Photo Source: polskihokej.eu

Poland’s return to the top was the feel-good story of the 2024 IIHF World Championship. It was rare to see a country return after 22 years, and Poland received congratulations from the hockey world. Still, most other teams and media saw Poland making the Worlds as the furthest they would go. Poland would be happy to be there and a free win for teams in group play.  When you look at the rosters, it makes sense. Poland will go against top teams, with most of the roster being NHL regulars, while the remaining players play in the best leagues across Europe. Poland has only one player who plays in another country’s top league full-time. 

Poland had no intentions of lying down at this tournament. It had been 8,042 days since the Red and White had competed at this level, and they planned to take full advantage of it. The World Championship was being hosted in Ostrava, right in Poland’s backyard. Polish fans flocked to the event and rivaled passionate Latvian fans to open the tournament. The clash of Poland vs. Latvia was attended by over 9,000 fans and carried the noise and passion of a crowd with 20,000. With a hot crowd behind them, Poland would grab the first lead of the game. The youngest player in the red and white, Krzysztof Macias, scored the first goal in 22 years. The last player to score for Poland was hockey legend Mariusz Czerkawski in their 2002 5-2 win over Japan. It was also Poland’s first goal in the tournament’s round-robin portion since 1992. In a game that was a roller coaster of emotions, Poland would fall 5-4 in overtime. Grabbing a point versus last year’s bronze medalist made a lot of noise and showed Poland wasn’t afraid. 

In their next game, they were up against the boogeyman of the tournament—a Swedish roster with 18 NHL players that are stars of the NHL. Sweden’s opening lineup was Adrian Kempe, Joel Eriksson Ek, and Lucas Raymond on offense, with Victor Hedman and Erik Karlsson on defense. In addition, it was Minnesota Wild’s starting goalie Filip Gustavsson in net . It would have been an achievement if Poland had kept this under ten goals against. It looked like it was going to be a blowout early as well, with Sweden scoring twice in the first seven minutes off some back door passes. Instead, over the 33 minutes, Sweden would only add one more goal. Then to open the third, in an odd goal from behind the net, Alan Łyszczarczyk made it a two-goal deficit. Sweden would add two more goals on a double minor penalty in the final 10 minutes. Poland achieved a great result with a 5-1 loss and improved as the game continued. They killed off the first three penalties and kept pace with Sweden for grade-A scoring chances. Compared to the opening main event of the tournament, team USA team lost 5-2 against the Swedes. 

“When you say Poland and hockey, it doesn’t really go hand in hand all the time, but they’re a good hockey team” – Erik Karlsson after Sweden’s 5-1 Win over Poland

Poland’s performance in the tournament has earned them praise and exceeded expectations. However, there are no points awarded for moral victories or keeping it competitive. If Poland wants to maintain this momentum and attention on the sport back home, they must stay up in the Elite. And to stay in the Elite, they need to win. The upcoming games against France and Kazakhstan present the best chances for Poland to secure a victory. With the point they grabbed against Latvia, it seems a win in any fashion may be enough to clinch their position at the top. 

The matchup versus France will come first on Tuesday, May 14th. France is a mainstay of the Elite Division. Since 2008, they have played in the Elite, only being relegated to Division 1 Group A (D1A) once. They would never go down and play in Division One due to the pandemic and suspensions of Belarus and Russia. With their lifeline to avoid D1A, France avoided relegation at the past two World Championships. France started this year with a match against Kazakhstan. It was a poor effort, as they fell 3-1 to open the tournament. They scored exactly two minutes into the game but never found the back of the net after that. In a wild game versus Latvia, like Poland, they would take the defending bronze medalist to overtime and lose after a Latvia goal in the final second. After two games, Poland has looked like the better team, but that doesn’t mean France isn’t more talented overall. This game has likely turned into the deciding game of the tournament for both countries. Goaltending was considered the weak point for France, and it has held true so far. Both teams will be coming off a rest day, knowing that only on day three their tournament fate may be on the line. 

If Poland is unsuccessful with a win against France, they will have an additional good chance against a more familiar opponent. Poland and Kazakhstan have met several times in D1A and at the Olympic Qualifiers. Poland holds the last win in the matchup after a fantastic game by John Murray. At that game, Kazakhstan was using plenty of big KHL imports. All of those naturalized players are gone. This roster may be weaker than what Poland once saw, but it is still a KHL team. They did open up the tournament with a big win over France but then fell to Slovakia 6-2. That is similar to the score that Poland fell to Slovakia in a pre-Worlds game at 6-1. Kazakhstan is the much harder fight, but only after a sample size of two games. On the bright side, Poland will be rested, while Kazakhstan will be coming off a hard battle against team USA. Polish hockey has proved it belongs. Poland can now control its destiny if it moves on from moral victories to actual wins.

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