New national team gets blown out in IIHF games by historical amount

Hockey on the world stage is always amazing to see, as growing the game is a constant area of improvement for the NHL. The IIHF is constantly having tournaments, with the most recent of these being the under-18 Asian and Oceanic championship. There was a new nation that put their hat in the ring this year, with Kuwait making their international hockey debut. Things have not been going well at all for Kuwait however, as their international career has already resulted in catastrophic failure.

https://www.thestar.com/sports/hockey/57-0-thailand-crushes-kuwait-in-countrys-debut-at-international-tournament/article_7b305962-024b-11ef-9b62-ff3edf6ac9af.amp.html

In their debut game, Kuwait got pounded by Thailand with an unreal 57-0 goal total. Thailand absolutely dominated Kuwait in a game that was most likely not fun for either team. 3 players on Thailand's team scored an astounding 7 goals, while 7 players registered at least 10 goals. The shots were an astounding 122-1, which would be a crazy game to witness. Kuwait's most embarrassing game was actually their game against Kazakhstan however, when Kuwait decided to forfeit the game by not returning to the ice after the first period.




They were destroyed 17-0 in the first period and seemed to not want a repeat from the Thailand game, so they just did not return for the rest of the game. They not only got smoked in these games, but have now been outscored 116-3 in the tournament.

The IIHF is no stranger to blowout games, and the trend seems to continue in the tournaments. Despite some of the blowouts even worse than these two games, this is the only time I've heard of a team quitting mid game. They've had a terrible go in the tournament, but hopefully they can return and grow the sport further in the country.