phelps

I fear they have to update their infosystem... I'm pretty sure we already have that anti-record... I remember very well that famous match against Sweden in Prague 1992, when we got the most unlikey 0-0 tie and the shots card was something like 60-1...

well, it's been beautiful until it lasted... still, the only game that matters is the one against France...

2021/2022 Fencing World Cup Men's Individual Foil ( Incheon) Gold: Tommaso Marini Silver: Ryan Choi Chun Yin Bronze: Alessio Foconi & Maximilien Chastenet Semifinals Choi b. Foconi 15-14 Marini b. Chastenet 15-13 Final Marini b. Choi 15-14 Full Ranking & Results https://fie.org/competitions/2022/145

2021/2022 Fencing World Cup Women's Individual Foil ( Incheon) Gold: Lee Kiefer Silver: Eleanor Harvey Bronze: Alice Volpi & Anne Sauer Semifinals Kiefer b. Sauer 15-5 Harvey b. Volpi 15-13 Final Kiefer b. Harvey 15-11 Full Ranking & Results https://fie.org/competitions/2022/457

well, at least this time it wasn't humiliating as the last time we played Switzerland (9-0, 3 years ago)... we did even score a couple of goals... p.s. Slovakia losing to Germany...what's new?

Stage #3 of the Karate 1 Premier League is underway in Rabat and it's sad to be said, but in my whole life (since I've been following Karate) I've never seen a poor participation in a K1PL event like this week (average level is even way below Serie A standard)... never, even before Karate was thought to become an Olympic sport... however, see you tomorrow for our usual medallists' recap...

Women's Epee stage (Individual & Team events) in Fujarah has been cancelled beacause of Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed's death.

2021/2022 Fencing World Cup Men's Team Epee ( Heidenheim) Gold: South Korea Silver: Germany Bronze: France Semifinals South Korea b. Hungary 37-36 Germany b. France 45-30 Bronze Medal Match France b. Hungary 45-43 Gold Medal Match South Korea b. Germany 45-32 Full Ranking & Results https://fie.org/competitions/2022/454

2021/2022 Fencing World Cup Men's Individual Epee ( Heidenheim) Gold: Romain Cannone Silver: Houssam Elkord Bronze: Gabriele Cimini & Mate Tamas Koch Semifinals Cannone b. Koch 15-9 Elkord b. Cimini 15-14 Final Cannone b. Elkord 15-11 Full Ranking & Results https://fie.org/competitions/2022/98

SHL Färjestad BK are Swedish champions 2021/2022... Game #7 of the SHL Finals between the home team Luleå HF and Färjestad BK Karlstad was a pure defensive struggle since the beginning, with players and coaches feeling all the pressure and fear typical of this kind of matches. For good 50 minutes, the only aim of both teams was to avoid any scoring chance by the opponents, without really trying to build some well structured offensive flow by themselves. They just relied on individual efforts, hoping for a mistake by the opposing defense or goalie. But about halfway through the 3rd period, a sudden and unexpected knuckleball by Jesse Virtanen got past Luleå's goalie Lassinantti and that was enough, because the home team reaction didn't sort anything out more than a few shots saved by Dominik Furch and and one hitting the post once they could beat Färjestad's amazing Czech goalie. The game was definitively over with 2 mins still to be played, when Linus Johansson scored the second goal of the guests. The 3rd and final empty netter was just cosmetic. Färjestad wins game #7 on the road by a score of 3-0 (0-0, 0-0, 3-0) and the whole series by a score of 4 games to 3. It's the 10th overall title for Färjestad, the first since 2011. And it's the first time that a team finishing the regular season outside the top 4 spots ends up winning the playoffs (Färjestad was only 6th after this year's RS). LEAGUE SUMMARY Regular Season Final Standings https://stats.swehockey.se/ScheduleAndResults/Standings/12318 Playoffs Rounds Recap https://stats.swehockey.se/ScheduleAndResults/Overview/12319 Final Series Game #1: Luleå HF - Färjestad BK 4-1 (1-1; 0-0; 3-0) Game Highlights https://www.shl.se/play/video/168061?provider=staylive&autoplay=1 Game #2: Färjestad BK - Luleå HF 4-0 (2-0; 1-0; 1-0) Game Highlights https://www.shl.se/play/video/168294?provider=staylive&autoplay=1 Game #3: Luleå HF - Färjestad BK 5-4 OT (3-1; 0-1; 1-2; 1-0) Game Highlights https://www.shl.se/play/video/168352?provider=staylive&autoplay=1 Game #4: Färjestad BK - Luleå HF 3-2 OT (2-0; 0-1; 0-1; 1-0) Game Highlights https://www.shl.se/play/video/168440?provider=staylive&autoplay=1 Game #5: Luleå HF - Färjestad BK 4-0 (0-0; 1-0; 3-0) Game Highlights https://www.shl.se/play/video/168690?provider=staylive&autoplay=1 Game #6: Färjestad BK - Luleå HF 3-1 (2-0; 0-0; 1-1) Game Highlights https://www.shl.se/play/video/168959?provider=staylive&autoplay=1 Game #7: Luleå HF - Färjestad BK 0-3 (0-0; 0-0; 0-3) Game Highlights https://www.shl.se/play/video/169361?provider=staylive&autoplay=1

