Olympic Qual.

Changes in Austria and Great Britain rosters

Austria makes a cut in the roster for Olympic Qualification after the game against Kazakhstan: forwards Philipp Pinter, Daniel Woger and Michael Schiechl (all Vienna Capitals) and defenseman Johannes Reichel (Kac Klagenfurt) have been cut from the roster.

Also Great Britain has to make changes in the roster, all due to injuries: Basingstoke Bison netminder Stevie Lyle will replace Stephen Murphy while Nottingham Panthers defenceman Steve Lee will replace team-mate Jonathan Weaver

Ukraine lost key players for Olympic Qualifications

Despite a brilliant campaign in previous round, Ukraine will travel to Vojens, Denmark without almost all its best players: besides Ruslan Fedotenko and Alexei Ponikarovsky, back in NHL, also Dynamo Moscow Konstantin Kasyanchuk - personal reasons - Companion Kyiv defender Ruslan Borisenko - fractured rib - and Donbas Donets'k forward Sergei Varlamov - reason still unknown - won't travel to Denmark

Frederik Andersen will play Olympic Quals

Denmark a bit surprisingly get a big reinforcement for the Olympic Qualifiers in February when Anaheim Ducks has decided to let Denmark's star goalie Frederik Andersen travel home to Denmark to take part of the qualification tournament.

France lost Guttig

Team France won't count on Anthony Guttig on Olympic Qualifications tournament in Riga. Tranas forward suffered a knee ligament injury and will be out for about four weeks

Lubomir Pokovic enters in Belarus staff

Slovak Lubomir Pokovic joins Belarus national team coaching staff. The coach will work with the defenders.
"I didn't lost contact with Lubomir from the time I played under him at Dinamo Minsk. We have a good relationship, I like his methods, he is a strong mentor with experience in working for the national team of Slovakia.I'm sure his experience will be very useful for us." said Belarus coach Andrei Skabelka

Belarus won against Ukraine

With temporary coach Andrei Skabelka, Belarus won the first test match against Ukraine in Kyiv Ice Palace in front of 3.500 spectators.

Ukraine - Belarus - 1:2 (1:0, 0:2, 0:0)
1:0 Pastukh (Lyutkevich, 15:02)
1:1 Kisliy (S. Kolosov, Musienko, 21:48)
1:2 Pavlovich (Efimenko, 34:48)

Tomorrow the second match

Lithuania lost twice against Belarus U18

Lithuania faced Belarus U18 team in Elektrenai on Frifay and Saturday as preparation for Olympic Qualifications. Home team, still without main players, lost both games

Lithuania - Belarus U-18 3:4 (0:1, 2:3, 1:0) on friday

Lithuania - Belarus U-18 2:3so (1:2, 0:0, 1:0, 0:0, 0:1) saturday

"I'm not happy with the results but knowing that the team played without its best players, we try to do our best. In the first match 14 penalty minutes per half is too much. In the second game the guys fought better, but showed the same problem with penalties. Of course, the team will be very different when complete, but in Hungary we will not be easy, "- said Lithuanian head coach Bernd Haake

Germany selects Bietigheim-Bissingen to host Olympic qualifications

The German Ice Hockey Association named Bietigheim-Bissingen host of Group D of the Final Olympic Qualification, 7-10 February 2013.

The tournament that includes neighbour Austria, Italy and a qualifier will be played in the new Ellentalarena that is currently being built beside the old ice rink and will have space for about 4,000 spectators.

The Latvian Hockey Federation (LHF) previously announced to host Group E at Arena Riga. The other participating teams are France, Kazakhstan and a qualifier.
The third group of the Final Olympic Qualification will be hosted at a venue to be determined in Denmark with Belarus, Slovenia and a qualifier being the other teams.