Today Namibian Sports Commis-sioner Ben Naobeb and other Namibian supporters watched a determined Team Namibia enter the IIHF Championship rink at 14h00 local time, as it set out to claim bragging rights for being the best hockey team in Southern Africa. The Namibia lines started strong and were aggressively to the puck, almost immediately pushing South Africa into a defending role that set the tone for the remainder of the game.  Namibia players unleashed a battery of shots, as the puck was sent flying to the left and the right of the goal.  After an intense opening five minutes, Namibia’s Basti Faber passed the puck to Oliver Lohmeier in the slot, who in turn, put it into the net for the game’s first goal.  Two minutes later, Michael Ellinger passed to Basti Faber and again the puck went flying into the net. South Africa closed the scoring during the first quarter at the 9:31 mark, bringing the South Africans back to within one goal at a score of 2:1.
At 16:49, Michael Ellinger passed to Riyaan Eli, who scored the first goal of the second quarter. Two more Namibia goals quickly followed as Oliver Lohmeir, assisted by Basti Faber, netted our fourth goal, and an unassisted goal by Vincent van Biljon increased the Namibia lead to 5:1.  Namibia and South Africa traded one more goal each during the second quarter, with Namibia’s Basti Faber making another unassisted goal, bringing the score to 6:2 at the half.

Basti Faber scored his third goal of the game one minute 12 seconds into the third quarter. Team South Africa was continually pushed into a defending role, as they were heavily penalized throughout the game, frequently forcing the team to play below strength as players set out time in the penalty box.
In the final quarter Zaid Ely added his goal at 38minutes 13seconds. Team South Africa scored almost one minute later.
The final score of 8:3 was Team Namibia’s best effort thus far and gives Team Namibia a glimmer of hope to still qualify for the World Championships in 2008 in Austria.
On Thursday Namibia would face the second place team from Group D, which will be either New Zealand or Australia.

Front from left to right: Eric Rodenwoldt, Michael Lohmeier, Oliver Lohmeier, Nathe Blair, Riyaan Ely, Quinton Kotze, Bastian Faber, Mario Troha and René Werner.
Back: Gudrun Denker, Ulrike Rodenwoldt, Arndt Asmus, Timo Giersch, Jörg Güther, Marco Debortoli, Michael Ellinger, Daniel Asmus, Zaid Ely, Vincent van Biljon, Arne Rodenwoldt, Ben Naobeb - Namibia Sports Commission, Phil Boudreault