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Greece men's national ice hockey team

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Greece
Shirt badge/Association crest
Nickname(s)Hellas (Ελλάς)
AssociationHellenic Ice Sports Federation
Head coachGrigoris Apostolidis
CaptainDimitrios Kalyvas
Most gamesOrestis Tilios (41)
Top scorerDimitrios Kalyvas (26)
Most pointsDimitrios Kalyvas (55)
Team colors   
IIHF codeGRE
Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
Home colours
Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
Away colours
Ranking
Current IIHFNR (27 May 2024)[1]
Highest IIHF44 (2011–14)
Lowest IIHF49 (2015–16)
First international
 Greece 15–3 Turkey 
(Johannesburg, South Africa; 21 March 1992)
Biggest win
 Greece 13–0 Georgia 
(Abu Dhabi, UAE; 15 October 2012)
Biggest defeat
 Israel 26–2 Greece 
(Cape Town, South Africa; 15 April 2011)
IIHF World Championships
Appearances12 (first in 1992)
Best result29th (1992)
International record (W–L–T)
19–36–1
Medal record
Division III / Pool C
Silver medal – second place 2010 Luxembourg (Group A)
Bronze medal – third place 1992 South Africa Pool C2

The Greece national ice hockey team (Greek: Εθνική Ελλάδος χόκεϊ επί πάγου) is the national ice hockey team of Greece and as an associate member of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) that competed in Division III of the IIHF World Championships.

The Greece National Ice hockey team has competed in 10 IIHF World Championship Division III (1992, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013) 4 World Championship Qualifications (1993, 1996, 2008 and 2012) and 1 Olympic Qualification (1996)

Georgia and Greece during the 2013 IIHF World Championship Division III Qualification Tournament 2
Georgia and Greece during the 2013 World Championship Division III Qualification. Greece won the match 13–0.

The Greece National ice hockey Team's greatest result is the Silver Medal at the 2010 IIHF World Championship Division III that was held in Luxembourg, followed by the bronze medal at the 1992 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships Pool C held in South Africa.

At present time, Greece is unable to compete in IIHF tournaments because it cannot fulfill the minimum standard of having one operational "Olympic size" indoor rink in the country. The National Team last competed in the 2013 IIHF World Championship Division III that were held in South Africa and will only compete again officially when a regular ice rink opens and the Greek Ice Hockey Championship starts up again.

History

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Ice hockey started in Greece in 1984 by players that returned to Greece from abroad. The first official Greek Championship was held in 1989 at the Peace and Friendship Stadium with five teams taking place. It was the first time that ice hockey games were held in an official-size rink in the country. 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 national team was formed and took place in the World Championships Pool C2 held in South Africa. With only two weeks of serious training abroad and the support of the Greeks of South Africa, the men's national team finished ahead of three other new hockey nations, winning the bronze medal, placing them 29th overall.

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 Dimitris Kalyvas (last captain of the Greece National Team) decided to start efforts to bring the National Team back to international competition. He focused his efforts with the Greek Government and specifically the Ministry of Sports in Greece, but also with the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). After many months of effort he convinced the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) that the National Team is still active and that development of the sport is continuing in the country despite not having an ice rink. He later received 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 by the IIHF in 2007 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 Bosnia-Herzegovina 10 – 1 in their first international game after almost 10 years and Armenia 8 – 5 (although Armenia was forced to forfeit each game 5 – 0 for using non-eligible players). After the qualification that gave new life to Ice Hockey in Greece, they went on to take part in 6 consecutive World Championships Div. III. From 2008 until 2013, highlighted by a second-place finish (Silver Medal) in their group (third overall) in 2010.

Many articles were written at the time of Dimitris' efforts to bring the National team back to international competition. The 2007 article written by Bill Meltzer and posted on the IIHF.com website titled: Greek hockey - against all odds: Efforts by leaders like Kalyvas bring the Greece national team back to IIHF competitions is a perfect example.

Dimitris Kalyvas

Dimitris went on to be the longest running Captain of the National team and one of the longest running Captains in international ice hockey history wearing the "C" on his jersey for 15 years. He is also the top scorer of Greek Ice Hockey history having scored 26 goals and 55 points helping the National team on and off the ice.

