phelps

and it's celebration day in Sweden and Russia... in the SHL, Växjö Lakers won the 4th game in a row against Skellefteå (5-0 on the road, today) and swept the Finals 4-0. Elias Pettersson (not even 20 years young) was the eponymous of this playoffs, earning both the scoring title and the Finals' MVP prize. On the other side, the KHL ended with the surprising win of AK Bars Kazan, who won today's game #5 on their home ice 1-0 and conquered the Gagarin Cup with a 4-1 series score against the big favourites, CSKA Moscow. In Germany, on the contrary, Red Bull Munich missed the first "match point" at home, losing game #5 of the DEL Finals against Eisbären Berlin by a score of 6-5 (after OT). However, they still lead the series 3-2. More about Czech and Slovak leagues, later...

Czech/Slovak TV (skylink bouquet on satellite @ 23.5 east degrees)... I have an official subscrition to that package (as I wrote many times, I'm addicted to Ice Hockey, so I do everything I can to watch as many games as possible -and if only I could subscribe to the Swedish and Finnish channels...)...

Yesterday, Lugano shortened the distance in the Swiss NLA Finals by winning game #5 at home with a stunning 4-0, dominating this match from start to finish. Zurich now lead the series "only" 3-2, but they will have the big chance to close the quest for the title at home on Wednesday night. Meanwhile, in the SHL and in the Finnish Liiga we're heading towards a very quick ending of their respective Finals. Växjö Lakers HC (SHL) and Kärpät Oulu (Liiga), infact, won again in game #3 against Skellefteå (4-1) and Tappara (2-1 OT) respectively and now lead their series both by 3-0. Today (SHL) and Tomorrow (Liiga) it could already be all over after game #4 in both leagues. Today there are also a lot of other games of the final series in many Countries, like Germany (game #5 between Berlin and Munich, with the Bavarians leading 3-1), Czech Republic (game #5 between Brno and Trinec, with Kometa leading 3-1), Slovakia (game #6 between Banskà Bystrica and Dukla Trencin, with the firsts leading 3-2) and the KHL (game #5 between AK Bars Kazan and CSKA Moscow, with the team from Tatarstan leading 3-1)...

surprise, surprise...no Italy at all (not that it's something unexpected, though)... nice that I can watch 3 of the 5 games of the Italian team on Sport1 HD (the remaining 2 are streamed by IIHF in any case, which should be more than enough)...

Happy Birthday to you... but I guess you should add about 10 (9 1/2, better) years to your age to get as old as I am... and yes...my hair and my beard are starting to show signs of how heavy are those years...

Ice Hockey, Ice Hockey and Ice Hockey again... right now...Czech Hockey Games (CZE vs SWE) and SHL (Växjö Lakers-Skellefteå, game #3) live... later this afternoon...NHL, one of last night's games (I don't know which one, yet) on-demand... tonight...Swiss NLA (Lugano-Zurich Lions, game #5) and NHL (Columbus Blue Jackets @ Washington Capitals, game #5 and/or New Jersey Devils @ Tampa Bay Lightning, game #5) live...

yes, you're right...my mistake (unfortunately I was lost between KHL and EBEL finals, so I didn't watch that game and I misread the scoring line on the website)... meanwhile right now I'm in between the SHL on ArenaSport1 (why don't they put this channel -and his "brother" AS2, which I can't understand why it's not on the skylink platform, when the #1 is there since ages- in HD like all the others? it's almost unwatchable on my brand new 4K TV...) and the Czech Hockey Games on CT Sport HD...

after yesterday's HC Bolzano/Bozen Foxies success in the EBEL, tomorrow it's time for the Italian National team to kill the happiness of the Italian Hockey fans... Division IA starts with an interesting lineup (SLO, KAZ, HUN, POL, ITA & GBR) and our perspective should be to save our a**, rather than hoping for a non predictable promotion... Our first game is against Poland (h.19.30 CET, live streaming, as for the entire tournament, on the IIHF page on Youtube) and it could prove already decisive for our championship...a loss, infact, would probably mean that we're going to play for the 5th spot against GBR and nothing more... and looking at our team, I just can't be optimistic...

