LJUBLJANA/TILBURG – The 2010 IIHF World Championship Division I kicks off on Saturday with Group B in Ljubljana before Group A begins on Monday in Tilburg, Netherlands. The winner of each group will qualify for the 2011 IIHF World Championship in Slovakia.

Host Slovenia to challenge Hungary

Slovenia last played in the top division in 2008 when the Anze Kopitar-led team was relegated in Halifax.

Since then, Slovenia has tried to fight its way back without Kopitar, who’s in the NHL playoffs with the Los Angeles Kings. Former 1980 Miracle on Ice player John Harrington took over the team as a coach last year, but the Slovenes lost the deciding game against Kazakhstan.

Things have changed in Slovenia, the two best clubs Acroni Jesenice and Olimpija Ljubljana joined the Austrian league to play at a more professional level. Eight players on the roster hail from these two teams and in total eleven players from the Austrian league while the rest play in Italy, France, Sweden or Alaska.

Additionally, the Slovenes have Maribor-born winger Jan Mursak on the roster, who had 42 points (24+18) this season with the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins.

The main challenger for the host nation will be Hungary.

The Hungarians made it to the top division for the first time in 70 years, but after finishing in last place last year in Switzerland they’re back in Division I. The team will have to show if their one-year stint with the elite nations was a fluke or if the team is a strong contender for promotion.

American Ted Sator is the new coach behind the bench. Coming back to Slovenia will be a special experience for Sator as he coached the Slovenian national team a few years ago.

Hungarian champion Fehervar, which plays in the Austrian league also, has 12 players on the team. Viktor Szelig, who played for French top team Briançon Diables Rouges, is the only player who joined from a club team abroad.

Other Division I medal contenders with top division stints are Great Britain and Poland, who will hope for a surprise. The tournament started with bad luck for the Brits. Due to the volcano eruption in Iceland, they could not get to the European mainland through the Eurotunnel and ended up on a ferry and arrive at noon by bus after a 26-hour trip right before the first game.

“When we arrive we have to get changed and get on the ice and do our best for Queen and Country,” team manager Andy Buxton said.

Croatia might have to fight against relegation against a team from overseas again. After they sent Australia back to Division II last year, they have a new foe with Korea.

Croatia is building a bright future after Medvescak Zagreb’s joined the Austrian league, however, many national team players had limited ice time there.

Korea is back in Division I after one year. Two years ago, the Koreans were the fan favourites with a good fighting spirit, but the players lost all games.

Austria and Ukraine favourites in Tilburg

The other group in the Netherlands begins two days later, with the favourite being Austria.

The Austrians were unlucky last year. Despite finishing the relegation round in second place they were relegated because third-ranked Germany was the host nation for the 2010 World Championship.

The team will have to do without Thomas Vanek who is in the NHL playoffs with Buffalo, as well as Thomas Nödl, who’s on the Philadelphia Flyers’ roster, but the team has young hopefuls on the roster.

Defenceman Thomas Pöck and forward Oliver Setzinger join the team from the Swiss league while Thomas Raffl joins the team from Swedish Luleå.

Another factor in the race for Division I gold could be the coaches. Bill Gilligan took over the job in the off-season and also the other gold favourite Ukraine had a change behind the bench as Belarusian coach Mikhail Zakharov, who coached the Olympic team of Belarus in Vancouver, joined the Ukrainians with the clear ambition of bringing the nation back to the 16 best hockey countries.

Since being relegated from the top division in 2007 in Moscow, the Ukrainians have not been back. In 2009 they lost to Italy, 2-0, the year before they were surprisingly defeated 4-2 by Hungary.

The Ukrainians might have one or the other KHL players on the roster that has to be registered by Sunday like Vitali Liutkevych, Oleg Shafarenko, Sergi Varlamov (all Dynamo Minsk), Kostiantyn Kasianchuk (Traktor Chelyabinsk), Andri Mikhnov (Lada Togliatti) or Vadym Shakhraychuk (Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod).

Most players come from the Belarusian Extraliga, either from the Ukrainian entry in the league, Sokil Kyiv, or from other teams like Belarusian champion Yunost Minsk where three Ukrainian players as well as coach Zakharov are under contract.

Don't count out Japan. The team that has been coached by Canadian Mark Mahon for many years has been a constant medal contender winning the bronze medals in four consecutive years.

It will also be interesting to see what the host nation Netherlands will achieve on home ice as well as Lithuania after last year’s successful tournament on home ice in Vilnius and the tournament’s underdog, newly-promoted Serbia.

MARTIN MERK