hckošice

and here it is, the reigning champiions will send a true "All Stars Team" to the world champs. Rikard Gronborg announced the final roster, he´ll bring to Slovakia 25 players (3 Goaltenders, 8 defencers and 14 forwards) We can find a massive NHL stars armada in the team, exactly 18 !!! the goalies King "Henrik" Lundqvist (NY Rangers) and Jacob Markström (Vancouver), defencers Oliver Ekman-Larsson (Arizona), Adam Larsson (Edmonton), Robert Hägg (Philadelphia), Erik Gustafsson (Chicago), Mattias Ekholm (Nashville) and forwards Elias Pettersson, Loui Eriksson (both Vancouver), Marcus Krüger (Chicago), Adrian Kempe (Los Angeles), Mario Kempe (Arizona), Jesper Bratt (New Jersey), Oskar Lindblom (Philadelphia), Patric Hörnqvist (Pittsburgh, Elias Lindholm (Calgary) and William Nylander (Toronto). The 7 remaining spots are fulfiled by 3 KHLers Philip Holm, Anton Lander and Dennis Rasmussen and 4 players from the domestic elite league. The age average of the team is 26 years. played 11 test matches !!! during last month, winning 9 of them ! 4-0 in Slovakia in early April, 4-3 in Hungary against the Division I Group A participant, 2-0 and 5-1 over Norway at home, 3-2 and 2-0 in Denmark against the hosts, 3-1 in Finland and 2 wins during the last Euro Hockey Tour Tournament in Czech Republic 6-4 against Russia and 2-1 against Finland, they even won the Carlson Hockey Games (last Euro Hockey Tour 2018/19 stage). Their only defeats are 4-5 in Finland against the host team and 0-3 to the host Czech Republic at the Carlson Hockey Games last Saturday.

TEAM SWEDEN  Goaltenders: Jhonas Enroth (Örebro HK) Jacob Markström (Vancouver Canucks, NHL, ) Henrik Lundqvist (NY Rangers, NHL, ) Defencers: Adam Larsson (Edmonton Oilers, NHL, ) Robert Hägg (Philadelphia Flyers, NHL, ) Mattias Ekholm (Nashville Predators, NHL, ) Marcus Pettersson (Pittsburgh Penguins, NHL, ) Oliver Ekman Larsson (Arizona Coyotes, NHL, ) Philip Holm (Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod, KHL, ) Erik Gustafsson (Chicago Blackhawks, NHL, ) John Klingberg (Dallas Stars, NHL, ) Forwards: Adrian Kempe (Los Angeles Kings, NHL, ) Gabriel Landeskog (Colorado Avalanche, NHL, ) Marcus Krüger (Chicago Blackhawks, NHL, ) Elias Pettersson (Vancouver Canucks, NHL, ) Loui Eriksson (Vancouver Canucks, NHL, ) Elias Lindholm (Calgary Flames, NHL, ) Mario Kempe (Arizona Coyotes, NHL, ) Oskar Lindblom (Philadelphia Flyers, NHL, ) Anton Lander (AK Bars Kazan, KHL, ) Jesper Bratt (New Jersey Devils, NHL, ) Dennis Rasmussen (Metallurg Magnitogorsk, KHL, ) Patric Hörnqvist (Pittsburgh Penguins, NHL, ) William Nylander (Toronto Maple Leafs, NHL, ) Alexander Wennberg (Columbus Blue Jackets, NHL, )

The Czech team will arrive tomorrow by train the train will start at 9:50 from Prague and will collect the players in the different stations The arrival of the team to Bratislava is expected around 13:50

Well, at least you are not going to face that issues, since you can catch CZ and SVK channels, so you should be able to watch everything without troubles

Maybe they will write and cover more about the champs from Friday. I found this https://www.oasport.it/2019/05/hockey-ghiaccio-mondiali-2019-il-calendario-di-tutte-le-partite-programma-orari-e-tv-fino-alla-finale/ but really disappointed with this :