and finally they did it again... like in 2014, HCB won the decisive game on the road...and this time they didn't even need the OT (though, Salzburg got really close to a great comeback in the last 5 minutes and almost sent the match to OT)... unfortunately for them, they came up just short... however, HCB really deserved the win, they did a real masterpiece throughout the entire playoff run, which they enetered in the very last game of the RS as the 8th and last seeded team and then they defeated against the odds the best 3 teams of the RS (Klagenfurt, Vienna Capitals and eventually Red Bull Salzburg)... game #7 itself was a tactical lesson, with great and very tight defence and quick counters that proved lethal for the Austrians... then in the 3rd period they did sit back too mauch, in my opinion...and allowed Salzburg to close the gap in the last 5 mins...luckily HCB had the great Pekka Tuokkola in the net...and the EBEL title is back South of the Border once again... in the other leagues, AK Bars Kazan won game #4 of the Gagarin Cup Finals in Moscow by a score of 3-1 and so now they also lead the series with the same score...therefore tomorrow in Kazan they have a great chance to upset the powerhouse from the Nation's Capital and win a really surprising title; Kometa Brno (Czech Extraliga) have increased their lead over Ocelari Trinec to 3-1 (5-2 the score in favor of Kometa in game #4); in Slovakia, Banskà Bystrica missed another chance to close the series over Dukla Trencin, losing game #5 in Trencin by a score of 6-0; Växjö Lakers (SHL) have destroyed also on the road (4-0) their rivals from Skellefteå and now lead 2-0 in the final series; Kärpät Oulu (Finnish Liiga) also have taken a 2-0 lead in that final series after they beat 4-2 Tappara Tampere in their nest in game #2 and Red Bull Munich (German DEL) have got closer to take home at least 1 title for the (in)famous drink factory by winning 4-2 in Berlin in game #4 and thus taking a 3-1 lead in the series... Today, Zurich could reach the title in Switzerland (they lead the final series 3-1 and they play game #5 on the road, in Lugano), meanwhile the final series continue in Sweden and Finland, with their respective game #3...

Fencing EFC/CEE Sub-23 European Championships 2018

it's a second tier tournament for those teams who don't take part into the hockey pro league (basically it's the old world league without the top teams)...

Sub-23 European Championships - Women's Team Sabre Final Results: Gold: Russia Silver: Italy Bronze: Ukraine Semifinals: Italy b. Ukraine 45-20 Russia b. France 45-38 Bronze Medal Match: Ukraine b. France 45-43 Gold Medal Match: Russia b. Italy 45-39 Full Results from this competition: https://www.fencingtimelive.com/tableaus/scores/FF1F7E12D81A40808839CA27537DB7C4/1FEF7DD2BF1842869045766AEB946445 Final Ranking from this competition: https://www.fencingtimelive.com/events/results/FF1F7E12D81A40808839CA27537DB7C4

Sub-23 European Championships - Men's Team Foil Final Results: Gold: Italy Silver: Russia Bronze: France Semifinals: Italy b. France 45-39 Russia b. Ukraine 45-25 Bronze Medal Match: France b. 45-20 Gold Medal Match: Italy b. Russia 45-31 Full Results from this competition: https://www.fencingtimelive.com/tableaus/scores/8038E0C98EA5492F8590F3F313FB994C/5791B12602504F9787EEC969004BD2E0 Final Ranking from this competition: https://www.fencingtimelive.com/events/results/8038E0C98EA5492F8590F3F313FB994C

Sub-23 European Championships - Men's Team Epee Final Results: Gold: Switzerland Silver: Spain Bronze: France Semifinals: Spain b. France 45-37 Switzerland b. Italy 44-43 Bronze Medal Match: France b. Italy 45-34 Gold Medal Match: Switzerland b. Spain 45-39 Full Results from this competition: https://www.fencingtimelive.com/tableaus/scores/C7D8BCC08A59441CA04B781E1BA70736/749E86439E94411999F8F1D5CC1E75CE Final Ranking from this competition: https://www.fencingtimelive.com/events/results/C7D8BCC08A59441CA04B781E1BA70736

and finally, after 14 minutes and 13 seconds of OT, Zurich wins it and extend their lead in the final series to 3 games to 1... game #5 is scheduled for Saturday night in Lugano...

