Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan produce Harbin ice hockey classic

Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan produce Harbin ice hockey classic

Harbin, China, February 3, 2025: If the first action on the first morning of the 9th Asian Winter Games is anything to go, Harbin 2025 is set to be a classic.

With the opening ceremony still four days away, the men’s ice hockey competition got underway Monday morning with a Group B preliminary round game between Kuwait and Kyrgyzstan at the Harbin Ice Hockey Arena.

And what a cracking game it was!

Kuwait looked to be on course for a famous victory, leading 7-3 in the second period, only for the Central Asians to come roaring back to tie the game at 8-8 with only 34 seconds left on the clock – and then win it 9-8 just 19 seconds into overtime.

“It was damn hard,” is how Kyrgyzstan forward Islambek Abdyraev summed up this see-saw encounter.

“I think the fact that it was the first game, not only for us but for the whole tournament, it was pretty early, so I think it was hard because of that.

“But it was good that we managed to get back there and win it.  It means a lot. I hope we can continue this way but even better.”

On the fluctuating fortunes of the two teams, Abdyraev added: “That was crazy. I think we saw that the other team was also struggling - they didn’t have a lot of guys playing. They had the same guys on the ice. We saw that - and we tried to just add a little more spirit so we can get through it. As soon as we scored the game-tying goal we knew that in overtime we got it.”

Abdyraev described Kuwait’s performance as “pretty good”. 

“We faced them two years ago and the game was completely different. We had like a 10-goal differential against them, so this year they showed up.”

Kuwait’s head coach, Andris Bartkevics, admitted it was “very hard” playing with only two lines and that Kyrgyzstan was two levels higher in terms of international standing – second tier compared to fourth tier.

He said the most important thing was to improve their defence in front of the net before the next game.

“If we don’t have the power to play, to run, we must concentrate to stay and to fight closer to the net in our slot zone,” he added.

Overall, coach Bartkevics said the Kuwaiti players, management and officials could feel proud of their performance, especially as Kyrgyzstan was ranked two levels higher.

Kuwait led 5-3 after the first period and 7-5 after the second period, only for Kyrgyzstan to come back and take the third period 3-1 to set up overtime.

Mamed Seifulov was the Kyrgyzstan hero with five goals, including the late leveller at 59:26 and the overtime winner, and one assist for six points. 

Ilia Drozdetskikh led Kuwait with four goals and four assists for eight points, ably supported by Anton Tcibin with three goals and three assists for six points and Valery Budzevich with five assists.

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