Kazakhstan wins gold, Belarus up too It was the battle of the two undefeated teams for the top spot in their race to promotion and host team Kazakhstan won it, 3-2 in overtime. Thanks to the extra point not only Kazakhstan but also Belarus will be among the top-two teams to earn promotion to the 2020 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Switzerland. Kazakhstan already got the news about promotion before the game because Korea, which was chasing the two teams for a top-two spots, surprisingly lost to Lithuania. “We know what is the main aim – that we can take gold. We started very well with a lot of energy and scored two goals but then we conceded a foolish goal. Belarus scored the second goal in enthusiasm and took the initiative. But then we realized that we can’t lose, got more inspired and then we won,” said Nikita Mikhailis. “It was a very interesting, dramatic game, nervous from both teams. We told the guys that Kazakhstan is very dangerous in the beginning and not let them score the first goal but they got the lead anyway,” said Belarus head coach Andrei Sidorenko. “I’m proud of my guys that they didn’t give up. I’m glad for the team, for all the fans and the country that we will be back in the top division.” The start of the game reminded of the Kazakh national team’s games at Barys Arena before. They used their home-ice advantage in front of 7,418 fans and came out with enthusiasm, energy and many scoring chances. Throughout the game they outshot Belarus 42-17. After eight minutes the fans got reason to cheer for the first time. Mikhailis found from a short angle the hole in Alexander Osipkov’s net at the close post. The Kazakhs continued with a power play but couldn’t convert. Once it was over, however, Talgat Zhailauov made it a 2-0 lead after receiving a great horizontal pass through the crease from Yevgeni Rymarev. “We are very happy, congratulations to all Kazakhstan that the team is finally back to the top division. I liked this game. It was the best game we had in this tournament. We had many opportunities and a very good start but still the problem that we didn’t capitalize on our chances. We want to be better in this aspect,” said Kazakhstan head coach Andrei Skabelka and added: “I’m happy about the first win in history against Belarus. We wanted this result and we wanted to beat them finally.” In the second period Artyom Demkov gave Belarus some hope back. He got the puck passed back after a face-off on the right side won by Geoff Platt and sent off the shot for his team’s first goal at 6:49. Also due to three Belarusian penalties the Kazakhs were closer to extending the lead than Belarus to tie it up though. That changed in the third period. At 3:16 Nikita Feoktistov scored after a blind pass from behind the net from Artyom Volkov to tie the game. It was the game-tying goal that gave Belarus the extra point to keep third-placed Korea at distance before the two teams meet tomorrow. Thanks to that Belarus has second place secured and can still hope for the tournament win. “The best thing about the tournament and this game is that we made it to the top division. It was a nervous game and we should actually win this game, we had a lot of opportunities, but we lost it. The main thing is we made it,” Feoktistov said. The Kazakh national team also won its fifth game of the 2019 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division I Group A on home ice in Nur-Sultan to end the tournament with a perfect record. Kazakhstan beat Hungary 3-1 in a tight game in which they outshot their opponent 35-32. “Hungary started very well and the whole game was very competitive. In the beginning Hungary was very aggressive but then we could take the initiative and play our game. We took every game very serious. We wanted five wins and it happened. All the players were leaders in this championship and we won like one team,” Kazakh national team captain Talgat Zhailauov said. The Kazakh fans at the Barys Arena were used that their team starts the game like firefighters trying to distinguish a fire. However, the Hungarians had different ideas and for the first time Kazakhstan didn’t get the lead in the first period despite a 11-7 shot-on-goal advantage. The first 20 minutes ended scoreless. For both teams the game didn’t have any implications for the standings anymore after the results of the previous two games of the day. Kazakhstan would end up as tournament winner anyway since Belarus didn’t get any points. And Hungary was locked in fifth place. Both Kazakhstan and Belarus secured promotion to the 2020 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship already the day before That meant Hungary wanted to finish as much on a positive note as Kazakhstan wanted in front of its home crowd. “The game didn’t matter in the standings, so it was a good test for us to show that we have more pride than we showed in the last game,” said Hungary head coach Gergely Majoross. “Our guys competed for pucks and space. In that regard we took good steps forward. Unfortunately we proved that our scoring efficiency is too low to win a game.” Eventually it was Kazakhstan which opened the score. Once again the goal scorer was Nikita Mikhailis with his fourth marker of the tournament. Mikhailis got the puck at the red line from Nikita Kleshenko for a breakaway and beat Hungarian goaltender Bence Balizs with a precise shot. In the third period it was again the Kazakhs who had a great start. During a power play Anton Nekryach scored his team’s second goal after receiving the puck from the end boards from Yevgeni Rymarev. However, Istvan Sofron brought Hungary back four minutes later with slick skating