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Curling Mixed Doubles Tournament at the Winter Olympic Games 2018 Gangneung (KOR) - 8 February 2018 - 13 February 2018 Totallympics Results Thread

Women's Curling Tournament at the Winter Olympic Games 2018 Gangneung (KOR) - 14 February 2018 - 25 February 2018 Totallympics Results Thread

Men's Curling Tournament at the Winter Olympic Games 2018 Gangneung (KOR) - 14 February 2018 - 24 February 2018 Totallympics Results Thread

Ski Jumping at the Winter Olympic Games 2018 PyeongChang (KOR) - 8 February 2018 - 19 February 2018 Totallympics Results Thread

The flame is on! Olympic countdown begins in Ancient Olympia On Tuesday the Olympic Flame was lit in Ancient Olympia with just over three months to go until it will reach PyeongChang for the opening ceremony. The Olympic flame has been a symbol of the Olympic Games since its classic era over 2,000 years ago and is lit every two years at the site of the classic Olympic Games at Ancient Olympia in Greece. It traditionally involves eleven women dressed in classic Greek style representing the Vestal Virgins who perform a ceremony at the Temple of Hera in which the Olympic torch is lit with the power of the sun by a parabolic mirror. The ceremony was performed on Tuesday noon local time with representatives including International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach, the PyeongChang 2018 Organising Committee President Hee-beom Lee, the President of the National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Korea, Kee-Heung Lee, Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos, and Spyros Capralos, President of the Hellenic Olympic Committee, among the speakers to start the final countdown to the upcoming Winter Olympics. Also heads of the National Olympic Committees of the next Olympics were on-site including Zaiqing Yu from China where the 2022 Olympic Winter Games will take place. Greek cross-country skier Apostolos Angelis, who has secured his participation in PyeongChang 2018, was the first torchbearer. He passed on the flame to Korean football player Park Ji-Sung. Video: summary of the ceremony (1:18), full video (>1h) The flame will now tour for a seven-day relay through Greece. In one week it will be handed over to the Korean organizers at the over 2,300 years old Panathenaic Stadium in Athens where the first modern Olympic Games took place in 1896. From there the torch will travel 8,500 kilometres east. On 1st November the Olympic Flame will land on Korean soil at the Incheon international airport near Seoul. Stars and prospects, or as the organizers say Achievers and Dreamers, will take part in the torch relay as the flame will travel across the Republic of Korea for 101 days to arrive in more than 150 cities in the country. It will first travel to Jeju Island for two days before continuing on the mainland in Busan on 4th November. 7,500 torch bearers will participate in the relay until the flame will lit the cauldron during the Opening Ceremony on 9th February 2018 in PyeongChang. The relay will cover 2,018 kilometres by diverse means of transportation, including plane, ship, train, sailboat, zip wire, cable car and bike. The first competitions will begin on 10th February including the women’s ice hockey tournament while the men’s ice hockey tournament will start on 14th February. The Olympic Winter Games will end on 25th February when the gold medal game of the Olympic men’s ice hockey tournament will be one of the last events prior to the Closing Ceremony. 20 ice hockey teams from 13 countries will battle for medals at the ice hockey tournaments in PyeongChang 2018. Those will be played at the coastal city of Gangneung at the brand-new Gangneung Hockey Centre and the Kwangdong Hockey Centre.

whoa, looks awesome, I want one too Congrats

Slovak votes: Ján Kozák (Coach SVK): 1. Cristiano Ronaldo, 2. Lionel Messi, 3. Sergio Ramos Martin Škrtel (Captain SVK): 1. Cristiano Ronaldo, 2. Luis Suarez, 3. Sergio Ramos Michal Zeman (Journalist of Slovak Daily newspaper Pravda): 1. Cristiano Ronaldo, 2. Gianluigi Buffon, 3. Lionel Messi + Vladimír Weiss Sr. (Slovak coach of Georgia): 1. Lionel Messi, 2. Cristiano Ronaldo, 3. Luka Modric

