Turkey Earns Promotion At U-18 Worlds

Turkey is moving up at the U-18 level in women's hockey. The nation went undefeated on home ice in Istanbul this week at the IIHF U-18 Division 2B World Championships. The victory earned the nation promotion to the Division 2A tournament for 2026.

Turkey opened their tournament shutting out Belgium 4-0, before edging Mexico 2-1. They followed up those games with a lopsided 12-0 decision over South Africa, who were relegated from the event, before beating Iceland in a deciding 2-0 game.

Netminder Erva Kanat was named the tournament's Best Goaltender posting all four of Turkey's wins including two shutouts, a 0.300 GAA and .978 save percentage. Eda Secen was Turkey's leading scorer at the event recording eight points and finishing +11 in four games.

Heading into Turkey's final game of the tournament, they faced off against the only other undefeated team, Iceland. With promotion on the line, Kanat turned aside 23 shots while Turkey got goals from Sidre Haciosmanoglu and Azra Senyuva to earn the victory.

Turkey currently has close to 700 women playing hockey in the nation. At the senior national level, Turkey is currently ranked 29th in the world.