http://nt.excite.com/news/r/990202/10/odd-hockey
—-=—-
Kuwait Hockey Yields 79 Goals But Dreams Of Glory (Last updated 10:28 AM ET February 2)
YONGPYONG, South Korea (Reuters) – Kuwait’s ice hockey team has no place to go but up after yielding an astonishing 79 goals in two matches at the Winter Asian Games, the team’s head coach said Tuesday.
Kuwait’s team achieved a record of sorts losing to China 44-1 Sunday and 35-0 to Japan Monday in what may be the most lopsided scores in the history of international ice hockey.
“It was the longest game of my life,” Bruce Smith, head coach of the Kuwaiti team told Reuters. “I’ve never seen the clock move so slow,” he said of the game against Japan.
The Kuwaitis barely managed to touch the puck during the entire game but Al-Ajmi Salem — one of four brothers on the Kuwaiti team — managed to convert one goal out of three shot attempts, compared to Japan’s 136 shots.
Wearing number 99, the number made famous by National Hockey League great Wayne Gretzky, Salem’s goal was the first by any Arab country in an international hockey match.
“It was a great moment for Kuwait hockey in an otherwise dark day,” said Smith, a Canadian national who has been playing and coaching hockey for 30 years.
—-=—-
-Ian.