Olympia awaits flame lighting ceremony for PyeongChang 2018 On 24 October, the lighting ceremony for the Olympic flame will signal the start of the countdown towards the next edition of the Games, PyeongChang 2018. Be part of this historic moment and follow the ceremony live on Tuesday at 11.00 CET. The ceremony will take place in Olympia, home of the ancient Games in Greece. As is the tradition, a torch at the ancient temple of Hera will be lit by the rays of the sun using a parabolic mirror, to set off a domestic relay. The lighting ceremony will start at 12 noon local time, with actress Katerina Lehou as High Priestess and Artemis Ignatiou as the choreographer. Twenty-four-year-old cross-country skier Apostolos Angelis from Greece, who has already secured his participation in PyeongChang 2018, will be the first torchbearer. “It is a great honour for me to be chosen as the first torchbearer for the Olympic Winter Games of 2018. It is truly a unique moment that I am looking forward to. I feel very proud and with a unique sense of happiness,” says Angelis. The famous football player Park Ji-Sung (Republic of Korea) will be the second torch bearer. He will take the Olympic Flame from the torch of Apostolos Angelis outside the Pierre de Coubertin Grove. Park Ji-Sung has been in the past a star player for, among others, Manchester United and of PSV Eindhoven. Over the following week, the flame will take a tour of Greece. The symbol of Olympism will cover 2,129km on Greek territory and will arrive at the Acropolis on 30 October. Some 505 torchbearers will participate and 36 welcome ceremonies will be held in 20 municipalities over the eight days. The ceremony to handover the flame to the PyeongChang 2018 Organising Committee will be held at the Panathenaic Stadium on 31 October at 11 a.m. Athens time. Then the flame will make its way 8,500km east, to the Korean city of Incheon, arriving on 1 November to coincide with 100 days to go until the start of the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018. Thereafter the Olympic Torch Relay will see the flame embark on a tour of the entire host country, taking in nine provinces and eight major cities, before it finally arrives at the PyeongChang Olympic Stadium in time for the Opening Ceremony on 9 February 2018. The lighting ceremony is one of the most powerful rituals in the Olympic cycle. Taking place as it does against the backdrop of Olympia, it perhaps serves more than any other tradition to connect the modern Games with their ancient origins and like the messengers who proclaimed the sacred Olympic truce, the runners who carry the Olympic flame will carry a message of peace on their journey. Next week’s lighting ceremony will signal the start of that journey to bring the world together for the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018. During the ancient Olympics, a fire was kept burning throughout the Games. In the context of the modern Games, the flame only made its first appearance in Amsterdam in 1928. It was first featured at the Winter Games at Garmisch-Partenkirchen eight year later.

Ukrainian Yana Pustovalova apparently declared her desire to represent Slovakia, she started to study in one of our universities, the Ukrainian Biathlon federation president announced it. https://sport.aktuality.sk/c/301924/nova-kuzminova-ukrajinska-biatlonistka-chce-reprezentovat-slovensko/

