Recently, the Tennessee Outlaws’ Anna Markova once again suited up for her native Ukraine, taking part in the IIHF Division II Group B Women’s World Championship in Dunedin, New Zealand, which took place from April 14-20.

Ukraine finished third in the round-robin tournament, taking bronze with a final record of three wins (all in regulation, as it’s three points for a regulation win, and two for an OT/SO win), one overtime loss (worth one point), and one regulation loss, meaning they accrued ten points over the five games.

Ukraine opened the tournament with a 4-3 OT loss to hosts New Zealand on April 14, bouncing back with a 5-1 win over Turkey the following day. After a day off, they suffered a 4-1 loss at the hands of the eventual tournament champions Australia on April 17. After another day off, they defeated Belgium 6-1 on April 19 to secure a Top 3 finish, then closing the tournament on Easter Sunday with a dominant 10-2 triumph over Hong Kong.

Four Ukrainian players led the tournament in scoring, with Valeria Manchak topping them all, with 17 points with 12 goals (also a tournament high) and five assists. Markova did not have any points across the five games.

Australia won the tournament, winning all five of their games, four of them in regulation, with a shootout win over rivals New Zealand, finishing the tournament with 14 points. For winning the tournament, the Aussie Flyers will be promoted to the Division II Group A World Championship for 2026, replacing Mexico, who will be relegated to Division II Group B after losing out on a head-to-head tiebreaker with North Korea. The hosts New Zealand claimed silver, finishing second with 11 points from three regulation wins, the one OT win over Ukraine, and the SO loss to Australia. Finishing below Ukraine in fourth were Belgium, who collected four points from one regulation win and an OT loss to Turkey, with the other three games being regulation losses. Hong Kong finished fifth, with just three points which came from a regulation win over Turkey, losing the other four games in regulation. Turkey finished sixth and last, collecting just two points from their OT win versus Belgium, losing the other four games in regulation. For finishing last, Turkey will be relegated to Division III Group A for 2026, and replaced by Lithuania, who won that group for this year.

Ukraine will remain in Division II Group B for 2026. They won their place in this group by winning the Division III Group A title in 2024. Markova was a part of that team, making her the first GNASH player ever to have won a IIHF medal of any color from any IIHF tournament.

This most recent GNASH season was Markova’s first in the league. Should she return for the 2025-26 season, she will be a Senior.

Congratulations to Anna and Ukraine!

Middle School League update

After the first six games (out of 11) of the regular season, Ensworth are sitting atop the Middle School League standings, having won each of their first six games. Following closely are Father Ryan and Brentwood Academy, both of whom are 5-1-0. Twelve teams are taking part in the league this season, and all of them will play their seventh game of the regular season tonight. The regular season is scheduled to conclude on May 13.

This is the Middle School League’s fourth season of operation.