in the Kazakh defence and a shot that went in through Sergei Kudrayvtsev’s five-hole. Hungary’s comeback attempt was stopped by a penalty against Gergo Nagy for hooking. And again Rymarev was involved on the successful man advantage, this time as goal scorer. The 3-1 marker with 2:45 left in regulation time sealed Kazakhstan’s fifth win in the fifth game. “Even though the game didn’t have any influence in the standings, the players played well for the fans and won the game. We showed an interesting game and I’m happy that we are promoted,” said Kazakhstan head coach Andrei Skabelka. Slovenia saved The relegation battle at the 2019 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division I Group A was decided in the first game of the last day. Slovenia blanked Lithuania 9-0, which means that both Slovenia and Hungary will stay in the group while Lithuania will be have to go back to the Division I Group B. The Slovenes had an early goal and simply never stopped scoring. “We finished on a high, that’s good. We prepared like for every game. It was a huge game for us. We gave all we had and we played the best game of the tournament. We made a great defensive job and that also helped us to make more offensive plays,” said Jan Drozg, who scored a hat trick in the game and now leads the tournament in goals with five. The start was in Slovenia’s favour with a power play. The “lynx” needed two minutes to crack the tight Lithuanian box play and they made it three seconds after. With Daniel Bogdziul coming back from the penalty box, Sabahudin Kovacevic sent a pass to the crease where Robert Sabolic was at the spot to tip the puck in. With 3:44 left Drozg scored his third of five goal of the tournament. After circling around the Lithuanian defence he beat goaltender Mantas Armalis with a high wrist shot. “We talked a lot about how important the start of the game is and they’re a tough opponent if they get the lead. For us it was important that we scored the first goal and used our power play. We didn’t let go and played for 60 minutes,” Slovenia head coach Ivo Jan said. The Lithuanians aimed at getting back in the second period but a 2+2 minute penalty for high-sticking against Tadas Kumeliauskas didn’t make things easier. Just when the Lithuanians killed off the penalties, Los Angeles Kings star Anze Kopitar showcased his skills. The Slovenian captain brought the puck between Arvidas Domeika and Dainius Zubrus, then outskated Arturas Katulis in front of the net and beat Armalis with a wrist shot at 8:16. And as if this was not enough, Matic Podlipnik increased the lead to 4-0 just half a minute later with a shot from the blue line. “Obviously it was our worst game by far. We made way too many mistakes and they made us pay for it. We played much tighter games normally. It’s a young team. More than half of our defensive corps plays with full cages. That’s a huge experience for them. They are our future,” captain Zubrus said. When asked about the reasons for the breakdown, he answered: “It came altogether. Inexperience, fatigue level. It was not as good of a game we could have played. Altogether I’m so happy with the way we played at this tournament and as a hockey nation we’re growing. It’s a step in the right direction.” Lithuania head coach Daniel Lacroix took his time-out but the four-goal deficit proved too much. Few minutes later Bostjan Golicic had free way to the net after a pass from Anze Kuralt to make it 5-0. With 31 seconds left in the period the Slovenes outpassed the Lithuanian defence again. Kuralt sent a short horizontal pass in front of the net to Ken Ograjensek on the other side and it was 6-0. “I really liked our start, at 5-on-5 they played well. The big question mark was would we be able to sustain it after playing a game yesterday at 14:00. Unfortunately we weren’t. We lost momentum, lost the spirit pretty early. We kind of lost ourselves,” Lacroix said. “I’m proud of our guys and the commitment and effort they showed up every game beside today’s game.” Young netminder Laurynas Lubys came in for the last period but saw himself beaten after nine minutes. Drozg received a pass from behind the net to increase the lead to 7-0. Aleksandar Magovac scored another goal and Drozg completed his hat trick with the 9-0 marker with 59 seconds left. For Slovenia it was a conciliatory ending after a bad start into the tournament. The team had definitely hoped for more especially with the arrival or their Slovenian idol Anze Kopitar and will finish the tournament in fourth place. After the game the Ice Hockey Federation of Slovenia announced that it will apply for hosting the 2020 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division I Group A, most probably with Arena Stozice in the capital of Ljubljana. Medals & Awards After the end of the game the Kazakh team came back to receive their gold medals. Silver went to Belarus, which together with Kazakhstan will be promoted to the 2020 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Switzerland, while Korea had to settle for the bronze medals. Individual awards were handed to players from three teams. Matt Dalton of Korea won the tournament directorate’s Best Goaltender award and was also voted all-star goalie by the media. Darren Dietz of Kazakhstan was the number-one choice as Best Defenceman. His teammate Leonid Metalnikov also made it to the All-Star Team as defenceman. Geoff Platt of Belarus won the Best Forward award of the directorate. He, Kazakhstan’s Nikita Mikhailis and Sangwook Kim of Korea were voted as the three forwards on the All-Star Team. Mikhailis was voted Most Valuable Player by the accredited media at in Nur-Sultan. IIHF.COM