MEN'S IIHF CONTINENTAL CUP 2017 2nd Round Group C ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ritten next up for Miskolc Blanks hosts to move into 3rd round Speed in abundance, solid at the back and a cutting edge in front of goal was the recipe for success as DVTK Jegesmedvek Miskolc progress undefeated. Rising to the occasion to beat hosts Corona Brasov 3-0 in their final day head-to-head clash saw the ice bears from Miskolc finish top of the standings in Group C of the second round of the Continental Cup. Anssi Rantanen, Mark Miskolczi and Peter Sakaris had a goal each for the pre-tournament favourites in front of 1,085 inside Brasov’s Olympic Ice Rink in the winner takes it all encounter. Instrumental in their success was Miskolc's 20-year-old Attila Adorjan, who recorded 32 saves against Corona Brasov and went through the tournament without conceding a goal. “I am very impressed and proud of my players, to be so cool under pressure and work so hard throughout the game without conceding a goal,” said a jubilant DVTK Jegesmedvek Miskolc head coach Mikael Tisell following the team’s final-day performance in which they were outshot 27-32 but still found a way to roll on to victory when it mattered the most. “Brasov might be more experienced than us, but it felt like we had more pace and tempo in our team tonight,” he continued. Miskolc earlier in the tournament had blanked Spain’s Txuri Urdin San Sebastian 5-0 in their opener before brushing aside the champions of Serbia, Crvena Zvezda Belgrade, 4-1. Three wins out of three means the current leaders of the Hungarian-Romanian Erste Liga now move into Group E of the Continental Cup’s third round. Played in the South Tyrol region of northern Italy they will take on France’s Grenoble Bruleurs de Loups, Kazakh champion Nomad Astana and hosts Ritten Sport in games played between 17-19 November. DVTK Jegesmedvek Miskolc, which missed out on progress to the next round during their two previous seasons, can now celebrate the case of being third time lucky. Corona Brasov and their head coach Martin Lacroix will instead rue their missed opportunities for a historical progress to the third round: “It was an emotional game and I like the way we started it being very aggressive in their zone,” he said. “Despite going two goals down we were not down. We took shots on their net, but their goalie had a very good game. We showed a lot of character, we played physical, but the puck did not want to go in.” Corona Brasov had Braden Walls scoring a hat trick as they cruised past Crvena Zvezda in their opener, 8-4, before peppering the Spanish champion Txuri Urdin 55-12 in shots in a burly and penalty infested encounter. Prevailing 4-1 in the end, they suffered a blow with Brasov’s captain Arpad Mihaly being suspended for the deciding final game. Despite the hosts enjoying an energetic start, Miskolc’s Finnish blueliner Anssi Rantanen silenced the home crowd as he boomed home a slapper past Patrik Polc’s glove side to break the deadlock after 5:30. The Hungarians in red and white doubled their lead just over five minutes later. Corona Brasov defenceman Evan Stoflet served a two-minute minor when Polc failed to hold on Jarkko Leppanen’s attempt with Mark Miskolczi reacting fastest at 10:47 in an even see-saw battle of a first frame. Corona Brasov, which was to rely a lot on their first line of Braden Walls, Logan MacMillan and Roberto Gliga to generate offence, was unable to find their way past the inspiring Adorjan. The DVTK Jegesmedvek Miskolc netminder was back at his old stomping ground at Brasov’s Olympic Ice Rink where he at the 2013 European Youth Olympic Winter Festival (EYOWF) was voted best goaltender of the tournament representing Romania. Following a goalless middle frame Corona Brasov surged forward in the third period. Winning the shots 15-5 and desperately trying to find a way past Adorjan from all angles, it was instead Miskolc who put the final nail in the coffin with 9:05 left in the game. Working on a man advantage, influential veteran Janos Vas found Sakaris, who signed off with a goal to send the travelling support from Hungary into exultant mood. Exciting times now loom around the corner for the north-eastern Hungarian club and its fans with the unknown territory of the third round of the Continental Cup awaiting. “In Miskolc we are expected to win every single game we take part in,” said Swedish player Mikael Tisell in the first season at the club. “What could work in our favour in the next round is that we will be playing as an underdog, which we are not often used to. This season we have done it in the Visegrad Cup and we played well against Slovak top division opponents, so we are looking forward to the great challenge in the next round and to play without too much pressure,” he said. Another participant in Brasov able to take great credit from their performances this weekend is Txuri Urdin San Sebastian. Spirited displays in all of their three matches, in the end, saw them reap the rewards for their hard graft. Ignacio Solorzano scored the winner as the reigning Spanish champions in blue and white downed Crvena Zvezda Belgrade 3-2 in overtime for a third-place finish to the delight of their head coach Luis Marcelino: “I am really happy with how our players played and we surpassed all our expectations. We gave everything we had and kept on going until there was nothing left in the tank,” he said. Meanwhile Crvena Zvezda Belgrade, which arrived as winners of the first round, will return back to the Serbian capital with one point and aim for an improved performance next year: “We’re a young team and we’re work in progress, so we will only become better,” said Crvena Zvezda blueliner Ivan Anic. Results Thread

