Australian Mighty Roos coach Ryan O’Handley is confident that the 22 players selected for the 2015 Division II Group A World Championships will challenge for the gold medal.

The squad is predominantly made up of AIHL players, with only goalkeeper Anthony Kimlin not currently playing in the competition, despite winning a Goodall Cup with the Sydney Ice Dogs in 2013.

At the event set to be played in Reykjavik, Iceland between April 13th to 19th, O’Handley said that the team’s last World Championship experience gives him the confidence they can return to Division 1.

“We know from the 2014 tournament that we can compete with anyone at the tournament,” O’Handley said. “Romania will be a challenge as they are coming down from Division I.  Iceland at home will also be tough, but I am confident we will challenge for a gold medal with this group of players.”

Facing off against Spain (30th in the IIHF world rankings), Romania (27th), Serbia (31st), Iceland (35th) and Belgium (36th), the 34th ranked are a mix of youth and experience with 14 players returning from last year,

Of the eight new faces, Brian Funes, David Dunwoodie, David Huxley, Jamie Bourke, Jordan Kyros and Wehebe Darge all have experience playing for Australia in the past.

The other two players - Paul Baranzelli and Robert Malloy - are former imports who have gained residency and citizenship.

With such as strong team selected, O’Handley said that the selection game held in September had helped his selection decision and that he was pleased by the level of competition for spots on the squad.

We get to see guys in game situations that we may not see them in during the season because an import may play that role,” O’Handley said. “It also may sound simple, but as coaches, we want to know how well players can play the game. We want to see how they make decisions and what kind of hockey sense the players have. We don’t want skilled players who are good in practice, we want players who can play the game. The only way to really learn that is to evaluate players in a game.”

“There were some very good players who were not selected for the team, but it is a competitive process and we had to make some very difficult decisions.  From a National Program point of view, it is a good thing to have to have this level of competition for spots.”

Heading into the tournament, the Mighty Roos are going to ensure that there is not repeat of last World Championships where the players hit the ice mere hours after landing in Serbia. O’Handley said being ready to make a quick start to the tournament is imperative to bring home the gold medal.

“Our preparation will include more exhibition games and we are going to get to Iceland a day earlier than normal to make sure we have a quick start,” he said. “We are going to schedule three exhibition games in Finland the week before the tournament.”

The full Mighty Roos squad for the 2015 Division II Group A World Championships is: