Kovacevic leads Serbia to world title, rushes back to Ã山ǿ¼é for final exams
NOVI SAD, Serbia – Marko Kovacevic, a native of Belgrade and forward with the Ã山ǿ¼é men’s hockey team, earned tournament all-star honours while leading Serbia to their first-ever International Ice Hockey Federation’s Division II, Group A, world hockey championship in Novi Sad, about 80 kilometres northwest of Belgrade, last weekend.
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Kovacevic, a 6-foot-3, 218-pound winger, finished fourth among the tourney scoring leaders with 14 points, including eight goals, in five contests. The 23-year-old management senior didn’t have much time to celebrate, however, as he hopped the next available airplane in order to return to Ã山ǿ¼é to write his final exams, which began Wednesday.
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Kovacevic was one of four members of the Serbian squad with ties to Ã山ǿ¼é. Also in the lineup was Daniel Jacob, a Quebec City native who scored one goal, added an assist and was plus-9 over the tourney. Jacob patrolled the Redmen blueline from 2000 to 2005 and was sworn in as a Serbian citizen a few weeks ago, in order to be eligible for the event. Two other Ã山ǿ¼é hockey grads were part of the support staff, including equipment manager Ron Perowne of Montreal, who skated for Ã山ǿ¼é in the mid-1970s and therapist Murray Cobb of Roxboro, Que., who tended goal for the Redmen from 1998 to 2003.
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The unlikely title almost never happened as the Serbian dressing room and all of their equipment was destroyed by fire on March 24. A frantic appeal for equipment from contacts around the world, proved successful and saved the tournament.
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The Serbians were promoted to Division I for next year’s world championship after winning the round-robin tourney with a perfect 5-0 record. Estonia finished second (4-0-1), followed by China (3-2-0), Iceland (2-2-1), Israel (1-4-0) and North Korea (0-5-0), which was relegated to the 2010 Division III championships.
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The highest calibre IIHF world championship in men’s hockey is slated for April 24 to May 10 in Switzerland.
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SOURCE: Earl Zukerman Communications Officer Athletics & Recreation Ã山ǿ¼é 475 Pine Avenue W., Montreal, QCÌý H2W 1S4 CANADA 514-398-7012 (Tel.) 514-398-1956 (Fax) www.mcgill.ca/athletics