MEN'S IIHF CONTINENTAL CUP 2017 2nd Round Group B ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Successful debut in Riga Kurbads triumphs on Continental Cup bow Kurbads Riga sprang something of a surprise as it powered through Group B of the Continental Cup in fine style. Celebrating its tournament debut by hosting the weekend’s games, Kurbads set the tone with a 5-2 victory over Poland’s GKS Tychy then followed up with an 8-1 demolition of Ukrainian champion Donbass Donetsk on Saturday. That confirmed the Latvians’ progress to the next phase even before Sunday’s match-up with neighbouring Narva PSK of Estonia. That Baltic clash finished 2-1 to Kurbads, who completed the tournament with a 100% record and topped the final table ahead of the Poles. Prior to the tournament, many in Latvia had identified the game with Tychy as the key clash – and Kurbads delivered a performance that threw down the gauntlet to the rest of the group. After surviving one early scare, when Bartlomiej Jeziorski fired over the top of an open net, the home team impressed. Martins Cipulis opened the scoring in the 16th minute, the first of five unanswered goals that put the game beyond the Poles. Janis Sprukts, who arrived at the club just a couple of weeks ago, was also among the scorers: the 35-year-old centre tasted Continental Cup action last season with Italy’s Ritten Sport and brings a wealth of World Championship and Olympic experience from his time with the Latvian national team. Tychy grabbed a couple of late consolation goals through Jakub Witecki, but never threatened to change the outcome. Home goalie Uldis Calpa, who also saved a penalty shot in the third period of that game, admitted that the Continental Cup brought higher stakes and a greater intensity to the action. But he felt his team did a good job of stifling a strong GKS outfit. “We knew that they would start the game well, and at the beginning they were playing at a very high level,” he said in an interview published on Sportacentrs.com. “But we were able to get back into the game and they seemed to fade a little bit. Maybe they are not used to being under pressure, and we knew were the underdogs.” Next up came Donbass. The Ukrainian champion returned to Continental Cup action last season after the club’s progress was fractured by the conflict in Eastern Ukraine, and was back for another campaign here. But Kurbads was on a roll, and inflicted a heavy defeat on the men from the Donbass region, proving too slick in decision making and execution with some fast-paced hockey in front of the Ukrainian net. Cipulis had two goals and two assists, Martins Lavrovs, much-travelled even at 23 years old, scored twice and Sprukts added three assists. Their success highlighted the impact of the team’s recent transfer policy, drawn up to build on last season’s Latvian championship win and build a competitive roster for the Continental Cup. In addition to Sprukts’ arrival at the beginning of October, the club announced the arrival of Cipulis recently. The 36-year-old, a veteran of three Olympics and 11 World Championships, added valuable international know-how and finished the tournament as leading scorer with 3+3=6 points from three games. Along with Sprukts, Lavrovs brought Continental Cup experience from his time with Liepaja and a touch of Trans-Atlantic action with the Florida Eels. Sprukts himself made 14 NHL appearances with the Florida Panthers. Jekabs Redlihs, one of three Redlihs brothers familiar from the upper echelons of Latvian hockey, was another addition to the Kurbads roster ahead of this tournament. The defenceman, who played almost 200 KHL games for Dinamo Riga, is combining his duties as head coach of HK Lido in Latvia’s second tier with action for Kurbads in the country’s top flight. The experience of Sprukts and Cipulis also played a role in getting Kurbads a win in its final game of the competition. With the group outcome decided, Narva was playing for pride and threatened an upset when it took a first-period lead through Aleksandr Kuznetsov. But Sprukts got an assist on the equalizer from Sandis Zolmanis and Cipulis had a hand in Toms Bluks’ game-winner to ensure the weekend finished with another home victory. Narva finished without a point from its three games, suffering an 11-0 loss to Tychy along the way. The Poles claimed second place thanks to Sunday’s 4-2 victory over Donbass and, in Michael Cichy, had the group’s leading goalscorer with four. Kurbads’ success earns the team a place in the third round where it will compete in Group D. The Latvians travel to Denmark, and will face host team Rungsted Ishockey, Yunost Minsk of Belarus, and Great Britain’s Sheffield Steelers in a round-robin contest from 17 to 19 November. Results Thread

