hckošice

or the Summer Olympics. Spain has the potential for it and is already pretty well a powerhouse in many summer sports. Actually I would really love to see Summer Olympics in Spain, but winter games like they are in this plan definitely not. I mean, do not get me wrong I have absolutely nothing against Sarajevo and SUI but this would be just sad.

well.. then sorry but I hope Sapporo will win it, because this is one really bad idea

Bosnia ???

well, that´s pretty ambitious plan, will have to build almost all venues, and I mean all, from ski jumping to a bobsleigh sliding center Obviously the indoor sports can be held in already existing big arenas in Barcelona or even somewhere else, but it looks to me like too much cost to pass

Well, this was a bit simplyfied comment, I read that he argued the substance came from a meat he eat somewhere in Colombia, ITF accepted his explanations and since it was his first delict they let him go

Robart Farah cleaned by ITF since it was his first doping case

1. Ice Hockey, 2. Ice Hockey, 3. Ice Hockey but special mentions also for Alpine Skiing, Ski Jumping, Nordic Combined, Biathlon and Figure Skating

ROAD TO BEIJING 2022 3rd QUALIFYING ROUND Group J --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hungary off to Final Olympic Qualification Hungary weathered a storm inside and outside Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham, defeating Great Britain 4-1 to secure a place in the Final Olympic Qualification. "Chills all over that's for sure, that's a game we will all remember when we stop playing hockey," said Hungarian captain Gergo Nagy. Miklos Rajna was the star in net with a 47-plus save performance, while Csanad Erdely score the game winner for the Magyars. "We knew the team we were going to face and what to do to beat them," said Rajna, who earned Player of the Game honours. "We exectued the game plan perfect." Coming into the third period with a hard-fought 2-0 lead, Hungary was trying to stop any notions of a comeback by Great Britain. The Brits looked to have gotten that spark with an early power play goal from Matthew Myers, who came away with the puck after a scramble in front of the net and shot it through the legs of goalie Miklos Rajna to cut the lead to 2-1 less that a minute into the frame. A tremendous point-blank save by Bowns a few minutes later galvanized the crowd in Nottingham and pushed the momentum further towards the home team. But Hungary put the brakes on a British comeback thanks to a great effort by tournament leading scorer Janos Hari, who was able to gain possession behind the British net on the forecheck, then score with a wraparound effort to put the Hungarians back up by two. Then Hungary put the game out of reach after Istvan Sofron, who just came out of the penalty box after being called for a charge two minutes earlier, made a great effort skating across the front of the net to draw Bowns out of position before scoring the 4-1 goal and putting a stranglehold on the game. The Group J finale was expected to be a tight one. Both the Brits and Hungarians were seeded #1 and #2 respectively coming into Group J, and made it through the first two games without a loss. The atmosphere inside Nottingham’s Motorpoint Arena was electric, with fans for both teams shrugging off the rains and high winds from Storm Ciara to pack the stands. For some of the Hungarian players, a little extra motivation was there from two years ago, when Great Britain came back to win their matchup and promotion in Budapest at the 2018 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Divison I Group A. "We knew we owed this team badly from two years ago," said Nagy. "We wanted to pay it back and also get the chance to go the qualification round in August." The game started out at a blistering pace with both teams getting pressure at both ends of the ice. The best chance of the period came to Hungary, but was denied by goalie Ben Bowns who made a great save on a breakaway by Kristof Papp midway through the frame. At the other end, a shot by Mike Hammond on an open net was blocked at the last moment by defenceman Daniel Kiss. Penalty trouble coupled with an ineffective power play prevented Great Britain from getting anything going early on. Hungary started the second period with a power play, and defenceman Bence Stipsicz scored with a wristshot from the high slot area to break the deadlock and put Hungary up 1-0 less than a minute into the frame. The Hungarians then added another at the eight minute, flashing some great puck movement as Istvan Sofrov won possession in the Great Britain zone, made a quick cross -ice pass behind the net to Bence Stipsicz, who centered the puck to Csanad Erdely in front of the net for the 2-0 lead. Desperate to get a momentum-swinging goal before the end of the period, the Brits were buzzing around the Hungarian net, but ultimately were frustrated by some great goaltending from Miklos Rajna despite outshooting Hungary 22-6 in the frame. Rajna would get some help from his teammates in the third, as Hungary fought hard to get in shooting lanes and block shots, while Hari and Saffron got pucks in the net to help keep the Magyars on the road to the Olympic Games in Beijing. IIHF.COM