No idea about the exact numbers and countries, but I am certain there some also from Italy (at least someone from the major sites like Gazetta or so)

The organizing committee announced that everything is finalzed and ready for the start of the tournament. They presented to our medias the changing room of team, our players will use the biggest locker room in the arena, the locker room of the local club HC Košice for this tournament. One fun fact, they also said they received request of accreditation from 700 journalists from all over the world, with the biggest exotics being the full TV crew from China and one journalist from Mongolia. Images from our locker room and the ice rink of the Steel Arena

Road to Bratislava/Košice Team Presentation (4 Days to Go) Russia Team Jersey Home Away Medal Record

Petter Thoresen just announced his final roster for the world championships as well, Norway will be reinforced by 1 NHLer in Slovakia, the Chicago Blackhawks forward Andreas Martinsen and 13 players from foreign leagues, including 8 from . He also reveiled that the Goaltending #1 will be Henrik Haukeland from Finlands TPS Turku, the captain was named the experienced Jonas Holos from Fribourg and another notable stars of the team are Alexander Bonsaksen from KooKoo and Mattias Nörstebö of Frölunda. The goals are expected from their league armada Mathis Olimb, Thomas Valkvä Olsen, Mats Rosseli Olsen or Mathias Trettenes from the german Krefeld . Petter Thoresen called to the team also his son Patrick Thoresen from Storhamar, but the 35 years old former NHLer (Edmonton Oilers and Philadelphia Flyers forwrad) is currently still facing troubles with injury and will certainly miss at least the last preparation match of the team tomorrow against Slovakia. Norway is still waiting and hoping for reinforcement of another their huge star Mats Zuccarello Aasen, who is still playing with Dallas in the NHL Stanley Cup Play-Offs. (the series Dallas-St. Louis is currently tied 3-3, with the decisive match schedulled tomorrow) played 6 preparation matches last weeks with 1 W -5 L the only win came in their last game 4-3 OT over Denmark at home, the loses 0-5 and 1-5 in Sweden, 1-3 and 0-7 in Finland and 0-1 to Denmark at home. They will play one more match tomorrow in Michalovce against the host Slovakia, for both teams it will be the last test match before the World Championships.