IIHF Continental Cup 2017/18 2nd Round Group B in Riga (LAT) Final Day Results (22nd October 2017) GMT +3 14:00 GKS Tychy 4 - 2 HC Donbass 18:00 Narva PSK 1 - 2 Kurbads Riga Final Standing: 1. Kurbads Riga 9 pts. Qualified for 3rd Round ------------------------------------------------------------- 2. GKS Tychy 6 pts. 3. HC Donbass 3 pts. 4. Narva PSK 0 pts. 2nd Round Group C in Brasov (ROU) Final Day Results (22nd October 2017) GMT +3 14:30 Crvena Zvezda Belgrade 2 - 3 after OT Txuri Urdin San Sebastian 18:30 DVTK Jegesmedvek Miskolc 3 - 0 Corona Brasov Final Standing: 1. DVTK Jegesmedvek Miskolc 9 pts. Qualified for 3rd Round ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Corona Brasov 6 pts. 3. Txuri Urdin San Sebastian 2 pts. 4. Crvena Zvezda Belgrade 1 pt.

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/winter/freestyleskiing/marielle-thompson-knee-injury-ski-cross-training-1.4365690

IIHF Continental Cup 2017/18 2nd Round Group B in Riga (LAT) Final Day Schedule (22nd October 2017) GMT +3 14:00 GKS Tychy vs HC Donbass 18:00 Narva PSK vs Kurbads Riga Kurbads Riga is the Group winner, no matter what will be the tomorrows results, since they defeated both Donbass and Tychy in the previous matches anyone of them can not overpass the Latvian team even if Kurbads lose tomorrow to Narva. 2nd Round Group C in Brasov (ROU) Final Day Schedule (22nd October 2017) GMT +3 14:30 Crvena Zvezda Belgrade vs Txuri Urdin San Sebastian 18:30 DVTK Jegesmedvek Miskolc vs Corona Brasov Miskolc vs Brasov is the direct do or die match for the qualification spot, the winner of the match will win the group and advance to the 3rd round.

IIHF Continental Cup 2017/18 2nd Round Group B in Riga (LAT) Day 2 Results (21st October 2017) GMT +3 14:00 GKS Tychy 11 - 0 Narva PSK 18:00 HC Donbass 1 - 8 Kurbads Riga Standing after Day 2 1. Kurbads 6 pts, 2. Tychy 3 pts., 3. Donbass 3 pts., 4. Narva 0 pts. 2nd Round Group C in Brasov (ROU) Day 2 Results (21st October 2017) GMT +3 14:30 DVTK Jegesmedvek Miskolc 4 - 1 Crvena Zvezda Belgrade 18:30 Corona Brasov 4 - 1 Txuri Urdin San Sebastian Standing after Day 2 1. Miskolc 6 pts, 2. Brasov 6 pts., 3. Belgrade 0 pts., 4. San Sebastian 0 pts.

