Unicycle Hockey World Championships 2000 at UNICON X in Beijing, China

GOLD: SGL Lahimo 1 (Germany)

Moritz Raulfs, Rolf Sander, Stephan Schumacher, Philipp van der Wingen, Christoph Verholt, Marius Wendt

SILVER: Twin City Unicycle Club (USA)

Andy Cotter, Jamey Mossengren, Andrew Schwarz, Colin Schworer, Cameron Ulmer, Ashley Wood, Ryan Wood

BRONZE: Bochum (Germany)

Thorsten Bayer, Michael Claßen, Franziska Feitzinger, Stefan Krampe , Thorsten Leidreiter, Maurice Olivier, Christoph Porschmann, Thomas Röcken, Holger Summer

4th Place: SGL Lahimo 2 (Germany)

Nicole Beaugrand, Lukas Dross, Christan Knels, Marit Münnich , Takafumi Ogasawara, Dominik Schmitt

Tournament Details

For many German unicyclists, and probably for some others as well, the hockey tournament was the main reason for coming to UNICON X in China. 20 teams from 9 countries (China, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, Puerto Rico, Switzerland, USA) registered for the tournament. Amongst them were Bochum, who won the hockey tournament at the previous UNICON, and LaHiMo 1, who came in second last time. When the tournament was almost about to begin, it was noticed that the goals were not yet in the gym. After a long and complicated discussion (via translators) with the Chinese UNICON organizers we figured out that the tournament was supposed to be shifted to another day. However, that would not give us enough time to complete all games. Eventually, we had some provisional goals built at a shop around the corner and the tournament started. On the second day these goals were replaced by very nice, real ice-hockey goals. For various reasons, 4 teams canceled during the tournament: Denmark, Team USA, China 1, and the Didi-team. Thus there were only 16 teams left. Although very regrettable, this gave us an opportunity to catch up on the lost time.

Probably the most exciting game was the quarterfinal between Düsseldorf and LaHiMo 2. The score after regular time was 1:1. In the five minutes extra time each team shot one more goal. That was still a draw and so the decision had to be made in a penalty shooting. Each player of each team had one shot from a distance of 6.50 m. Takafumi Ogasawara, the goal keeper of LaHiMo 2 (at age 60), showed an amazing performance and led his team to a 5:2 victory.

Bochum and LaHiMo 1 already met in the semifinal. So only one of them would reach the final. LaHiMo 1 managed to win this important game 5:3, which is a surprisingly large margin. Normally, games between these two teams are very close with one team shooting the decisive goal just seconds before the end.

The other team to reach the final was TCUC. According to their player Andy Cotter, TCUC is the "best (and only) unicycle-hockey team in the USA". The final was scheduled for two halves of 20 minutes each. Due to a misunderstanding of the time-keeper, the first half was stopped after 15 minutes. Both teams agreed to leave it at that and play the second half at full length. The two finalists were a very uneven pair. On the one hand, LaHiMo consists of a bunch of mediocre unicyclists (none of them can properly glide or coast) with a lot of hockey experience. On the other hand, TCUC has brilliant unicyclists. Unfortunately, however, they don't know what to do with a hockey stick. Okay, okay, I'm exaggerating, but anyway, there's a little bit of truth in it. In the end the hockey experience won over the unicycling skill 23:2 and LaHiMo became the unicycle-hockey world champion 2000.

Group A

GROUP A
POSITION POINTS GOALS
A1 LaHiMo 1 (Germany) 1 6 : 0 18 : 2
A2 TCUC (Twin City Unicycle Club, USA) 2 4 : 2 8 : 3
A3 Switzerland 2 3 2 : 4 3 : 12
A4 Tous en Piste (France) 4 0 : 6 3 : 15

10 minutes each game

GAME GAME RESULT
A1 - A2 LaHiMo 1 - TCUC 2 - 0
A3 - A4 Switzerland 2 - France 2 - 1
A3 - A1 Switzerland 2 - LaHiMo 1 1 - 8
A2 - A4 TCUC - France 5 - 1
A4 - A1 France - LaHiMo 1 1 - 8
A2 - A3 TCUC - Switzerland 2 3 - 0

Group B

GROUP B
POSITION POINTS GOALS
B1 Gallier (Germany) 3 3 : 3 9 : 5
B2 Da Long (Germany) 1 5 : 1 7 : 2
B3 UK (Great Britain) 4 0 : 6 4 : 15
B4 Rest of the world 2 4 : 2 7 : 5

10 minutes each game

GAME GAME RESULT
B1 - B2 Gallier - Da Long 0 - 2
B3 - B4 UK - Rest of the world 2 - 4
B1 - B3 Gallier - UK 7 - 1
B2 - B4 Da Long - Rest of the world 1 - 1
B4 - B1 Rest of the world - Gallier 2 - 2
B2 - B3 Da Long - UK 4 - 1

Group C

GROUP C
POSITION POINTS GOALS
C1 Bochum (Germany) 1 6 : 0 19 : 3
C2 Duesseldorf (Germany) 2 4 : 2 5 : 6
C3 Switzerland 1 3 2 : 4 5 : 8
C4 China 2 4 0 : 6 2 : 14

10 minutes each game

GAME GAME RESULT
C1 - C2 Bochum - Duesseldorf 6 - 1
C3 - C4 Switzerland 1 - China 2 5 - 0
C1 - C3 Bochum - Switzerland 1 6 - 0
C4 - C2 China 2 - Duesseldorf 0 - 2
C4 - C1 China 2 - Bochum 2 - 7
C2 - C3 Duesseldorf - Switzerland 1 2 - 0

Group D

GROUP D
POSITION POINTS GOALS
D1 LaHiMo 2 (Germany) 1 6 : 0 8 : 3
D2 Lunis (Great Britain) 2 4 : 2 6 : 2
D3 Japan 3 2 : 4 4 : 5
D4 Puerto Rico 4 0 : 6 2 : 10

10 minutes each game

GAME GAME RESULT
D1 - D2 LaHiMo 2 - Lunis 2 - 1
D3 - D4 Japan - Puerto Rico 3 - 1
D3 - D1 Japan - LaHiMo 2 1 - 2
D4 - D2 Puerto Rico - Lunis 0 - 3
D4 - D1 Puerto Rico - LaHiMo 2 1 - 4
D2 - D3 Lunis - Japan 2 - 0

The first 2 teams of each group continue to the quarterfinal.

Quarterfinals

15 minutes

Q1 First A - Second B LaHiMo 1 - Rest of the world 8 - 1
Q2 First B - Second A Da Long - TCUC 1 - 4
Q3 First C - Second D Bochum - Lunis 6 - 0
Q4 First D - Second C LaHiMo 2 - Duesseldorf 5 - 2*

* 1 - 1 after regular time; 2 - 2 after extended time; final score after penalty shooting

Semifinals

2 * 10 minutes

S1 Winner Q1 - Winner Q3 LaHiMo 1 - Bochum 5 - 3
S2 Winner Q2 - Winner Q4 TCUC - LaHiMo 2 3 - 2

Bronze medal game

2 * 15 minutes

Loser S1 - Loser S2 Bochum - LaHiMo 2 8 - 2

Final

2 * 20 minutes

Referees: Jonathan Marshall (Great Britain) and Mark Häfliger (Switzerland)

Winner S1 - Winner S2 LaHiMo 1 - TCUC 23 - 2

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It was last changed on 19 Aug 2011.