Unfortunately, despite the efforts of the National team and Dimitris continuous efforts off the ice, the IIHF determined in 2013 that the team will not be able to participate in any World Championship programs until an Olympic sized ice rink is constructed in the country.[2]

In December 2023, it was announced that Greece would ice a team at the 2024 IIHF Development Cup, a tournament for nations that can't participate in the IIHF World Championship, due to the lack of an Olympic sized ice rink. Greece will play against Liechtenstein, Ireland, Argentina, Colombia, Brazil & Portugal.

National Team Participations

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Future Greece National Team

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In order for Greece to create a national team again that will participate in IIHF World Championships, the following need to occur:

1) an Olympic-size rink needs to open in the country

2) a Greek League of at least 4 Teams needs to get organized.

If players with Greek heritage who are living abroad want to play for the Greece National Team, then they need to follow the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) rules [3] below.

According to the rules of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), which is the governing body of Ice Hockey Worldwide:

When a player has multiple citizenship (for example Greek-Canadian or Greek-American, etc.) and he/she has never represented any country in any IIHF championship or an Olympic competition or in qualifications to these competitions, then in order to play for the country of his/her choice he/she must:

a) Hold a passport of the country they chose to represent. In this case a Greek Passport.

b) prove that he has participated at least two consecutive hockey seasons and 16 consecutive months (480 days) in the national competitions of his new country after his 10th birthday (In our case the Greek Ice Hockey League where games are played in Greece). Female players need to have participated on a consistent basis for at least one hockey season and have been member of the new national association for at least 8 consecutive months (240 days) during that period.

c) Is a resident in the country that he/she wishes to represent (lives in Greece) during which period he/she has neither transferred to another country nor played ice hockey within any other country.

After following the above a player would be eligible to play for the national team of Greece.

All-times top Scorers of the National Team

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Men's Hellenic National Team (including 2013 World Championship Div. III)

Name Goals Assists Points
Dimitris Kalyvas (C) 26 29 55
George Adamidis 16 17 33
Ioannis Koufis 21 8 29
Dimitrios Malamas 14 15 29
Nikos Papadopoulos 5 23 28
Georgios Kalyvas (A) 13 12 25
Orestis Tilios (A) 12 12 24

2013 World Championship Division III

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2013 Greece National Team
Forwards
# Player Position Shoots Date of birth Club
2 Pavlos Kasampoulis F L Jul. 21, 1988 Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
3 Polykarpos Amanatidis F L Aug. 23, 1979 Aris Thessaloniki
6 Georgios Kouleles F R Oct. 2, 1983 Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
7 Eleftherios Fournogerakis F R Oct. 19, 1979 Mad Cows Athens
8 Iason Pachos F R Aug. 3, 1985 Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
10 Alexandros Valsamas-Rallis F R Oct. 1, 1984 Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
12 Dimitrios Malamas F R May 12, 1973 Aris Thessaloniki
13 Ioannis Koufis F R Jun. 28, 1965 Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
17 Panagiotis Koulouris LW L Sep. 2, 1983 Aris Thessaloniki
19 Georgios Kalyvas F L Dec. 6, 1978 Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
21 Dimitris Kalyvas F L Dec. 11, 1973 Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
22 Kyriakos Adamidis F L Dec. 03, 1990 PAOK Thessaloníki HC
Defencemen
# Player Position Shoots Date of birth Club
5 Nikolaos Chatzigiannis D L Jan. 30, 1978 Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
9 Ioannis Ziakas D L Jul. 31, 1972 Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
11 Orestis Tilios D L Nov. 7, 1974 Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
14 Diogenis Souras D R Sep. 8, 1986 Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
15 Antonis Kanellis D L May 29, 1991 Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
24 Nikolaos Papadopoulos D R Dec. 22, 1987 PAOK Thessaloníki HC
16 Marios Libertos D R Jun. 14, 1970 Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
Goaltenders
# Player Position Catches Date of birth Club
1 Georgios Fiotakis G L Jan. 25, 1971 Albatros Athens
25 Dalibor Ploutsis G L Nov. 15, 1976 Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
Staff
Title Staff Member
Head coach Igor Apostolidis
Assistant coach Panagiotis Efkarpidis
Team Leader Nikos Bliagos
Staff Georgia Proimou