ROAD TO BEIJING 2022 3rd QUALIFYING ROUND Group G --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Slovenia’s Olympic dream alive Slovenia came back from a one-goal deficit to beat Japan 6-2 and earn a berth in the Final Olympic Qualification. There the Slovenes will play in Group F with host Norway, Denmark and Korea, and hope to make it to the Olympic Winter Games for the third consecutive time. The game was tighter than the score indicates as it was 1-1 after 40 minutes. Japan played strong defensively in the first period and created a few but good scoring chances to earn a 1-0 first-period lead but the Slovenes dominated the rest of the game and took the lead in the third period. Slovenia outshot Japan 38-13. “We knew before the game what kind of team they are. We knew they would going to be strong in the defensive zone and make it hard to create some scoring chances, and they are really fast skaters. They just had a few chances but their chances were really good. We knew what to expect and when we scored the second and third goal it became easier for us,” said Ken Ograjensek, who scored the 2-1 goal. Both teams liked to make things clear from the beginning in the first two days but in this top game of the group they found each other evenly matched early on. Slovenia may have had more chances but whenever the puck went to the net, it was blocked beforehand by the Japanese. There was no shot on goal the netminders – Gasper Kroselj on the Slovenian and Yutaka Fukufuji on the Japanese side – had to stop during the first six minutes of play. Then a penalty for high-sticking against Tadej Cimzar gave Japan the opportunity on the power play. It didn’t result in too much danger during the man advantage but three seconds later the Japanese netted the puck. Yushiroh Hirano took a lot of attention at the blue line with agile skating and eventually sent off a distance shot. Kroselj blocked to the left but Shogo Nakajima was on the spot to score on the rebound and give Japan the lead at 8:02. The Slovenes were shocked and at 9:06 they finally got their first shot on Fukufuji’s goal with more to come when the Japanese took a bench penalty for too many men on the ice. However, the Slovenes neither used that opportunity nor another one with Makuru Furuhashi in the penalty box for interference. They had their scoring chances but Japan was as close to the second goal with a counter-attack late in an opening frame that ended with a one-goal lead for the Japanese. “This was a tough tournament because you must win. We played 90 per cent in the offensive zone the whole tournament. The goalies had maybe ten shots a games. This is not easy to adjust your game. It’s not the way we want to play hockey. But we did our job and look forward,” said head coach Matjaz Kopitar. The Slovenes eventually levelled the score on their first power play of the middle frame. With Hiroto Sato out for hooking and the home team launching another attack, Jan Urbas got the puck in the neutral zone, elegantly skated past Kenta Takagi and Shinya Yanadori and beat Fukufuji with a precise shot at 5:54. “It was definitely a relief. When you have so many shots and the puck doesn’t go in, it definitely makes a difference and gets the team going. It was an important goal and we got some more later on. In the end the score looks like an easy win. But it wasn’t. They were a really good opponent,” Urbas said. “We knew we had the quality but they were really good defensively. They didn’t allow us easy shots and they got the first goal. That made it harder for us. But in the second period we stepped up, we played our game. We deserve that win and are happy about it.” The Slovenes dominated the period and didn’t allow the Japanese a single chance but Fukufuji had a strong day in the net and with a lot of sacrifice the Japanese players blocked many shots. The direction of the game continued in the third period and a hooking call against Kohei Sato gave Slovenia new opportunities. Just before the expiration Ograjensek got the puck in good position and gave Slovenia its first lead at 5:19. One-and-a-half minutes later with four on four skaters on the ice the Japanese had trouble getting the puck out of the zone. Robert Sabolic deked Yanadori with some nice stickhandling and beat Fukufuji for the 3-1 goal. Now the game finally went according to the host nation’s wish and the pressure moved to the Japanese. Japan now became more active on its own but didn’t manage to score a second goal. With 2:37 left in the game Rok Ticar made it 4-1 with a shot into the empty net when Japan pulled the goalie for a sixth skater. The Japanese didn’t give up and pulled Fukufuji again while having a power play. With 6-on-4 skaters it was again Nakajima, who scored for Japan. But Slovenia added two more goals to seal the win. And with that the “Mission Beijing” continues with the Final Olympic Qualification in Norway. Can the Slovenes qualify for the Olympics as an underdog for the third consecutive time? And since it’s at the end of August, he could potentially have his son, Los Angeles Kings captain Anze Kopitar, on his team. Until then it’s still more than half a year to go and until then the Slovenes have another mission on home ice. “We will have the World Championship, that’s our next step. We have to get ready for that first and then we can think about later,” said Ograjensek. The Slovenes will host the 2020 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division I Group A on home ice at Hala Tivoli in downtown Ljubljana. That makes it to chances this year to qualify for a top-level event. IIHF.COM

