Netherlands defeat Australia 5-1 at IIHF World Championships

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The Netherlands have recorded a 5-1 win over Australia in Belgrade overnight, in the third game of the Division 2A tournament for each nation.

In their first meeting since 2018, the Dutch overwhelmed the Mighty Roos’ blueline after conceding a goal early, with 4 unanswered tallies to run away with the three points.

The Newcastle Northstars’ Casey Kubara would draw first blood for Australia on the power play just ten minutes into the game, after D’Artagnan Joly was penalized for tripping.

However, the 1-0 lead would be short-lived after Bjorn Borgman answered just 28 seconds later at even strength to pull the Dutch even. Their lead would be extended via Guus van Nes on the power play a few minutes later, after the Northstars’ Brian Funes was ruled off for delay of game.

The Netherlands would outshoot Australia a whopping 12-3 after the first frame, as the Roos struggled to keep the puck out of their own end.

Joly continued the scoring for the Netherlands less than 4 minutes from the intermission at even strength, to widen the gap to 3-1. It would prove to be the only goal of the period in a penalty-filled 20 minutes, which saw Australia have three chances on the power play but failed to convert each time in a dour second period which generated few chances.

The Dutch kept their foot to the floor in the third period but were frustrated by Aleksi Toivonen for most of the final stanza. That was until Van Nes’ second of the game eventuated 5 minutes from the end of the game, off of a dish from Joly. Van Nes would go on to complete the hat-trick to put the icing on the cake for the Netherlands, with a 5-1 win moving them to 3 wins from 3 games played and staying on top of the standings with 9 points.

The Netherlands outshot Australia 30-11 over 60 minutes.

Cedrick Andree stopped 10 of 11 shots faced in the win for the Netherlands, while Toivonen went 25 from 30 in the loss.

Australia now sits in last place on the group standings with just two games to play. The Netherlands remain on top on 6 points and equal with hosts Serbia, who play Belgium later today.

Australia now faces the UAE on Saturday night at 830pm AEST, in a pivotal clash to avoid relegation to Division 2B.