TEAM NORWAY  Goaltenders: Jonas Arntzen (Leksand IF, ) Henrik Haukeland (TPS Turku, ) Henrik Holm (Stavanger Oilers) Defencers: Alexander Bonsaksen (KooKoo Kouvola, ) Christian Bull (Storhamar Dragons) Stefan Espeland (Valerenga Ishockey Oslo) Jonas Holös (HC Fribourg-Gottéron, ) Johannes Johannesen (Stavanger Oilers) Christian Kasastul (Frisk Asker Ishockey) Erlend Lesund (Mora IK, Div. II, ) Mattias Nörstebö (HC Frölunda Göteborg, ) Forwards: Kristian Forsberg (Stavanger Oilers) Michael Haga (Mora IK, Div. II, ) Tommy Kristiansen (Sparta Sarpsborg) Niklas Roest (Sparta Sarpsborg) Tobias Lindström (Valerenga Ishockey Oslo) Martin Röymark (Valerenga Ishockey Oslo) Andreas Martinsen (Chicago Blackhawks, NHL, ) Sondre Olden (Vienna Capitals, EBEL, ) Mathis Olimb (Skellefteå AIK, ) Mats Rosseli Olsen (HC Frölunda Göteborg, ) Thomas Valkvä Olsen (Leksand IF, ) Alexander Reichenberg (Färjestad BK, ) Patrick Thoresen (Storhamar Dragons) Mathias Trettenes (Krefeld Penguine, )

9th team to introduce its final preliminary round roster is the "land of thousand lakes". Jukka Jalonen will bring to Slovakia 25 players divided into traditional 3 Goaltenders, 8 Defencers and 14 Forwards. but this time Finland will surprisingly not have so many NHLers in their ranks, in fact many NHL stars had to refuse the invitation mainly because of injuries. This is the reason why we can find only 2 NHLers in their final squad. the 19 years old young Chicago Blackhawks defencer Henri Jokiharju who played 38 matches in NHL regular season this year with 12 assists and the Florida Panthers 23 years old forward Juho Lammikko who played 40 matches for the Panthers this season but also without scoring any goal and producing 6 assists. The AHL reinforcements, Kevin Lankinen the Rockford goalie and Niko Mikkola the defencer of San Antonio are the two other players arriving from North American ice. Overall the main part of the team is formed by players from domestic league (12 in total), the remaining places are fullfiled by players from KHL (4 -two from Jokerit Helsinki and one respectively from the chinese kunlun and russian Dinamo Moscow), and leagues. One of the most followed player of this team will be for sure the super talented 18 years old supposed this years #2 NHL Draft Kaapo Kakko. After the last test match Jalonen removed from the roster the last 6 names, the goalie Eetu Laurikainen, defencers Otto Leskinen, Tony Sund and Juuso Vainio, and forwards Joonas Nättinen and Arttu Ruotsalainen. played 9 preparation matches (including 3 in the Euro Hockey Tour final stage in ) during last weeks with a record of 7 wins against 2 defeats. Quite interesting they lost only to Sweden (2 of the 3 games they played together) 1-3 at home and 1-2 during the Euro Hockey Tour last match yesterday in Brno, Czech Republic. In other hand they won all remaining 7 games - 1-0 and 2-1 in Denmark against the hosts, 3-1 and 7-0 over Norway at home, their only win against Sweden in the preparation 5-4 at home and the two impressive wins in Czech Republic during the Euro Hockey Tour tournament 3-2 over the host Czech Republic and 3-1 against Russia.

