Mexico earned gold on home soil in convincing fashion, winning five straight games at Lakeside Ice Park in Queretaro to win the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division III Group B tournament.
DPR Korea had an opportunity to take first place, had they won the final match of the tournament against Mexico, but the hometown favourites capped the week off with a 9-2 win, and will return to Division III Group A in 2026.
It perhaps came as no surprise that it was Mexico’s captain, Hector Majul, who opened scored against DPR Korea just 28 seconds into the game. One of two Mexican players to score a hat trick against DPR Korea (the other being Angel Tapia), Majul was named the tournament’s Top Forward, leading in points with 20 (15 goals, 5 assists), a career best performance.
Majul had started the tournament in much the same way, registering a hat trick against Hong Kong China in Mexico’s opening 5-2 win. Offence was a collective effort from Mexico through all of their games however; all but one player on the roster registered at least one point.
In a 9-1 victory over the Philippines, Mexico saw strong performances from Tapia and Alexander Valencia. The floodgates opened even further against Singapore, with Mexico scoring 18 goals and only allowing one against, with nine different goal scorers.
Mongolia gave Mexico perhaps their biggest test of the tournament. Majul scored the only goal of the first period, with the second and third seeing Mongolia consistently fight back to tie the game as Mexico added goals. They pushed Mexico right until the dying seconds, but were not able to get to overtime, with Mexico taking the win 7-6.
Alfonso de Alba took the Top Goaltender honours, backstopping Mexico to their wins over Hong Kong China, Mongolia and DPR Korea.
DPR Korea was in a similar position as Mexico for much of the tournament, having opened with three straight wins. The Philippines took them to overtime however, and while they won thanks to Yong Jo Park, the OT win gave them just two points instead of three. Following their closing loss to Mexico, DPR Korea settled for silver, matching their result from 2024.
For the third year in a row, Hong Kong China took the bronze. After opening losses to the eventual gold and silver medallists, Hong Kong China rebounded with three dominating victories. They had an astonishing 17-2 win over the Philippines, which included hat tricks for for players competing at their first senior World Championships, Bryan Tang and Randolph Dash Mak.
Hong Kong China played both the experienced Ching Ho Cheung and 17-year-old rookie Tsz Wing David Lam in net in their 11-0 shutout win over Singapore. Outshooting their opponents 59-9, Hong Kong China only allowed one shot against in the first period in what was a quiet game for the goaltenders. Chung Pan Justin Cheng, who was captaining Hong Kong China for the first time, had a hat trick in this match as well as his team’s closing 7-3 win over Mongolia, adding to the number of players with multiple multi-goal performances.
Mongolia, who had earned promotion up to Division III Group B after winning Division IV last season, had one of the team’s best performances in recent years. While Mexico had Majul, Mongolia had Batu Batorovich, the tournament’s Top Defender with 20 points (9 goals, 11 assists).
Mongolia had emerged early as a strong contender before dropping their last three games. They did however open the tournament with a 13-7 win over the Philippines, a riveting start which saw Mongolia score four goals in the opening five minutes. They also beat Singapore 11-1, their offence coming alive in the second and third periods after leading just 1-0 through the first.
It was a difficult tournament for Singapore, who were unable to secure a win and managed just four goals for and 61 against. They will be relegated to Division IV for 2026, a level they last competed in in 2022. They brought just one goalie, Joshua Shao Ern Lee, who faced 270 shots on net through five games. Singapore severely outshot in all of their games, their highest number of shots for coming in their final game against the Philippines, in which they managed 18 (but allowed 52 against).
It was a close call for the Philippines. They too had a difficult tournament, but by pushing DPR Korea to overtime (thanks to a goal from Jorell Crisostomo at 59:13 to tie the game), and closing with a 7-1 win over Singapore, they were able to avoid relegation. Captain John Steven Fuglister was a standout player for the team throughout the tournament, as were Kenwrick Sze and Manvil Billones.