Player statistics

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# Name GP Goals Assists Points SOG PIM
17 Panagiotis Koulouris 5 4 2 6 16 14
21 Dimitris Kalyvas (C) 5 0 6 6 16 2
24 Nikolaos Papadopoulos 4 0 3 3 12 14
19 Georgios Kalyvas (A) 5 2 0 2 13 0
7 Eleftherios Fournogerakis 5 1 1 2 3 2
10 Alexandros Valsamas-Rallis 5 1 1 2 11 0
13 Ioannis Koufis 5 1 0 1 15 4
11 Orestis Tilios (A) 5 1 0 1 11 2
22 Kyriakos Adamidis 5 1 0 1 11 2
8 Iason Pachos 5 0 1 1 8 10
4 Polykarpos Amanatidis 5 0 0 0 8 6
5 Nikolaos Chatzigiannis 5 0 0 0 1 8
6 Georgios Kouleles 5 0 0 0 2 0
14 Diogenis Souras 5 0 0 0 1 0
2 Pavlos Kasampoulis 5 0 0 0 1 0
16 Marios Lybertos 5 0 0 0 1 2
15 Antonis Kanellis 5 0 0 0 1 0
12 Dimitris Malamas 1 0 0 0 0 27
1 Giorgos Fiotakis 5 0 0 0 4
25 Spyros-Dalibor Ploutsis 5 0 0 0 4

2010 World Championship

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National Team: 2010 IIHF Silver Medal

The Greece national ice hockey team competed in the 2010 IIHF World Championship Division III which was held in Luxembourg from April 14-17. The team was successful in winning the silver medal; gold went to Ireland and the host country Luxembourg won bronze

April 14
16:30		Greece 7–1
(2–1, 1–0, 4–0)		 United Arab EmiratesPatinoire de Kockelscheuer
Attendance: 131
Game reference
Ntalimpor PloutsisGoaliesKhaled Al Suwaidi
Ahmed Al Dhaheri		Referee:
Benny Haxelmans
2:30 – Koufis (Papadopoulous)1 – 0
1 – 113:45 – Al. Dhaheri (Al Zaabi, Al Darmaki)
14:23 – G. Kalyvas (D. Kalyvas, Papadopoulous)2 – 1
25:55 – Koufis (D. Kalyvas, Lempesis)3 – 1
41:37 – G. Kalyvas (D. Kalyvas, Pachos) (PP)4 – 1
49:13 – Pachos (G. Kalyvas) (PP)5 – 1
53:09 – Koufis (Papadopoulous) (PP)6 – 1
55:15 – G. Kalyvas (D. Kalyvas)(PP)7 – 1
20 minPenalties20 min
32Shots35
April 15
16:30		Greece 1–3
(1–0, 0–3, 0–0)		 IrelandPatinoire de Kockelscheuer
Attendance: 102
Game reference
Ntalimpor PloutsisGoaliesKevin KellyReferee:
Wilhelm Schimm
3:53 – D. Kalyvas (Papadopoulous, Tilios) (PP2)1 – 0
1 – 125:00 – Hamill (M. Morrison, O'Driscoll) (PP)
1 – 232:35 – M. Morrison (Ewen, Martin)
1 – 336:26 – M. Morrison (Hamill) (SH)
37 minPenalties30 min
15Shots38
April 17
20:00		Luxembourg 1–2
(0–0, 0–1, 1–1)		 GreecePatinoire de Kockelscheuer
Attendance: 1,150
Game reference
Philippe LepageGoaliesNtalimpor PloutsisReferee:
Wilhelm Schimm
0 – 129:31 – G. Kalyvas (D. Kalyvas) (PP2)
0 – 252:23 – Lambridis (Efkarpidis)
56:27 – Dessouroux (Welter) (PP2)1 – 2
60 minPenalties18 min
27Shots21

