Turkey national women's ice hockey team

The Turkish women's national ice hockey team, established in late 2006, is controlled by the Turkish Ice Hockey Federation ( _tr. Türkiye Buz Hokeyi Federasyonu, TBHF). The team made its first appearance at the 2007 Women's World Championships Division IV tournament held between March 26 through April 1 in Miercurea Ciuc, Romania.

Women's ice hockey sport in Turkey began in 2005 with the forming of women's clubs in Ankara. The first official competitions were a cup and a tournament held in 2006. [ [http://hurarsiv.hurriyet.com.tr/goster/haber.aspx?id=5560389&tarih=2006-12-06 Newspaper "Hürriyet" December 6, 2006] tr icon] The first women's ice hockey league started on February 17, 2007 with the participation of 6 teams from Ankara and one team from Kocaeli. [ [http://www.sendeyolla.com/medyadetay.aspx?&tid=2&cid=35&id=42016 Newspaper "Hürriyet" February 18, 2007] tr icon]

The national team was selected following national team camps. The team coach is Canadian Clive R. Tolley from Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, who has assumed the head coach duties for the Turkish senior men's, juniors' (under 20) and escoir (under 18) teams for 4 years term with a trial period of January-June 2007. [ [http://www.ajansspor.com/haber/164278 AjansSpor] tr icon]

Team members

Team members selected to take part at the 2008 World Championship. [ [http://stats.iihf.com/Hydra/141/IHW1410TUR_33_2_0.pdf International Ice Hockey federation official website] ]

Goaltenders
* 1 - Emine Özer (ODTÜ)
* 19 - Didem Güran (Kocaeli BB Kağıtspor)
* 20 - Berfu Merve Bolulu(ANKA Spor Kulübü)Defence
* 6 - Tutku Demir (Ankara Milenyum)
* 8 - Sinem Yalçındağ (Ankara Polis Akademisi)
* 10 - Sinem Doğu, (Başkent Yıldızları)
* 14 - Nilay Günay (Anka)
* 21 - Tuba Koçak (Ankara Polis Akademisi)
* 23 - Ozlem Yerebakan (Başkent Yıldızları)
* 24 - Makbule Atalı (Kocaeli BB Kağıtspor)

Forwards
* 3 - Ayşe Nazar Çoban (ODTÜ)
* 4 - İrem Bener (Ankara Milenyum)
* 5 - Zeynep Yavuzarslan (Başkent Yıldızları)
* 7 - Mefaret Veziroğlu (Ankara Polis Akademisi)
* 9 - Yeliz Yüksel (Ankara Polis Akademisi)
* 11 - İrem Ayan (Ankara Polis Akademisi)
* 13 - Nazlı Karabük (Ankara Milenyum)
* 15 - Elif Yılmaz (Truva Paten)
* 17 - Tuba Dokur (Kocaeli BB Kağıtspor)
* 22 - Elif Ulaş Captain (Ankara Milenyum)

2007 World Women's Championship

Turkish squad made its international debut at the World Championship held in Miercurea Ciuc, Romania between March 26 through April 1, playing in the Division IV, which got together from the teams of Romania, Estonia, New Zealand, Iceland and Croatia besides of Turkey.

The women's team played its first match against the host team Romania and was defeated by 27-0 (7-0, 11-0, 9-0). [ [http://www.haberler.com/bayan-buz-hokeyi-milli-takimi-yenildi-haberi/ News March 27, 2007] tr icon] Turkish women lost their second match to Estonia with 1-14 (0-6, 0-5, 1-3), [ [http://www.ajansspor.com/haber/174979 AjansSpor March 27, 2007] tr icon] while Elif Ulaş scored the national team's first ever goal in the history. [ [http://www.iihf.com/Hydra/Tournaments_07/output/wwiv/hydra.iihf.com/data/iihf/output/xml/119/IHW119905_74_1_0.pdfIntenational Ice Hockey Federation 2007 Championship] ] The third match was lost to New Zealand with 19-0 (9-0, 6-0, 4-0). [ [http://www.ajansspor.com/haber/175338 AjansSpor March 29, 2007] tr icon] Turkey was defeated in its 4th match by Iceland with 1-12 (0-3, 0-3, 1-6). The only Turkish goal was scored by İrem Ayan. The women's squad lost against Croatia with 1-19. The team ranked last (6th).

2008 World Women's Championship

Women's national team took part at the 2008 Women's World Ice Hockey Championships - Division IV held in Miercurea-Ciuc, Romania from March 23 to March 29, 2008 and ranked again last (6th) having been defeated in all its matches against Iceland (0-9), New Zealand (0-16), Romania (1-9), Estonia (1-8) and South Africa (1-8).

World ranking

The Turkey national women's team ranks last (33rd) at the IIHF's 2007 world final ranking list.

Notables

*First match: March 27, 2007: Women's World Ice Hockey Championships, Division IV in Miercurea Ciuc, Romania. ROM 27-0 TUR
*Largest victory: none
*Largest defeat: March 27, 2007: Women's World Ice Hockey Championships, Division IV in Miercurea Ciuc, Romania. ROM 27-0 TUR

ee also

* Turkey national men's ice hockey team
* Turkish Ice Hockey Federation

References