Update on potential NHL players so far: (Bolded players are confirmed)    Canada Dylan DeMelo (Winnipeg Jets) Ryan O'Reilly (Nashville Predators) Mark Scheifele (Winnipeg Jets) John Tavares (Toronto Maple Leafs) Robert Thomas (St. Louis Blues) Morgan Rielly (Toronto Maple Leafs) is interested in playing *Matthew Schaefer (New York Islanders) and Mathew Barzal (New York Islanders) are open to playing *Connor Bedard (Chicago Blackhawks) is expected to make a decision in the next week or so *Logan Thompson (Washington Capitals) declined the invitation *Tom Wilson (Washington Capitals) and Dylan Strome (Washington Capitals) are leaning towards no *Josh Morrissey declined the invitation    Finland Aleksander Barkov  (Florida Panthers) Anton Lundell (Florida Panthers) Urho Vaakanainen (New York Rangers)    Latvia *Uvis Balinskis (Florida Panthers) will join if cleared    Sweden *Simon Holmstrom (New York Islanders) and Emil Heineman (New York Islanders) are interested *Linus Karlsson (Vancouver Canucks) has said that he will go if asked *Jesper Bratt (New Jersey Devils) is undecided *Jacob Markstrom (New Jersey Devils) will not play    Slovakia Martin Pospisil (Calgary Flames) Adam Sykora (New York Rangers)    Switzerland Nico Hischier (New Jersey Devils) Timo Meier (New Jersey Devils) Jonas Siegenthaler (New Jersey Devils)    United States Ryan Leonard (Washington Capitals) Oliver Moore (Chicago Blackhawks) *Jack Hughes (New Jersey Devils) is still deciding *Matthew Tkachuk (Florida Panthers) is expected to play *Gabe Perrault (New York Rangers) declined *Cole Hutson (Washington Capitals) has expressed interest

Mets lost 9 games in a row. That's their longest losing streak in April since 1963 (their second season in existance).

Van Mathias posted a 58.18 100m breaststroke time at the Bergen Swim Festival. Now the #5 performer all time.

In Italy, it's generally impossible to watch it anywhere except on pay TV on our federation's website, which is of terrible quality: there's no clock, only the score. The 2026 Olympics were an exception, with women's hockey being on free-to-air television. Most people in southern Italy probably don't even know that women's hockey exists

In 2024, Italy beat Slovakia 3-2 at the World Champ Division I B, but objectively, we were two level under you in that time and now we're at a similar level. Italy won here surprisingly easily – it was even 6-2 on begining of 3 period, but Slovakia showed strength in the matches against Hungary and Norway. On paper, I think Hungary is still the best here, so you have a good chance against France – even a 2-point win is probably enough for you. Regarding Italy, in 2022/23, we even lost to Poland and Slovenia, so we've made significant progress. Now it's crucial to continue this project and avoid something like China. Italy always needs support from North America, but we also have good local players – for example, our leading striker: Mathilde Fantin, is a born in Italy- Cuneo.

Thanks. We´ll see. If it has to happen it will. It it does not have to happen yet, it will not... yet.   Our woman´s program is working a couple of years now with a group of girls since their early teenage years, through Youth Winter Olympics and EYOFs and several team meetings, the core of the group is still around late teen and early twentys. Also it is obviously build around Nela Lopušanová who is still 18 years old.   The goal was set for the Olympics, maybe 2030 will be too soon but the program is showing every year bigger results and is still not over, we hopw by 2034 being a competitive team at the Olympics.   For the worlds we also are trying step by step, so even if not tomorrow this group of girls will certainly qualify to the elite in the upcoming time and the goal is obviously to be able to stay there as well once our time will arrive.    

Italy's expectations were probably too high – we were newcomers here. Our performance at the Olympics was up our capabilities, in my opinion. Now it's crucial to continue this project and hire a good coach who will work seriously for all time, not just for the Olympics, like Bouchard.

Friday April 17th, 2026 - Round-Robin Day 4 Results (GMT +2)   13:00   Mexico  10 - 2  Thailand 16:30   Bosnia and Herzegovina  1 - 2  Turkiye 20:00   South Africa  5 - 3  Turkmenistan   Provisional Standing After Day 4:   1.    12 ----------------- 2.   9 3.   8 4.   4 5.   3 ----------------- 6.   0

I lost faith in Ceccon at 200 meters - either he starts too hard or too slow, etc. It's a lost case.