There is only one goal: The Blue Team's World Cup schedule

The World Championship of Division I Group A begins in Gheorghe Sfantu in just over six weeks. Italy's men's team will face Japan, Ukraine, Poland, Great Britain, and the host nation in Romania from April 27 to May 3. The Azzurri will then make their third attempt to return to the World Group, from which they were relegated in Helsinki in 2022.

"Promotion is once again the goal, but it won't be a foregone conclusion this year either. In my opinion, there are no easy opponents. On paper, the two relegated teams, Great Britain and Poland, will be the first contenders for promotion. But Japan and newly promoted Ukraine are also very dangerous. And we must not underestimate Romania: The hosts are only three places behind us in the world rankings, will have several naturalized players in their ranks, and can count on the support of their fans," says Stefan Zisser, the head of Italy's national teams.

Squad list “almost complete” In the next few days, the coaching staff led by head coach Jukka Jalonen will announce the expanded World Cup squad. It will include three goalkeepers and 25 field players. Forwards Alex Petan and Tommaso De Luca have withdrawn due to injury. "The list of potential World Cup participants is almost complete. It now depends on how long HCB Südtirol, HC Lugano with Giovanni Morini and Marco Zanetti, and the Guildford Flames with Daniel Catenacci and Daniel Tedesco remain in the championship," explains Zisser.

Preparations for the season's highlight begin on Monday, April 7 in Bolzano. "The team is expected to be staying at the Sheraton Hotel. If the HCB reaches the final, we will move to Neumarkt for training; otherwise, we will prepare at the Sparkasse Arena. Training will take place Monday through Friday in the first week. After the weekend off, the players will meet again on Monday, April 14. On April 16, we will fly from Bergamo to Katowice and travel to nearby Sosnowiec, where we will play a friendly against Poland on April 18 and 19," Zisser says, describing the World Cup schedule.

Dress rehearsal against Slovenia in Bruneck The Blue Team will meet again in Bolzano on April 21. "The dress rehearsal against Slovenia is scheduled for Tuesday, April 22, at 19.30:24 p.m. in Bruneck, before departing for Bucharest on April 200. From there, we'll take a bus to the World Cup venue, a good 3 kilometers or three hours away. The arena in Sfantu Gheorghe only seats 2500 spectators and is about a half-hour bus ride from our hotel," Zisser laments. "The time between individual World Cup matches isn't ideal either. But we have to accept the schedule created by the organizers as it is." Stefan Zisser The former striker also points out that the start times of the Italy matches "are unusual and take some getting used to. We play three games at 12.30:16 p.m. and two at 14 p.m. That's why we'll also train at lunchtime. Furthermore, the second friendly against Poland is at XNUMX p.m. The time between the individual World Cup matches is also not ideal. But we have to accept the schedule drawn up by the organizers as it is."

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There is only one goal: The Blue Team's World Cup schedule

On April 7, Italy's national ice hockey team begins its preparations for this year's World Championship. In Romania, the Blue Team has only one goal.

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