Respect has been hard for Romania to gain at the IIHF World Championship Division I Group A level. Every year, the Romanians are the consensus pick for relegation and every year they manage to barely escape it. This year was something different, though. When the team left the ice after its final game – a 4-2 win over Japan – it had nine points, tied for first with Slovenia, and still with a chance at promotion to the elite level.
“I don’t think many people believed in us,” said captain Roberto Gliga. “It’s certainly a big, big surprise, I think everyone can agree on that. I think it’s clear we surpassed our expectations.”
Expectations have never been high for the Romanian team. Not around the hockey world and not even inside Romania, it seems. Between 2017 and 2019, Romania was promoted twice and suddenly found itself in Division I Group A, where it’s remained ever since. In 2022, the Romanians lost all four games but no team was relegated as Group A was returned to six teams the following year. In 2023, they managed a 3-2 win over Lithuania to avoid the basement but were outscored 24-6 in their other four games.
This past summer, the Romanian Ice Hockey Federation went looking for a new head coach for its national team and approached Dave MacQueen, a longtime OHL coach and one-time NHL assistant who’d spent the previous four seasons coaching Corona Brasov in Romania, and was therefore familiar with many of the country’s top players. MacQueen was blunt with them.
“They said our goal was to stay in the group. I said, ‘You’ve got the wrong coach then.’”
MacQueen explained: “I don’t know if it’s ever possible, but if you don’t have bigger goals, that’s always going to be the mindset of the players: win one game, stay in the group, job done. I just wanted our guys to have the mindset that that wasn’t good enough. Our goal right from the beginning with these guys was to win as many games as possible and show the rest of the world that Romania can produce some good hockey players.”
Sure enough, Romania lost their first two games of this year’s tournament to Italy and Romania by identical 6-1 scores, and it looked like they’d be in tough to beat anyone.
But there was a reason the team started poorly. Most of the players were tied up with the Erste Liga finals until just a week before the start of the tournament, and therefore they played no exhibition games before their first game. But with a day of practice after the Italy game, they looked better against Slovenia, even if the final score was no better.
Then, with nobody giving them a chance against Hungary, the Romanians surprised everybody and won. Tied 1-1 into the last minute of regulation time, Otto Sandor Szekely carried the puck in from the right wing, cut across the front of the net on his forehand and, in close, took a shot that the Hungarian goalie got a piece of and dribbled across the goal line.
“That was crazy!” Gliga said after the game. “To be honest, we weren’t really expecting that but we tried our luck and it was an unbelievable feeling. Even the goal scorer couldn’t believe it – I could see it on his face.
“We’ve taken baby steps,” Gliga continued. “In the first game there were a few glimpses where we played well, and then against Slovenia, we had almost two periods where we were in the game, and now we’ve taken the next step where we played the whole game well.”
And suddenly there was hope. The next game was a 3-2 win over Korea with another late winning goal – shorthanded this time. With one game left, the Romanians were out of the basement and were still in contention for promotion.
“Before the tournament, if somebody said we’d have a chance to go up before our last game, I’d say you’re a fool,” said goaltender Zoltan Toke. “But right now, if Hungary wins tonight, we’ve got a chance if we win tomorrow. You never know.”
After the 4-2 win over Japan to close out their schedule in Saturday’s opening game, the Romanians knew their chances to advance were slim, but they were nonetheless satisfied with what they’d accomplished.
“We’ll watch the games and if some of the other teams help us out, that’s great,” said Gliga. “But if not, we’re still satisfied with ourselves and we’ll come back to Division IA next year with more experience and confidence.”
Experience and confidence have been building for several years now. The core of this team has been together since the days of Division II Group A seven years ago. “Since then, we’ve gained a lot of experience, we’ve matured, we play smarter, and we’ve improved from playing at a higher level in the World Championship,” said Gliga. “Most of us also play in a common league with Hungary in the Erste Liga, so that’s also helped us get better.”
Gliga also said “It’s a lot about the systems” played under Coach MacQueen. “We focused a lot on defence, we did a great job there, and I think that’s the key. You can’t come in here and win without it.”
Without much preparation time, the Romanians arrived in Bolzano at 1:30 AM last Saturday, about 11 hours before their first game to face a rested Italian team playing at home, and it showed. But they got better.
“Then even though we lost 6-1 to Slovenia, I saw some good things, and I knew we’d be motivated against Hungary,” said MacQueen. “I thought if we played within our structure, we had a chance. And once we got the first win, you could just see the confidence grow in our guys.”
Ultimately, Romania finished with nine points – tied with Slovenia and Italy – but finished fourth in the final rankings after tiebreakers were applied. Romania will again be back in Division I Group A next season for the fourth straight year. It might be the first year, however, that anyone finally believes they can stay, or even dream about moving up.