TEAM FINLAND  Goaltenders: Kevin Lankinen (Rockford IceHogs, AHL, ) Veini Vehviläinen (Kärpät Oulu) Jussi Olkinuora (Pelicans Lahti) Defencers: Atte Ohtamaa (Kärpät Oulu) Jani Hakanpää (Kärpät Oulu) Mikko Lehtonen (HV 71 Jönköping, ) Oliwer Kaski (Pelicans Lahti) Henri Jokiharju (Chicago Blackhawks, NHL, ) Petteri Lindbohm (Lausanne HC, ) Miika Koivisto (Dinamo Moscow, KHL, ) Niko Mikkola (San Antonio Rampage, AHL, ) Forwards: Marko Anttila (Jokerit Helsinki, KHL) Sakari Manninen (Jokerit Helsinki, KHL) Arttu Ilomäki (Lukko Rauma) Veli-Matti Savinainen (Kunlun Red Star, KHL, ) Niko Ojamäki (Tappara Tampere) Kristian Kuusela (Tappara Tampere) Juhani Tyrväinen (IFK Helsinki) Kaapo Kakko (TPS Turku) Toni Rajala (EHC Biel, ) Eetu Luostarinen (KalPa Kuopio) Joel Kiviranta (Vaasan Sport) Jere Sallinen (Örebro HK, ) Harri Pesonen (SC Laugnau, ) Juho Lammikko (Florida Panthers, NHL, )

Updated as of May 5th, 2019

The next one to unveil their roster are our beloved brothers and former federal partners, the Czechs. Miloš Říha announced his 25 players roster for the preliminary round. (formed by traditional 3 Golatenders, 8 defencers and 14 forwards). will can count on the help of 10 NHLers (the defencers Radko Gudas, Jan Rutta and Filip Hronek and forwards Jakub Voráček, Dmitij Jaškin, Jakub Vrána, Filip Chytil, Ondřej Palát, Dominik Simon and Michael Frolík) + Sklenička from AHL. The very competitive squad is completed by very good players from strong leagues like Řepík, Kolář, Hanzl, Tomáš Zohorna and the goalie Jakub Kovář all from KHL clubs or Dominik Kubalík from league, Tomášek and the second of the Zohorna brothers Hynek arrived from league. The remaining 6 spots are fullfiled by players from domestic extraliga. The team will be with this squad definitely again one of the medal contenders. This time we will not see in the Czech team players like defencers Jakub Krejčík, Jakub Jeřábek, Tomáš Kundrátek and forwards Martin Zaťovič or Jiří Sekáč which for several reasons didn´t made it to the final team They played 9 preparation matches during the last weeks, including 3 in the last Euro Hockey stage at home in the Carlson Hockey Games. with a impressive record 7 W - 2 L They won all 6 "double matches", the first two against Austria 3-1 at home ice and 5-4 OT in Austria, then also both home games against Germany 5-4 and 5-4, followed by wins in both matches in Slovakia against the hosts 3-1 in Trenčín and 2-0 in Nitra. The 7th win came in the Euro Hockey tournament over Sweden 3-0. The only 2 defeats are also from the Euro Hockey Tour tournament 2-3 to Finland and 1-4 in their yesterdays last test match to the over-mighty Russia.

TEAM CZECH REPUBLIC Goaltenders: Patrik Bartošák (HC Vítkovice Ridera) Šimon Hrubec (HC Oceláři Třinec) Pavel Francouz (Colorado Avalanche, NHL, ) Defencers: Michal Moravčík (HC Škoda Plzeň) Petr Zámorský (Mountfield HK Hradec Králové) David Musil (HC Oceláři Třinec) Radko Gudas (Philadelphia Flyers, NHL, ) Filip Hronek (Detroit Red Wings, NHL, ) Jan Kolář (Amur Khabarovsk, KHL, ) Jan Rutta (Tampa Bay Lightning, NHL, ) David Sklenička (Laval Rocket, AHL, ) Forwards: Dmitrij Jaškin (Washington Capitals, NHL, ) Jakub Vrána (Washington Capitals, NHL, ) Jan Kovář (HC Škoda Plzeň) Michael Frolík (Calgary Flames, NHL, ) Filip Chytil (New York Rangers, NHL, ) Dominik Kubalík (HC Ambri-Piotta, ) Ondřej Palát (Tampa Bay Lightning, NHL, ) Michal Řepík (Vityaz Moscow Region, KHL, ) Dominik Simon (Pittsburgh Penguins, NHL, ) Jakub Voráček (Philadelphia Flyers, NHL, ) Hynek Zohorna (Pelicans Lahti, ) Tomáš Zohorna (Amur Khabarovsk, KHL, ) Radek Faksa (Dallas Stars, NHL, ) Milan Gulaš (HC Škoda Plzeň)