OT also in Zurich...the situation is getting hot...

by the way, in my previous recap I forgot the EBEL final series...Red Bull Salzburg and HC Bolzano/Bozen Foxies are putting on quite a show and are now tied 3-3. Tomorrow night (puck drop @ 20.20 CET, live for free on Servus TV HD official page on Youtube) in Salzburg a thrilling and decisive game #7 will end up this year's championship. I just can't wait for that one...

also the DEL game is over...RB Munich dominated this match (4-1 the final score) and now they are 2-1 ahead in the series (game #4 in Berlin on Friday)... in the Swiss final, instead, Zurich have tied tonight's game...now it's 2-2 with just over 15 minutes to play in regulation...

and Kirill Petrov wins it for CSKA Moscow after more or less 13 minutes of OT... they're still alive...now AK Bars lead "only" 2-1 in the Gagarin Cup Finals (game #4 is scheduled for Friday once again in Moscow)...

it's not me...as I wrote, it's an Italian website...

AK Bars and CSKA are playing the OT in game #3 of the KHL final series (AK Bars won the first 2 games at home, both with the score of 2-1)... by the way, the score is 2-2 after 60 mins (we're now at the 71st minute, OT included)... today there are also many other National Leagues final series under way... in Slovakia, Banskà Bystrica could close the series against Dukla Trencin, as they lost today's game #4 at home by a score of 4-2. However they still lead 3-1 and will have 3 more chances to successfully defend their title. in the Czech Republic, Kometa Brno won 3-2 the 3rd game of the series and now they lead 2-1 in the final series against Ocelari Trinec. Game #4 is scheduled for tomorrow, once again in Brno. in Germany, Eisbären Berlin and Red Bull Munich are playing right now their game #3 (series tied 1-1, Munich 3-1 ahead at the beginning of the 3rd period in game #3). In Switzerland, Zurich and Lugano are playing right now in Zurich game #4 of their final series...and Zurich is leading the series 2-1 (but Lugano is 2-1 ahead halfway through the second period in game #4). In Sweden and Finland today there are no games, but we are at the climax also in those leagues. In Sweden, Växjö Lakers HC are leading 1-0 in the final series against Skellefteå, meanwhile in Finland the finals are between Kärpät Oulu and Tappara Tampere, with the first leading 1-0 in the series. In both those leagues, game #2 of the finals is scheduled for tomorrow. p.s. I'm just going crazy while I'm trying to watch KHL, DEL and NLA games at the same time between TV and PC...

actually some of those players are making the Swedish team worse than it would be with SHL based players only... and of course I'm not talking of Klingberg or Backlund nor Ekman-Larsson or Zibanejad... however, I'm really curious to see what happens if so many series in the NHL playoffs round #1 end so quickly as it looks it's gonna happen (we have 1 already over...and unfortunately it's just the one I didn't want to finish like it's actually gone )... possibly, we're going to watch a tournament that could make up for the poor Olympic stuff... p.s also Dennis Seidenberg and, above all, Leon Draisaitl are coming to Denmark to play for Germany... http://2018.iihfworlds.com/en/news/draisaitl-seidenberg-come/