Ice Hockey Tournament at Squaw Valley 1960 Team USA after winning all their 7 matches became 1960 Olympic Champions, one of the most surprising and unexpected winners in all Olympic Ice Hockey history The Men´s Ice Hockey Tournament at the 1960 Winter Olympic Games took place from 19th to 28th February 1960 in Squaw Valley, California, USA. 9 National Teams attended the 9th Olympic Ice Hockey tournament, The games were played at Blythe Arena and at the Squaw Valley Olympic Skating Rink. The results of the tournament was also counted as the official results of the 27th World Championships and 38th European Championships as well. The format of the tournament was similar to the one used for the previous 1956 tourney. All 9 participating countries were divided into 3 preliminary round pools, the top 2 teams from each group advanced to the Final-Six, where they played a Round-robin to determine the top 6 places, the last team of each group played a double Round-robin tournament in a so-called Consolation Round for the 7th place. Once again already before the start of the Games, some controversies and politically sided problems occurred, Exactly like before 1956 the IOC allowed only one German team to participate to the games as a Unified German Team, and once again both German Ice Hockey federations couldn´t find a agreement about the composition of this "Mixed" team and decided to play a home-away qualification game to determine the nation which will represent Germany in Squaw Valley. West Germany again won this play-off winning 10-5 in Aggregate and got the honor of playing at the Olympics. Another one and much more bigger controversy started because of the Amateur status. Certain teams especially the Canadian openly accused countries of the Eastern Bloc - mainly the ex-USSR to use some Professional Amateurs players, giving them phantom jobs in the Military club and by this allowing them to play at the Olympics. A issue which started during these games and lasted for the next decades culminating in a boycott of Canada in major hockey events in the 70s. One of the crucial moments in the Gold road was the winning goal of the USA Canada 2-1 match Despite being the top favorites of the tournament the Soviet Union team surprisingly didn´t maintained their Olympic title from Cortina. In Fact USSR finished "only" third behind both North American representatives. A huge upset. But the even bigger upset was the Host team winning first ever Ice Hockey Olympic Gold for the United States, Silver was won by Canada once again represented by the Kitchener-Waterloo Dutchmen. USSR as the highest placed European nation won once again the Continental title ahead of Czechoslovakia (4th Overall) and Sweden (5th Overall). The tournament started by preliminary round, All favorites started well their campaigns, Canada and Sweden advanced from Group A, Soviet Union and Unified German team from Group B and host USA and Czechoslovakia from Group C. Canada, USSR and USA as unbeaten teams. In the medal round the United States surprisingly continued their winning streak and completed a improbable and totally unexpected Gold triumph winning all matches of the tournament, including the 2-1 wins against Canada and 3-2 over the USSR. Canada defeating the Soviets in the last match 8-5 secured the silver in front of their rivals, 4th finished Czechoslovakia, 5th Sweden and 6th Germany losing all their 5 medal round games. Finland winning the Consolation round finished 7th ahead of Japan and Australia. Czechoslovakia started to rebuild the team with some new rejuvenated faces and interesting young prospects around future stars like Jozef Golonka, Ján Starší, Václav Pantuček or Jaroslav Jiřík and mixed them with extremely experienced players like Karel Gut or Vlastimil Bubník. The team started the tournament against the Host USA ad was leading 4-3 after 2nd period but totally collapsed in the 3rd frame conceding 4 goals in the last part of the game resulting in a opening lost to the United States 5-7, In the existential next match without any trouble Czechoslovak team outclassed the Australian newby team 18-1 and did qualified for the medal round. In the final-six the team started very badly losing to USSR 5-8 (again a disastrous last period costed too much) and to Canada 0-4 (this time it was a terrible opening period that decided about the outcome of the match) 2 wins against Sweden 3-1 and the unified German Team 9-1 put back some very slim chance for medal, but only in case of a very high win over the still unbeaten host team in the last game round and some help in the Canada-USSR match, it wasn´t necessary since the team again didn´t stand the pressure and drastically failed in the last period (losing it 0-6 despite being 4-3 in the lead after 2nd period !!!) to the USA and losing 4-9. If the better known USA Olympic triumph in 1980 is commonly called as the Miracle on ice, this one is called as the Forgotten miracle. Image from the winning game against ex-USSR 3-2 Final Ranking: 1. United States 2. Canada (Represented by Kitchener-Waterloo Dutchmen) 3. USSR 4. Czechoslovakia 5. Sweden 6. Germany Unified Team (Composed only by West Germany players) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 7. Finland - Consolation Round 8. Japan - Consolation Round 9. Australia - Consolation Round

