Bilkent Hockey Teams: A Success Story on Ice

The national Interuniversity Ice Hockey Championship tournament took place last week, May 7-11, in Erzurum. The Bilkent mens' and women's teams both came home from the event with medals.

Only six members of the women's team were able to make the trip to Erzurum, due to injuries and also final exams. But the players who took to the ice were confident that if they could finish the tournament without losing another player to injuries, the championship would be theirs.

A total of seven women's university teams participated in the tournament.  The Bilkent squad, relying on their commitment and playing skills, defeated all of their opponents by significant margins at the group stage.

Women's Group Stage Scores
Bilkent            27        Hacettepe     3
Bilkent            5          METU           1
Bilkent            9          Ankara          7
Bilkent            8          Gazi                4

In the final match, played between Bilkent and Ankara, the Bilkent women won by a score of 6 to 5, clinching the national championship title for 2012.

The Bilkent men's team also played well in Erzurum, advancing from their preliminary group to take part in the playoff for third place. Bilkent and METU, which had better averages than the qualifying teams in other groups, faced each other in their second match-up of the tournament.

Men's Group Stage Scores
Bilkent  8        METU 15
Bilkent  17      Hacettepe  9
Bilkent 2         Atatürk 15

Although Bilkent had lost to the tough METU squad in the group stage, they managed to hold out against their opponent when it counted most. Winning the match by a score of 7 to 6, they succeeded in taking third place in this year's national interuniversity championship tournament.
Congratulations to both Bilkent ice hockey teams and their coach Nevzat Doğan.

Bilkent Women’s Team Members
Aslıhan Özcan
Elif Bayrak
Nehir Şamcı                          
Nilay Günay
Sibel Şengül
Teksin Öztekin                                                                     

Bilkent Men’s Team Members
Abdullah Altıntaş      
Adem Adıyaman                              
Alperen  Alparslan                
Berk Karahan                        
Berkay Arısoy                                   
Burak Aksoy                         
Can Acar                               
Dora Karabul                        
Ekin Karayalçın                                
Işık Kaan Caner                                
İsmail Anıl Afşar                              
Mustafa Kamil İman             
Ozan Köse                            
Serkan Pekçetin
Tahir Emrah Vatansever