coaching debut. He served as an assistant coach for Poland at the tournament.
• Poland’s penalty killing was also a mess, they finished with 66.67 penalty kill rate, while also taking the second most penalties.
• Poland’s top line all played well, but were caught at times trying to lead too much and mistakes happened. With how the rest of the lineup played though, Pozniewska, Onyshchenko, and Sikorska had no choice but to try and carry.

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