yeah, but that's not surprising at all... Hockey is really at the bottom of the list of sports covered by our media... even the NHL is treated like a true "small sport" (and the idiots in Toronto treat the few die-hard fans in Italy as our media do with their league, which is so sad)... as I told you, I had to buy NHL.tv as if I were a Slovak living in Slovakia to be able to watch all the NHL playoffs games...that says it all, I think...

unfortunately, Arizona is not up for relocation anymore...they have signed a long time loan with the arena and have new investors in the ownership that have assured they won't move for many years... however, it didn't change anything in the environment around the team...they're always a low budget bunch of losers... Seattle instead, is a different story... they have a big and passionate fanbase, a newly reconstructed wonderful arena (and training center), a good hockey background in the area (despite not having a pro team in the last 50 years) and a good develpment plan for the future... they just built the new team with wrong players and a doubtful (to say the least) strategy, which led them to start their NHL campaign with a disappointing losing season and probably they are also set to be a losing team still for quite some time... but I wouldn't name them a graveyard (like Arizona or Buffalo, for instance)... Montreal, as we wrote earlier, really doesn't fit Slaf's game... they just play another style of hockey than what he needs to excel and shine...and they also don't have money enough to rebuold the technical staff and most of their roster to change their (not successful) destiny...

naaa, Rybar has been great at the Olympics... and the others aren't that bad... however, I envy all the rest, especially the passion for the game of the whole Country and the great moments you've had the chance to live thanks to your NT...

well, I'm not sure Seattle is a great destination (the team, not the city nor the fanbase, which are wonderful), but maybe I'm wrong... for sure, this year they have been really disappointing (but it was expected, after the kind of team they built in the expansion draft)... Arizona, please, no...it would be like a good retirement even before the start of his NHL career... I don't know if there's a place worse than Glendale for any player looking for a bright future in the NHL...

nice lineup...and finally, New Jersey might be a better destination for Slaf... playing either with Hischier and/or Hughes might give him a lot of scoring chances... I hope he gets enough consideration from the training staff since the early days (wherever he ends up playing, but especially should he go to the Devils)... Montreal would be an intriguing, dreamy place to play hockey, but I fear that team is not the ideal for him, because of the style of play they have (it might be something like the early NHL days of Majo Gaborik in Minnesota, where he had to play almost like a D-man rather than taking advantage of his skills) and because I think they're gonna have quite a few losing season ahead of them...

naaa...Kostner played all season with Ambrì... he recorded 13.29 mins of TOI, 13 points (6+7) and -4 of plus/minus in 47 games... p.s. Fazio is also a good goalie...I wouldn't be surprised if he's going to be our no.1 this year (even if I think that finally we're going to rotate all of them in the 7 games we're playing in Finland)... McNally...well, I don't really know him, tbh... no idea on where his Italian heritage comes from (marriage? mom? grannies? who knows? ), I only know that he got our passport back in December 2019, while playing for Asiago in the Alps League... however, this is his page on Elite Prospects... https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/75027/brandon-mcnally

Team Italy Goaltenders: Andreas Bernard (HC Bolzano Foxes, ICEHL) Davide Fadani (HC Lugano, ) Justin Fazio (HC Bolzano Foxes, ICEHL) Defencers: Lorenzo Casetti (HC Asiago) Dylan Di Perna (Rittner Buam) Cameron Ginnetti (HC Asiago) Gregorio Gios (HC Asiago) Daniel Glira (HC Val Pusteria Lupi, ICEHL) Enrico Miglioranzi (HC Asiago) Phil Pietroniro (Mulhouse Scorpions, ) Peter Spornberger (Schwenningen Wild Wings, ) Alex Trivellato (HC Bolzano Foxes, ICEHL) Forwards: Simon Berger (HC Valpusteria Lupi, ICEHL) Ivan Deluca (HC Val Pusteria Lupi, ICEHL) Leonardo Felicetti (Fassa Falcons) Daniel Frank (HC Bolzano Foxes, ICEHL) Luca Frigo (HC Bolzano Foxes, ICEHL) Dante Hannoun (HC Val Pusteria Lupi, ICEHL) Marco Insam (HC Bolzano Foxes, ICEHL) Simon Kostner (Rittner Buam) Marco Magnabosco (HC Asiago) Daniel Mantenuto (HC Asiago) Matthias Mantinger (HC Valpusteria Lupi, ICEHL) Brandon McNally (Cardiff Devils, ) Alex Petan (Fehervar, - ICEHL) Marco Sanna (SG Cortina) Tommaso Traversa (Sheffield Steelers, ) Diego Kostner (Ambrì Piotta, )