Updated as of February 9th, 2020

Apparently the season is over also for Sofia Goggia

Unbelievable how Latvia was lucky this time, that´s (with all respect to their opponents) a basically free quota to the Olympics, in other hand we obviously get the toughest group...I knew it..immediately when IOC decded to give that unexcusable host quota to China.. I am really affraid of that match against Belarus, one of our worst possible opponent..the games are always extremely close and rarely finish by more than 1 goal margin for one or other side we won the last 2 matches against BLR 3-2 after Overtime, 4-3, we also won the last match at the WCh 7-3 when they were relegated but we also lost one match in Austrian tournament 2 years ago 1-7 and then come ofc Austria, another unpredictable opponent and very dangerous team that can in a given day beat whoever... I really already feel the trap... hopefully our home advantage will be decisive article. I do not want even to imagine what will happen if we´ll miss the Olympics for the first time ever in our only sport that really matter

Final Olympic Qualification (27-30 August 2020) Group D In Košice, Slovakia.: Group E In Riga, Latvia.: Group F In Norway (city TBA).:

ROAD TO BEIJING 2022 3rd QUALIFYING ROUND DAY 4 RESULTS #3 Round-Robin February 6th - February 9th, 2020 12 Nations, 3 Groups, the 1st Nation from each Group will qualify for the Final Qualifying Round Group J Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) Romania 7 - 3 Estonia Period-by-Period: 2-2, 2-0, 3-1 February 9th 2020, h. 14:00, Nottingham Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham Great Britain 1 - 4 Hungary Period-by-Period: 0-0, 0-2, 1-2 February 9th 2020, h. 18:00, Nottingham Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham Group J Final Standing Nation P W(OTW) L(OTW) GF GA +/- PTS Hungary 3 3(1) 0(0) 11 4 +7 8 Great Britain 3 2(0) 1(0) 12 8 +4 6 Romania 3 1(0) 2(1) 12 10 +2 4 Estonia 3 0(0) 3(0) 5 18 -13 0 The following Nations have qualified for the Final Qualifying Round Hungary Poland Slovenia

ROAD TO BEIJING 2022 3rd QUALIFYING ROUND DAY 4 RESULTS #2 Round-Robin February 6th - February 9th, 2020 12 Nations, 3 Groups, the 1st Nation from each Group will qualify for the Final Qualifying Round Group G Central European Time (GMT +1) Croatia 1 - 3 Lithuania Period-by-Period: 0-2, 0-0, 1-1 February 9th 2020, h. 15:30, Arena Podmezakla, Jesenice Slovenia 6 - 2 Japan Period-by-Period: 0-1, 1-0, 5-1 February 9th 2020, h. 19:00, Arena Podmezakla, Jesenice Group G Final Standing Nation P W(OTW) L(OTW) GF GA +/- PTS Slovenia 3 3(0) 0(0) 25 4 +21 9 Japan 3 2(0) 1(0) 15 6 +9 6 Lithuania 3 1(0) 2(0) 5 17 -12 3 Croatia 3 0(0) 3(0) 1 19 -18 0 The following Nations have qualified for the Final Qualifying Round Poland Slovenia TBD

