The Australian men’s national under-18 team have lost 2–5 to the Chinese men’s national under-18 team in their second game of the 2023 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 World Championship Division II Group B tournament in Sofia, Bulgaria. Australia’s goals were scored by Finlay Gordon and Brayden Maybee, with Maybee’s being his first in international competition. The IIHF award for best Australian player of the match was given to defender Luka Ouimette.
In the other games of the day the Netherlands defeated Chinese Taipei 8–1 and Bulgaria shutout Belgium 4–0. At the end of the second round Australia remains last on the standings while the Netherlands lead with six points. The teams have a rest day today and return on 30 March where Australia will take on Chinese Taipei for their third game of the competition. The two teams recently met in an exhibition game prior to the tournament where Australia won 8–6 and last met at the World Championship level in 2016 where Australia won 6–3.
Game summary
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| China | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
Standings
| Team | GP | W | OTW | OTL | L | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Netherlands | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| China | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Bulgaria | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Chinese Taipei | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Belgium | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Australia | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
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