Dolder and Oberhof are not going to retire, according to the Italian Wintersports site "Fondo Italia"... they have a list of retired athletes in all the Snow Sports updated to 4 days ago... MEN'S CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING (9) COLOGNA Gianluca [SUI] (1990) DOLIDOVICH Sergei [BLR] (1973) HOFFMANN Noah [USA] (1989) JÖNSSON Emil [SWE] (1985) KETELÄ Toni [FIN] (1988) LEGKOV Alexander [RUS] (1983) NOUSIAINEN Ville [FIN] (1983) PERL Curdin [SUI] (1984) STRANDVALL Matias [FIN] (1985) WOMEN'S CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING (10) BJØRGEN Marit [NOR] (1980) HAAG Anna [SWE] (1985) HAGEN Martine Ek [NOR] (1991) KOCHER Zina [CAN] (1982) KOWALCZYK Justyna [POL] (1983) JEAN Aurore [FRA] (1985) MALVALEHTO Mona-Liisa [FIN] (1983) RANDALL Kikkan [USA] (1982) SAARINEN Aino-Kaisa [FIN] (1979) STEPHEN Liz [USA] (1987) MEN'S BIATHLON (9) BAILEY Lowell [USA] (1981) BEATRIX Jean-Guillaume [FRA] (1988) BJØRNDALEN Ole Einar [NOR] (1974) BURKE Tim [USA] (1982) CURRIER Russell [USA] (1987) GRAF Florian [GER] (1988) SOUKUP Jaroslav [CZE] (1982) SVENDSEN Emil Hegle [NOR] (1985) WILLEITNER Michael [GER] (1990) WOMEN'S BIATHLON (5+1) DORIN HABERT Marie [FRA] (1986) FENNE Hilde [NOR] (1993) KOUKALOVA Gabriela [CZE] (1989) {NOT an official retirement, but a long and undisclosed terms pause} NOWAKOWSKA Weronika [POL] (1986) RANSOM Julia [CAN] (1993) TOFALVI Eva [ROU] (1978) MEN'S SKI JUMPING (5) AUNE Joakim [NOR] (1993) BIRCHLER Tobias [SUI] (1997) DELLASEGA Roberto [ITA] (1990) HILDE Tom [NOR] (1987) MIETUS Krzysztof [POL] (1991) WOMEN'S SKI JUMPING (3+1) INSAM Evelyn [ITA] (1994) {Just pausing, NOT an official retirement yet} MATTEL Coline [FRA] (1995) POZUN Katja [SLO] (1993) RINGQUIST Abby [USA] (1989) NORDIC COMBINED (7) FLETCHER Bryan [USA] (1986) KATO Taihei [JPN] (1984) KIRCHEISEN Björn [GER] (1983) KOKSLIEN Mikko [NOR] (1985) LAMY-CHAPPUIS Jason [FRA] (1986) LOOMIS Adam [USA] (1992) MANNINEN Hannu [FIN] (1978) Other news Thee should be 12 people related to the Biathlon "family" under investigation after the Austrian Police raid at last year's Worlds in Hochfilzen. 2 of them should be investigated for corruption, the remaining 10 could be responsible for sports fraud. And it should be 2 different investigation pathways...the doping scandal is definitely related to last year's Worlds, meanwhile the corruption files should be about facts started already in 2012 (it should be about money in exchange for covering up positive doping tests). That's what's reported by Norwegian press (VG) after something said by a spokeswoman of the Austrian police. here's the full article (in Italian)... http://www.fondoitalia.it/2018/04/16/notizie/argomenti/biathlon/articolo/ibu-gate-ci-sarebbero-12-persone-sotto-inchiesta.html p.s. a bit off-topic in this thread, but since we're here... Tor Arne Hetland has been fired from his role as the Cross-Country Skiing men's head coach in Norway... the new coach should be Eirik Myhr Nossum, former coach of Petter Northug... and many people have already started to speculate on the bad boy's return in the Norwegian squad...

because fifa decided that way... they will take into consideration also the earlier phase...so, if there are only 3 teams eliminated in the quarterfinals, they will look also at the 1/8 finals...

I know the story, but still it doesn't change the concept... if there are 3 European teams finishing better than the others next year in France, they go to Tokyo...if there aren't, there will be a qualifying tournament in 2020... personally, I'd like the idea of having a nice playoff also this time round (so, I hope Europe doesn't come up with all the 3 qualified teams already at the end of France 2019)...