Match was interrupted for more than 15 minutes in Jesenice, someone threw smoke bombs on the ice and smoked the arena completely.

vs Livestream the winner will qualify for the Final OQT vs Livestream the winner will qualify for the Final OQT

February 2020 International Break EURO HOCKEY TOUR 2019/20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- STAGE 3/4 BEIJER HOCKEY GAMES in Stockholm 4 Nations Round-Robin Tournament Sunday 09.02.2020 - RESULTS (GMT +1) Last Day 12:15 Czech Republic (PSO)4 - 3 Russia 15:45 Sweden 5 - 1 Finland Final Standing : 1. SWE 9, 2. CZE 5, 3. FIN 3, 4. RUS 1 EURO-HOCKEY TOUR 2019/20 Cumulative Standing After Daymatch 9/12 : 1. CZE 16, 2. SWE 16, 3. FIN 14, 4. RUS 8

Updated and Completed

ROAD TO BEIJING 2022 3rd QUALIFYING ROUND Group H --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Poland snatches dramatic victory Poland pulled off a shock in Nur-Sultan, downing Kazakhstan in Sunday’s Olympic Qualification Group H finale. Moreover, Tomek Valtonen’s team did it the hard way, blowing a 2-0 lead before responding in the third period to win the game and advance to the final qualifying round in August. Polish goalie John Murray was the star of the show, making 51 saves to deny Kazakhstan a place in the next stage - but he was quick to pay tribute to the hard work of his team-mates. "The guys played really well in front of me and kept it simple for me," he said. "I was able to do my job and didn’t have to worry about them doing theirs." Even when Kazakhstan rallied to tie the game? "I was happily impressed with the character in the locker room. We went up 2-0 and I don’t think the guys quite knew what to do and then they crashed back. But at the start of the third we came out, put one in early and played like a solid team defensively in the third." In the two previous games, Kazakhstan began at a blistering pace and took the game away from the opposition almost before it had a chance to compete. Here, once again, Andrei Skabelka sent out his team to storm the Polish net – only to hit a roadblock in the form of Murray and that dogged rearguard action. The Polish goalie, now 32, has one of the more colourful CVs at this championship: born in the USA, his club career took him to Belgrade and Kazakhstan’s Kulager Petropavlovsk before he settled in Poland with Orik Opole then GKS Tychy. Along the way, he acquired Polish citizenship and made his international debut in 2016/17. This was to be one his busier first periods: the home offence roared into action, moving the puck around at pace and penning the Poles into their zone. But, unlike the previous games, not scoring. Whether it was a Curtis Valk rush all the way to the paint or a shot from Yegor Petukhov that bounced off a Polish skate and off the post to safety, Kazakhstan was close, but not close enough. "Coming into the game we weren’t quite sure what to expect," Murray added. "I think we kinda knew what we should do and how we should play, but not exactly what was going to come from the other end. I think we handled ourselves. We kept it simple, kept it to the basics. We let everyone do their job and you do yours." Then, against the run of play, Poland opened the scoring. Not many teams have held the puck in the Kazakh zone for any length of time in this tournament, but after a scrambling save from Henrik Karlsson, the Poles recycled the play and went back to the blue line. Bartosz Cuira’s shot was speculative, but a big deflection off the luckless Alexei Maklyukov took it away from Karlsson and into the net. The first Kazakh power play intensified the pressure, but Poland held on as Dustin Boyd, Talgat Zhailauov and Arkadi Shestakov all went close. Back at equal strength, Nigel Dawes robbed a defenceman behind the net and fed Boyd in front of the net; once again the piping denied the home team. However, there were signs that Poland was weathering the storm. Another power play saw an uncharacteristic fan on a Dawes shot, while the defence defended in a tight square, forcing Kazakhstan to rely on long-range efforts from Darren Dietz rather than allowing the host to carve into the danger zone to ask some bigger questions of Murray. The second period began with Murray excelling once again, his outstretched glove robbing Shestakov early in