The Canadian coach Bob Hartley announced yesterday the final roster for the World Champs. He decided to take with him 28 players, so 3 of them will travel to Slovakia but will certainly not play in the preliminary round (where he can submit and registrate 25 players max. 3+22). As always team Latvia´s axis will be formed by the KHL long years representative and nations most famous club Dinamo Riga players, this time we can find 9 players in the team. Hartley received positive answers from 2 of their NHLers and Latvia will be reinforced in Slovakia by two forwards Rudolfs Balcers (Ottawa Senators) and Teodors Blugers (Pittsburgh Penguins), from North American ice arrived also two young talents of the Latvian hockey, the goalie Gustavs Davis Grigals of the Alaska University and the defencer Janis Jaks playing also the NCAA. The goal of the team is the Quarterfinals (they achieved it last year) and the man who is supposed to lead them fot that is the 30 years old experienced captain the Spartak Moscow forward Kaspars Daugavinš (he is right now facing some minor injuries, he didn´t play the last 2 preparation games in Switzerland, but according to the news, he should be fit for the WCh. The same for Edgars Kulda from Zlín who actually also didn´t take part in these matches for injury, but will be apparently ok for the tournament). The Goaltending #1 should and will be Kristers Gudlevskis (who in the past played some matches in NHL for Tampa Bay but spend the majority of his career in AHL before returning back home to Dinamo Riga). We can find in the team also a couple of notable names like Oskars Cibulskis, Ralfs Freibergs, Guntis Galvinš and Roberts Bukarts all playing alongside with Kulda in the league, Rodrigo Abols play in (Örebro) and Ronalds Keninš who play in NLA for Lausanne. Interesting is also to mention, Hartley did not take this year with him 2 long years members of the team, the extremely experienced veterans Mikelis Redlihs and Andris Džerinš, both were removed from the roster in this last cut. played 6 preparation games before the tournament during the last weeks, they won 2 of them and both after Overtime/penalty Shoot-Outs (the most notable is the 2-1 OT over Russia) and 3:2 OT in France over the host team. In the remaining 4 matches they had to concede defeats 0-2 in France, 2-4 against Russia and in both last weekend matches in Switzerland against the Swiss 1-4 and 0-2.

TEAM LATVIA  Goaltenders: Kristers Gudlevskis (Dinamo Riga, KHL) Gustavs Davis Grigals (University of Alaska Fairbanks, NCAA, ) Elvis Merzlikins (Columbus Blue Jackets, NHL, ) Defencers: Uvis Balinskis (Dinamo Riga, KHL) Kristaps Sotnieks (Dinamo Riga, KHL) Kristaps Zile (Dinamo Riga, KHL) Oskars Cibulskis (Mountfield Hradec Králové, ) Ralfs Freibergs (PSG Berani Zlín, ) Arturs Kulda (Severstal Cherepovets, KHL, ) Guntis Galvinš (HC Oceláři Třinec, ) Janis Jaks (American International College, NCAA, ) Forwards: Oskars Batna (Dinamo Riga, KHL) Gints Meija (Dinamo Riga, KHL) Martinš Dzierkals (Dinamo Riga, KHL) Lauris Darzinš (Dinamo Riga, KHL) Emils Gegeris (Dinamo Riga, KHL) Rihards Marenis (HK MOGO) Rodrigo Abols (Örebro HK, ) Miks Indrašis (Dinamo Moscow, KHL, ) Rihards Bukarts (Schwenninger Wild Wings, ) Roberts Bukarts (Sparta Prague, ) Ronalds Keninš (Lausanne HC, ) Rudolfs Balcers (Ottawa Senators, NHL, ) Teodors Blugers (Pittsburgh Penguins, NHL, ) Maris Bicevskis (HK Muntfield Hradec Králové, )

Yeah, they struggled a lot during this tournament with their poor shooting efficiency. Even today they played almost half of the match in power plays but couldn´t score a single goal.