Player statistics

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# Name P GP Goals Assists PTS PIM SOG
21 Dimitris Kalyvas (C) F 3 1 5 6 8 10
19 George Kalyvas D 3 4 1 5 4 13
24 Nikolaos Papadopoulos D 3 0 4 4 20 6
13 Ioannis Koufis F 3 3 0 3 8 10
8 Iasonas Pachos F 3 1 2 3 0 5
18 Themistoklis Lambridis F 3 1 0 1 8 8
3 Lazaros Efkarpidis F 3 0 1 1 0 1
11 Orestis Tilios (A) D 3 0 1 1 2 3
22 Kostas Lembessis D 3 0 1 1 2 5
23 Panagiotis Iatridis D 3 0 0 1 0 1
5 Nikos Chatzigiannis D 3 0 0 0 0 1
6 George Kouleles F 3 0 0 0 0 0
12 Kyriakos Adamidis F 3 0 0 0 2 2
9 Ioannis Ziakas (A) D 3 0 0 0 2 0
10 Alexandros Rallis-Valsamas F 3 0 0 0 25 3
14 Diogenis Souras D 3 0 0 0 0 0

P: POSITIONS, GP: GAMED PLAYED, PTS: POINTS, PIM: PENALTY IN MINUTES, SOG: SHOTS ON GOAL

Goalie statistics

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# Name GP MIP GA SVS SOG SVS% W L
1 George Fiotakis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
25 Dalibor Ploutsis 3 179:03 5 85 90 94.44 2 1

GP:Games played, MIP:Minutes played, GA:Goals against, SVS:Saves, SVS%:Saves percentage, W:Wins, L:Loss

2009 World Championships

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Date Game Result
10.04.2009 Ireland -Greece 3:7
11.04.2009 Greece - Mongolia 5 : 0*
13.04.2009 New Zealand -Greece 4 : 3 OT
15.04.2009 Greece - Luxembourg 2:7
16.04.2009 Turkey - Greece 7:1

*Mongolia did not show due to VISA issues

Player statistics

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# Name P GP Goals Assists PTS PIM SOG
21 Dimitris Kalyvas (C) F 4 3 3 6 20 12
15 Grigoris Apostolidis F 4 2 3 5 12 29
24 Nikolaos Papadopoulos D 4 2 3 5 28 17
19 George Kalyvas F 4 3 1 4 2 11
13 Ioannis Koufis F 4 1 2 3 2 6
12 Kyriakos Adamidis F 4 1 1 2 2 2
17 George Adamidis F 4 0 2 2 2 1
3 Lazaros Efkarpidis F 4 1 0 1 2 2
23 Panagiotis Iatridis D 4 0 1 1 2 3
22 Kostas Lembessis D 4 0 1 1 0 1
11 Orestis Tilios (A) D 4 0 1 1 10 7
18 Themistoklis Lambridis F 4 0 1 1 10 2
5 Nikos Chatzigiannis D 4 0 0 0 2 2
6 George Kouleles F 4 0 0 0 0 0
8 Iasonas Pachos F 4 0 0 0 6 3
9 Ioannis Ziakas (A) D 4 0 0 0 2 1
10 Alexandros Rallis-Valsamas F 4 0 0 0 0 4
16 Viktor Mateevitsi F 4 0 0 0 0 1

2008 World Championships

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Date Game Result
31.03.2008 Greece - South Africa 1:5
01.04.2008 Greece - Mongolia 10:4
03.04.2009 DPR Korea - Greece 7:3
05.04.2009 Greece - Turkey 1:9
06.04.2009 Luxembourg - Greece 3-2 OT