Canada More pics http://olympic.ca/2017/10/03/team-canada-and-hudsons-bay-unveil-pyeongchang-2018-collection/

Czech exit polls - The Pirates are in the Czech parliament https://volby.idnes.cz/#vlb-zvoleni-zastupitele SPD with 11% Communist party 8 % DSSS with 0.21 % Bloc against Islamization 0.01%

Well, to be honest, in Hockey to create the goal is often much more difficult than scoring. For example a lot of goals are scored by deflections, I can speak about many cases when even the scorers barely knew they did scored or just scoring in the empty net, so the assists are very important. Maybe I would agree with dropping the credit for secondary assists, but again, it depend on different situations, in a goal scored by double deflections for example the most important and most valuable person in that was the first shooter so it´s normal to attribute him at least a point for secondary assist here for example some memorable deflected goals in NHL

You meant Kucherov http://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=77237 I guess yes, but he still assisted to both goals of the last match so his points streak continue - now it´s 13 points for 8 goals + 5 Assists

The PyeongChang 2018 Torch Relay Official Torch Relay site https://www.pyeongchang2018.com/ko/torch-relay

Australia Australia reveal their formal PyeongChang kit 2018 https://www.olympicchannel.com/en/playback/australia-reveal-their-formal-pyeongchang-2018-kit/ more pics Here

The magic hands of Connor McDavid

To Ornskoldsvik & Umea Swedish host cities for 2019 IIHF Under 18 Worlds named The host cities of the 2019 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 World Championship in Sweden are known. Ornskoldsvik and Umea were named as Sweden’s cities for the event that will take place one year after next spring’s U18 Worlds in Chelyabinsk and Magnitogorsk, Russia. Both cities are located in the northern part of Sweden and are not far apart from each other as they can be reached within one hour by a new railway line or by car along the Baltic Sea. The proposed tournament dates are 18 to 28 April 2019. The teams, groups and schedule will be known next year. The event will be hosted by the Swedish Ice Hockey Association in co-operation with its branches of the provinces of Angermanland and Vasterbotten, the host cities and the two local clubs MODO Ornskoldsvik and Bjorkloven Umea. Ornskoldsvik is a classic hockey town in Sweden and even though MODO suffered relegation to the second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan in 2016, the club remains well-respected as a talent producer. Peter Forsberg, Markus Naslund, the Sedin twins Daniel and Henrik, Anders Hedberg and Victor Hedman are among the famous hockey players who came from the city of 29,000 inhabitants. The Fjallraven Center offers a capacity for 7,350 spectators. Umea was already the secondary venue (with Skelleftea) when Sweden hosted the 2000 IIHF World Junior Championship in the north of the country. About 600 kilometres north of Stockholm and 400 kilometres away from the Arctic Circle, Umea is the biggest city in northern Sweden with almost 85,000 inhabitants within the city and over 120,000 in the municipality. The local club Bjorkloven Umea had appearances in the top Swedish league but had tough years recently including bankruptcy. Since 2013 it is back in the second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan. The club plays in the 5,450-capacity T3 Center. Sweden previously hosted the U18 Worlds once, in 2006 in Angelholm and Halmstad. Since the U18 category got its global event in 1999, Sweden has won five silver medals – most recently in 2016 – and three bronze medals.

IIHF Continental Cup 2017/18 2nd Round Group B in Riga (LAT) Day 2 Schedule (21st October 2017) GMT +3 14:00 GKS Tychy vs Narva PSK 18:00 HC Donbass vs Kurbads Riga 2nd Round Group C in Brasov (ROU) Day 2 Schedule (21st October 2017) GMT +3 14:30 DVTK Jegesmedvek Miskolc vs Crvena Zvezda Belgrade 18:30 Corona Brasov vs Txuri Urdin San Sebastian