haha good luck

and now back to France, Philippe Bozon the former frnch legendary player and from this season also the new coach of who replaced the long long years Canadian Dave Henderson in this position, has announced the full 25 players roster for the preliminary round. Unfortunately this time will have to play at the worlds without their NHL stars, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare from Vegas and the "bad boy" Antoine Roussel from Vancouver are both injured and had to refuse the invitation. The new rising super star of the country Alexandre Texier is still playing for Columbus at the NHL Stanley Cup Play-Offs against Boston (Boston currently leading 3-2 in the series) The other notable missing names are certainly the two french KHL stars the defencer Yohann Auvitu from HK Sochi (Injury) and the long years leader of the team and captain, the forward Stephane Da Costa from Yekaterinburg (Refused the invitation this time for exhaustion after long and difficult season). will have to raly then on players from the local Magnus League and 7 players playing abroad in European leagues in and the young talented forward Jordann Perret playing in the Czech extraliga for Pardubice is one of the strongest names in the roster A lot of experience can be found also among other players like Teddy Da Costa, Damien Fleury or the new captain Sacha Treille all have in common the fact they all despite playing long years abroad returned this season back home to their national league. France played 7 preparation matches during last weeks. They won 3 matches against Latvia 2-0, against Switzerland in SUI 4-3 OT and in their last match before the departure to Slovakia last Friday over Italy in a impressive way 6-2, in the remaining 4 matches they lost both home games to Russia 1-4 and 0-2, also 2-3 OT to Latvia and 0-6 in Sierra against the host Switzerland.

Well, hopefully yes but it will certainly not beso easy at all, especially Germany will have a very strong team including one of the top NHL stars Leon Draisiatl (if there a match I am afraid of, it is definitely the match against ) their hockey style doesn´t suit us at all and it´s like this for a long time... Also Denmark can not be underestimated, they have very good players used to playing together for years tough matches in the top division. Anyway this is the top division, so each team is difficult to beat, each of these teams has strong goaltending and athletic skilled players playing hockey in strong leagues, you know that we had many surprising results in top division in the last years, nowadays hockey is definitely not the same as it was in the past, the matches are often very tense and close, and is not so uncommon to see even a underdog winning a match against bigger hockey nation. Well, the USA have one hell of a offensive team, they super fast super skilled forwards will be extremely hard to be stopped by the British, if there a chance for a double digit score at this tournament, I would bet definitely on the USA - GBR match

TEAM FRANCE Goaltenders: Henri-Corentin Buysse (Les Gothiques d´Amiens) Florian Hardy (Les Ducs d´Angers) Sebastian Ylönen (Anglet Hormadi) Defencers: Florian Chakiachvili (Les Dragons de Rouen) Pierre Crinon (Les Rapaces de Gap) Olivier Dame Malka (Nice Hockey Cote d´Azur) Hugo Gallet (Les Boxers de Bordeaux) Jonathan Janil (Les Boxers de Bordeaux) Kévin Hecquefeuille (Les Scorpions de Mulhouse) Antonin Manavian (Les Bruleurs de Loups de Grenoble) Thomas Thiry (EV Zug, ) Forwards: Eliot Berthon (Genéve-Servette HC, ) Timothé Bozon (Genéve-Servette HC, ) Charles Bertrand (HC Fribourg-Gottéron, ) Valentin Claireaux (Vaasa Sport, ) Damien Fleury (Les Bruleurs de Loups de Grenoble) Guillaume Leclerc (Les Bruleurs de Loups de Grenoble) Sacha Treille (Les Bruleurs de Loups de Grenoble) Cédric Di Dio Balsamo (Les Lions de Lyon) Anthony Guttig (Les Dragons de Rouen) Nicolas Ritz (Les Dragons de Rouen) Jordann Perret (HC Dynamo Pardubice, ) Anthony Rech (Schwenninger Wild Wings, ) Peter Valier (Les Boxers de Bordeaux) Alexandre Texier (Columbus Blue Jackets, NHL, )