Player statistics

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# Name P GP Goals Assists PTS PIM SOG
21 Dimitris Kalyvas (C) F 5 10 2 12 2 34
13 Ioannis Koufis F 5 5 4 9 2 23
24 Nikolaos Papadopoulos D 5 0 8 8 30 20
19 George Kalyvas F 5 0 4 4 14 15
11 Orestis Tilios (A) D 5 0 3 3 12 23
23 Panagiotis Iatridis D 5 0 2 2 6 7
8 Iasonas Pachos F 5 1 0 1 2 8
12 Thanasis Kesidis F 5 1 0 1 4 19
18 Themistoklis Lambridis F 5 0 1 1 8 5
22 Kostas Lembessis D 5 0 1 1 6 4
6 Ioannis Ziakas (A) D 5 0 1 1 14 4
10 Alexandros Rallis-Valsamas F 5 0 1 1 2 5
3 Lazaros Efkarpidis F 5 0 0 0 2 2
5 Nikos Chatzigiannis D 5 0 0 0 2 0
7 Ioannis Giatagantzidis F 5 0 0 0 2 0
14 Diogenis Souras D 5 0 0 0 0 0
4 Fivos Kaminis D 5 0 0 0 0 0
2 Grigoris Apostolidis F 1 0 0 0 0 2

Tournament record

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World Championships

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Year Location Result
1992 Johannesburg, South Africa Bronze in Pool C2 (29th)
1993 Ankara, Turkey 2nd in Pool C qualifying Group 4 (NR)
1995 Johannesburg, South Africa 9th place in Pool C2 (38th)
1996 Metula, Israel 3rd in Pool D qualifying Group 2 (NR)
1998 Krugersdorp / Pretoria, South Africa 8th place in Pool D (40th)
1999 Krugersdorp, South Africa 8th place in Pool D (39th)
2008 Luxembourg City, 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 (43rd)
2011 Cape Town, South Africa 5th place in Division III (45th)
2012 Erzurum, Turkey 5th place in Division III (45th)
2013 Cape Town, South Africa 5th place in Division III (45th)

Development Cup

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Year Location Result
2024 Bratislava, Slovakia To be determined

All-time Record against other nations

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As of 21 April 2013[4]

Team GP W T L GF GA
 Armenia* 1 1 0 0 5 0
 Australia 1 0 0 1 2 10
 Belgium 2 0 1 1 7 19
 Bosnia and Herzegovina 1 1 0 0 10 1
 Georgia 1 1 0 0 13 0
 Iceland 1 1 0 0 8 6
 Ireland 4 1 0 3 14 17
 Israel 5 1 0 4 13 59
 Lithuania 1 0 0 1 1 20
 Luxembourg 7 2 0 5 17 45
 Mongolia 5 5 0 0 29 7
 New Zealand 4 1 0 3 16 22
 North Korea 3 0 0 3 5 18
 South Africa 5 0 0 5 8 50
 Spain 3 0 0 3 2 37
 Turkey 9 3 0 6 36 55
 United Arab Emirates 3 2 0 1 11 6
Total 56 19 1 36 197 372

Note: Greece was awarded a 5–0 victory over Armenia in the 2008 IIHF World Championship Division III Qualification after Armenia forfeited the game due to player eligibility issues. The score of the game was originally an 8–5 for Greece.

All-time Record against other clubs

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As of December 15, 2007[4]

Team GP W T L GF GA
Czech Republic HC Brod 1 0 0 1 2 12
Czech Republic HC Hradiště 1 0 0 1 1 15
Czech Republic HC Veteraní 1 0 0 1 5 15
Czech Republic HC Popelkou 1 0 1 0 7 7
Czech Republic HC Hamag Zlín 1 0 0 1 1 9
Total 5 0 1 4 16 58

1992 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships Group C2

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Here are the Results of Team Greece's first medal winning championship in 1992.

March 21, 1992Turkey 3:15 GreeceJohannesburg, South Africa
March 23, 1992Luxembourg 5:9 GreeceJohannesburg, South Africa
March 24, 1992Greece 1:10 SpainJohannesburg, South Africa
March 26, 1992South Africa 9:4 GreeceJohannesburg, South Africa
March 27, 1992Greece 7:4 IsraelJohannesburg, South Africa

Qualification-

December 6, 1992Greece 10:2 TurkeyTurkey
December 7, 1992Israel 8:1 GreeceTurkey

Articles about the National Team

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References

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  1. ^ "IIHF Men's World Ranking". IIHF. 27 May 2024. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  2. ^ Game over for National Team
  3. ^ IIHF ELIGIBILITY
  4. ^ a b "Greece-Men-All-Time-Results-1.pdf" (PDF). National Teams of Ice Hockey. 15 January 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 January 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
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