the frame. Then he held on when Petukhov got a shooting chance all alone in front of the net. There were signs of nerves creeping into Kazakhstan’s play – what was once quick was now becoming hurried – and midway through the frame Poland capitalized with a second goal. Oskar Jaskiewicz fired in a point shot and after a big rebound the defence froze to allow Martin Przygodki to put away the chance. It demanded an instant reaction – and Kazakhstan delivered just 17 seconds later. Valk went behind the net, picked out Boyd and, at last, Murray was beaten at the back door. The same pair combined again five minutes later to tie the scores. It wasn’t the prettiest of goals: Boyd saw one shot saved, another kicked off the line by Jaskiewicz and only the third was stuffed into the net. However, the roar from the home crowd told its own story – this was vital. Boyd's two goals would not be enough, though. The one time Flames forward was bitterly disappointed after a game that promised so much but ended in painful defeat. "We had a lot of pressure, a lot of good chances, a lot of good looks but we have to put more than two goals in the net," he said. "We needed to find a way to get more and we didn’t, and that’s the result we have. "But you gotta give them credit, they blocked a lot of shots, the goalie made some big saves. We’re not happy right now, that’s for sure." After losing its hard-won lead, Poland refused to wobble. Instead, it produced the best chance of the closing minutes of the second period when a breakdown on the blue line allowed captain Krystian Dziubinski to race down the ice on his own. Karlsson blocked that, then came sprawling out of his crease stick first to deny Filip Komorski a chance on the follow-up. And Komorski played a key role in the first minute of the third period as Poland stunned the Kazakhs by retaking the lead. His shot crashed against the inside of Karlsson’s post and the goalie was left helpless as it dropped straight onto Maciej Urbanowicz’s stick in front of a gaping net. Once again, it was a question of whether Polish endurance could outlast Kazakh flair. The game followed the same pattern as before, with the home side enjoying the bulk of the play and Poland limited to counter-attacks. A Kazakh power play midway through the third saw Dustin Boyd twice fail to connect with straightforward chances, but with both teams tiring, the Polish PK was unable to maintain its shape as effectively as before. Kazakhstan kept knocking at the door, but as the clock ran down it was finding it harder to generate the kind of opportunities spurned earlier in the game. Even the departure of Karlsson, replaced by a sixth forward with almost two full minutes on the clock, could not change the script; Poland, and Murray, held on for a famous victory. And as the Polish players danced with delight on the ice, one of the team's newcomers, Noureddine Bettahar was reveling in his first experience of an international tournament. "In that last time out [the coach] was telling us to stay cool, do our jobs and be proud of it. Hockey is a fun game. It’s my first time here. I think I could play better but it’s a team game, it’s not about individuals and we are really proud of what we’ve done together. "Hockey is fun, hockey isn’t about pressure, you just go and have fun. It doesn’t matter who scores, who made the assists, it’s just hockey and it should be fun." IIHF.COM

Stage 19 in Hinzenbach (AUT) Women´s Individual Normal Hill: 1. Chiara Hoelzl 251.0 2. Eva Pinkelnig 247.8 3. Lara Malsiner 241.5 Full Final Result HERE

Stage 9 in Falun (SWE) Women´s 10km Freestyle Mass Start: 1. Therese Johaug 25:04.1 2. Ebba Andersson 25:10.6 3. Heidi Weng 25:27.9 Full Final Result HERE

song works fine for me

Right, hard to say that the Poles exactly deserved the win here, but also it would not fair to say the opposite, the guys fought really hard and blocked like million of shots, jumping on the shots to block the pucks with their own bodies, huge team effort and team spirit but the main reason of the win was certainly the Best player of the match and best GK of the tournament the GKS Tychy goalie John Murray

Stage 28 in Chamonix (FRA) Men´s Parallel Giant Slalom: 1. Loic Meillard 2. Thomas Tumler 3. Alexander Schmid Full Final Result HERE