Ice Hockey Discussion | Qualification to Winter Olympic Games Milano Cortina 2026

[Bailer 162]

On 3/17/2026 at 11:28 AM, hckošice said:

Well, let be real for a second here and not fly on parallel universe  the ONLY chance for Slovakia to take part to this is when Russia will not be invited. 

 

And Seriously, I would not bet a single leaky penny on that to happen.

 

Imagine a tournament run by the most greedy businessemen on earth NHL lords, with the right to invite whoever they want and make whatever rules they want... and not inviting to their own tourney Russia who has more than 50 NHL stars in the league right now including the likes of Kaprizov, Vasilevskiy, Kucherov, Demidov, Malkin or Shestorkin.  Come on ! Not gonna happen, Russians will be there and will make the semis where they will lose to one of the 2 North-Americans before the Canada-USA scripted final.

 

Do not fall into the trap, this is all just for money.

 

And since Germany is a bigger and obviously more interesting market than us and have the superstars Drai and Stutzle to bring they will be picked as 8th over Slovakia on any day. Switzerland being the clear seventh for their bigger amount of NHLers is obviously as well.

 

 

Honestly, I don't think we can be so certain. Both Sweden and Finland made it pretty clear that they would pull out from the tournament last year if Russia played as well. They likely mean it this time too.

 

In addition to that, the NHL making Prague a host city pretty much confirms that they are aware of such a risk. If they allow Russia in, the Czechs would pull out, forcing the league to search for another location, basically shooting themselves in the foot.

 

They can choose between inviting Russia and losing three big teams.

[Bailer 162]

On 3/16/2026 at 10:06 PM, copravolley said:

Slovakia? Is Slovakia more pro-Russian than the Czech Republic as a country? Why?

[Bailer 162]

Right now, yeah. Unfortunately.

[hckošice 16,641]

10 hours ago, Bailer said:

Honestly, I don't think we can be so certain. Both Sweden and Finland made it pretty clear that they would pull out from the tournament last year if Russia played as well. They likely mean it this time too.

 

In addition to that, the NHL making Prague a host city pretty much confirms that they are aware of such a risk. If they allow Russia in, the Czechs would pull out, forcing the league to search for another location, basically shooting themselves in the foot.

 

They can choose between inviting Russia and losing three big teams.

Yeah, I am rather sceptical. I agrre, This is how it should work in a normal world, but here we are speaking about a world rulled by dollars. NHL is long time now not anymore about sport but about business.

 

They will find a way to put Russia in Canadian group, and manage the schedule to avoid "sensible" games. Dollar will always buy anything in NHL lords eyes

[Josh 13,628]

On 3/17/2026 at 3:28 AM, hckošice said:

Well, let be real for a second here and not fly on parallel universe  the ONLY chance for Slovakia to take part to this is when Russia will not be invited. 

 

And Seriously, I would not bet a single leaky penny on that to happen.

 

Imagine a tournament run by the most greedy businessemen on earth NHL lords, with the right to invite whoever they want and make whatever rules they want... and not inviting to their own tourney Russia who has more than 50 NHL stars in the league right now including the likes of Kaprizov, Vasilevskiy, Kucherov, Demidov, Malkin or Shestorkin.  Come on ! Not gonna happen, Russians will be there and will make the semis where they will lose to one of the 2 North-Americans before the Canada-USA scripted final.

 

Do not fall into the trap, this is all just for money.

 

And since Germany is a bigger and obviously more interesting market than us and have the superstars Drai and Stutzle to bring they will be picked as 8th over Slovakia on any day. Switzerland being the clear seventh for their bigger amount of NHLers is obviously as well.

 

 

I don’t know what you mean

[hckošice 16,641]

Current IIHF President monsieur Tee. said enough is enough and have made the decision not to seek re-election again

 

https://blob.iihf.com/iihf-media/iihfmvc/media/contentimages/3_the_iihf/president/iihf_president_letter_official_announcement.pdf

 

 

 

 

[phelps 8,766]

18k+ spectators at the UBS Arena Yesterday for the annual charity match between NYPD and NYFD

 

and...this is how it ended 

 

 

 

[hckošice 16,641]

Men´s Division II Group A World Championship schedulled in Al-Ain this year has been cancelled

 

So the ranking will be frozen and no team will be promoted to I B / Relegated this year from I B

and promoted from II B / Relegated to II B

 

https://www.iihf.com/en/news/72580/2026_iihf_wmiia_championship_cancelled

 

The 2026 IIHF World Championship Division II Group A (WMIIA), originally scheduled to take place in the United Arab Emirates, has been cancelled following a decision by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF).
 
As a result, promotion and relegation for the WMIIA Championship will be frozen for the 2026 season. Therefore, there will be no relegation from Division I Group B (WMIB) to Division II Group A (WMIIA) and no promotion from Division II Group B to Division II Group A.
 
The IIHF remains committed to the continued growth and development of ice hockey worldwide and looks forward to hosting this championship in the future.