Official Website for Finland 2003: www.ihwc.net Switzerland Schedule Preliminary Round Sat, 4/26: Switzerland-Russia Sun, 4/27: USA-Switzerland Tue, 4/29: Denmark-Switzerland Austria Schedule Preliminary Round Sat, 4/26: Austria-Finland Mon, 4/28: Czech Republic-Austria Tue, 4/29: Slovenia-Austria Defending Champion is Slovakia.
Any idea what type of team the USA/Russia is sending? Are the players from the NHL teams already eliminated allowed to play? How about some perdictions: Swiss-Russia 2-4 USA-Swiss 3-1 Swiss-Denmark 4-0
USA, Canada juggling rosters: http://live97.ihwc.net/english/article/news/index.ihwc?artId=1278 Yes, NHL players are allowed (if they have the balls to represent their country)
What an outrage, the Swiss are not available to vote for to win the Gold! http://live97.ihwc.net/english/article/news/index.ihwc?artId=1278 I just think that it is a real odd time to have the tournament. Right in the middle of the playoffs of the league with the best and most talented players. If you are cheering for the USA, I guess that we have to hope that teams with good european players play long into the NHL playoffs and those with good american teams loose early.
Most NHL stars are "too good" to play in the World Championships anyway. But I see where you're coming from. It's mostly the International NHL stars that take time to compete. Team USA and Team Canada usually have a roster full of NHL players, but it's usually lesser known players... On the upside, The IIHF (International Ice Hockey Federation) and the NHL announced that they would bring back the World Cup of Hockey in 2004 with all the NHL stars: http://www.iihf.com/news/iihfpr1703.htm (Bigsoccer Discussion:https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=42447) Looks like the IIHF and NHL are on better terms again. Now if we finally could get that annual playoff between the European Champion (Continental Cup winner) and Stanley Cup winner done, we would finally have a true world champion on the club level as well.
Even though Colorado is out of the Stanley Cup playoffs, Swiss coach Ralph Krueger opted not to call in David Aebischer. Krueger doesn't want Aebischer because he missed the whole preparation for the tournament. Really Ralph? What a great preparation we had.....we just lost our last game to freaking Latvia! Blick says Aebischer was furious about the decision.
Group B Struggling Swiss hope to rebound: http://live97.ihwc.net/english/article/spotlight/index.ihwc?artId=1281 USA brings working-class roster: http://live97.ihwc.net/english/article/spotlight/index.ihwc?&artId=1282 Hmm...who knows. If we play our heart out and have luck on our side, a win against the U.S. seems not out of reach. Team USA is arguably the weakest one of the "big 7". My Predictions: Switzerland - Russia 1:4 USA - Switzerland 2:3 Denmark - Switzerland 1:5
Wow, discussion of Austria's hockey team. One of the Austrian players, Kent Salfi, was born in New Jersey, USA and played college hockey at the University of Maine. He still lives in Orono, Maine in the summer, I've met him quite a few times through the golf-related job I have. Real nice guy. Great for him he was able to find somewhere to do as well as he is.
Results Group B USA - Denmark 2:5 Switzerland - Russia 2:5 Russia - Denmark 6:1 USA - Switzerland 0:1 Wow, Team USA into the relegation round? Who would've thought it? Good response by Switzerland, especially after the game against Russia where they were only able to keep up for one period. The quarterfinals are within reach now. Group D Austria - Finland 1:5 Czech Republic - Slovenia 5:2
Group D Czech Republic - Austria 8:1 Finland - Slovenia 12:0 Autsch, Austria now has to beat Slovenia to escape the relegation round.
Group D Finland - Czech Republic 1:2 Slovenia - Austria 2:6 Group B Denmark - Switzerland 2:6 Russia - USA 3:2 Switzerland and Austria both make the qualifying round. U.S goes to relegation round where they have to win the group to stay in the A-pool. Looks like my predictions were right, although I didn't get the scores right...