Modern Pentathlon, men's individual event...I opted for Andras Balczo, the most successful pentathlete at the Olympics (team events included), even if it was a difficult choice (surely Andrey Moiseev deserves a mention of honor, being the only athlete capable of winning twice the individual gold medal in recent times, for instance)... Swimming, men's 200m Freestyle...just 2 words: "the race"...and I said it all... it's one of the most classic events of the swimming program, with basically all the best swimmers of all times trying to get this gold, but I have no doubt and I pick Pieter Van Den Hoogenband beating Ian Thorpe in one of the most amazing head to head duels between 2 great champions in the history of the sport... Fencing, men's Individual Epee...once again, difficult choice with many great specialists... despite maybe Pavel Kolobkov deserves to be named, I'm heavily biased and therefore my actual pick is Edoardo Mangiarotti, one of the true greats of the Italian sports history... Equestrian, Individual Show Jumping...not following that much, here I go by personal sympathy: Rodrigo Pessoa on Baloubet du Rouet... Shooting, women's Air Pistol...despite Jasna Sekaric being one of the greatest shooters of all times, she was more a Sport Pistol specialist throughout her career, therefore here I pick the only woman to win twice the gold medal in this specific event: Guo Wenjun

if she can train constantly together with the 2 more skilled and experienced girls, she's surely going to raise her level in the next months/years... maybe she's not going to be as good as the other 2, but you normally only need a solid 3rd fencer to be good in the team events... there are very few teams with 3 true top class specialists (actually, only Russia and France, tbh)...

we have a game-7 thriller in the SHL Finals... last night, in fact, Färjestad BK took advantage of the home ice and defeated Luleå HF in game #6 by a score of 3-1, tying the final series at 3 games apiece. 2 goals in quick succession (the 1st one in power play) about halfway through the first period gave the home team a comfortable lead in the sixth game of the SHL final clash, but with less than 5 mins still to be played, the guests suddenly shortened the distance. Unfortunately, a stupid penalty just after they re-opened the match cost Luleå another goal against, which basically was the end of the game. Almost 3 mins played with the empty net didn't lead to anything and the hosts could enjoy the success in game #6. Game #7 is scheduled for next Thursday, May 12th in Luleå (puck drop @ 7.30 p.m. local/CET) Game ##6 highlights https://www.shl.se/play/video/168959?provider=staylive&autoplay=1

yeah, at least we can make a clear masterplan for the next 4 seasons... what's making me think, instead, is the fact that we didn't hire anybody "new" to replace Curtaz and Zingerle, but we're just going on we the same coaches of these last few seasons (who proved themselves not that efficient), we did even call back Alex Inderst, who was sent off a few years ago... the only new face in the staff is the former Finnish shooting coach, who will be the new discipline's coach for the women's team and a sort of personal trainer for Vittozzi (and God knows how much she needs a new start from scratch in this discipline after the last couple of seasons)... we'll see...but I'm not so optimist... so far, the only winter sport showing that they really want to improve is Skeleton (we just hired the great Willy Schneider and his faithful assistent Thomas Platzer as the new coaches of our team)...

my 2 cents... Peter Statsny...by far... then, Marian Hossa and Zdeno Chara... personally, I used to be also a big fan of Ziggy Palffy (I saw him play here in Milan in the European Champions Cup semifinal round in 1992, when he was still playing for Dukla Trencin -he was a kid but he was already the star of that team together with Branislav Janos)...

2021/2022 Fencing World Cup Men's Team Sabre ( Madrid) Gold: South Korea Silver: Hungary Bronze: Italy Semifinals South Korea b. Germany 45-38 Hungary b. Italy 45-38 Bronze Medal Match Italy b. Germany 45-35 Gold Medal Match South Korea b. Hungary 45-32 Full Ranking & Results https://fie.org/competitions/2022/853

2021/2022 Fencing World Cup Women's Team Sabre ( Hammamet) Gold: South Korea Silver: Japan Bronze: France Semifinals South Korea b. Italy 45-31 Japan b. France 45-30 Bronze Medal Match France b. Italy 45-31 Gold Medal Match South Korea b. Japan 45-25 Full Ranking & Results https://fie.org/competitions/2022/760

there were already rumors about that before the season ended, just after the Olympics... I wish him all the best, even if it hurts a lot our team losing him and Dominik Windisch all at once just before the beginning of the home Olympics 4-year cycle...