How did Italy qualify in the olympics for womens ice hockey?
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They are the host nation so they get to field a team despite how good (or not so good) they are.
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Manon Rhéaume (born February 24, 1972) is a Canadian goaltender and Olympic silver medallist who is the only woman to play in the NHL.\n\nManon Rhéaume was born in Lac Beauport, Quebec, Canada to Nicole and Pierre Rhéaume, she has one older brother, Martin, and one younger, Pascal, who is a center for NHL's Phoenix Coyotes.\n\nShe was signed as a free agent to Tampa Bay Lightning and played one pre-season game against the St. Louis Blues. She later played for various minor league hockey teams and on the Canadian silver-medal winning Olympic hockey team. While in Atlanta, Manon wrote her autobiography - Manon: Alone In Front Of The Net.\n\nManon Rhéaume was married in June 1998 and has one son (b. 1999).\n\nShe has turned down offers to appear in both Playboy and Penthouse magazines.
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ukrain... germany is the owner, they didnt qualify
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I think the biggest upset in Olympic Hockey was Sweden beating the USA is women's hockey earlier in the week.  Living in MN (home of five of the hockey players) all I ever heard was about how would the US do against Canada once they got to the gold medal game.  The US vs Canada was a predetermined outcome for the Gold Medal and Sweden stopped the US.\n\nToronto is a beautiful place.
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both ITALY's World Cup victories in 1982 & 2006 was marred by match fixing scandal.\n\nBRAZIL, ARGENTINA & ENGLAND were among the favourites but all failed to qualify for the semi-finals. \n\nall semi-finals teams was dominated by European teams, ITALY, WEST GERMANY, FRANCE & POLAND in 1982 & ITALY, FRANCE, GERMANY & PORTUGAL in 2006.\n\nboth Italian winning squad players of 1982 & 2006 plays at home in the Italian League.\n\nthe goalkeepers, Dino Zoff & Gianluigi Buffon both played for Juventus.
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Only one team won the group - Italy, with 7 points.\nGhana, with 6, also progressed to the Last 16.\nThe Czech Republic finished third with 3 points.\nUSA last with 1.
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It was there from the beginning.  in fact, hockey was first played at the summer olympics in 1908, before there even was a winter olympics.
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Meghan Agosta (born February 12, 1987 in Ruthven, Ontario) is a women's ice hockey player.\n\nAgosta first started playing hockey at age 6, switching to it from figure skating. She played for the Chatham Cyclones AAA organization and later for the Junior AA Windsor Wildcats of the Ontario Provincial Women's Hockey League. At the 2003 Canada Games, she scored the winning goal for Team Ontario.\n\nIn August of 2004 she moved to Calgary to train with the national team. Agosta was an alternate for the team that finished second at the 2005 women's world championship in April. She played for the national team for the first time in August 2005 at the Four Nations Cup, and was one of the leading scorers during the exhibition phase prior to the Winter Olympics.\n\nAgosta has said she would have been playing hockey for a U.S. college now if not for her invitation to try out for the Olympic team. She says several schools have shown interest in her, but her full attention is on not wasting the opportunity immediately in front of her. "This is my chance and I just need to think about this," she said.\n\nA natural offensive talent, she has been called by the Canadian national coach Melody Davidson "the future of women's hockey in Canada" and is considered by some to be the female equivalent to Sidney Crosby\n\nOn her 19th birthday, during the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Turin, she scored a hat trick for Team Canada against the Russian national women's ice hockey team.\n\nAgosta has a brother Jeric, who played this year in Tier Two Junior A for the Aurora Tigers and next year will be playing hockey on a full scholarship at the University of Omaha-Nebraska.\n\nCenter\nMeghan Agosta\nMedal Record\nWomen's Ice hockey\nGold 2006 Turin Ice hockey\n\nIf you want to see her or read more:\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meghan_Agosta
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4 Teams left... one of them is Italy.\n\nSoccer is here on earth... "TheOneAndOnly" on another planet!
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The 3rd placed playoff was between Italy and England. Italy won 2-1, so England would have to be the 4th placed team.
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Group A: Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Switzerland and Italy. \n\nGroup B: Sweden, Slovakia, USA, Russia, Latvia and Kazakhstan. \n\nRules:\n\nIn the Olympics, tied playoff games are followed by ten minutes of sudden death overtime. If the game remains tied, it is decided by a shootout. An Olympic hockey shootout uses five shooters from each team.\n\nThe international ice is 210 feet long and 98 feet wide. Goal lines are 13 feet from the end boards. \n\nGoaltenders can play the puck anywhere behind the net. \n\nInternational hockey uses "no touch" icing. Sponsored Links\nThe play is whistled down as soon as the puck crosses the goal line. \n\nWhen a penalty shot is called during Olympic hockey, any player on the shooting team may be selected to take it. \n\nPlayers fighting in Olympic hockey receive a match penalty and are ejected form the game. \n\nMost of the rest of the rules are similar to the NHL.\n\nFormat:\n\nRound robin play within each group.\n\nThen the following playoff schedule:\n\nWednesday, Feb. 22 \nQuarterfinal (A1-B4)\nQuarterfinal (A2-B3)\nQuarterfinal (B1-A4)\nQuarterfinal (B2-A3)\n\nFriday, Feb. 24 \nSemifinal(winner A1-B4 vs. winner B2-A3) \nSemifinal(winner B1-A4 vs. winner A2-B3)\n\nSaturday, Feb. 25 \nBronze Medal Game\n\nSunday, Feb. 26 \nGold Medal Game
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Italy\nJuventus\nGigi Buffon\nAndrea Pirlo\nAlessandro Del Piero\nAlessandro Nesta\nItalian\nCanada
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There are ten members of the US Olympic Team in Turin resident in Alaska. They are:\n\nAlan Alborn; Anchorage, Alaska; Skiing-Jumping\nLars Flora; Anchorage, Alaska; Skiing-Cross Country\nKikkan Randall; Anchorage, Alaska; Skiing-Cross Country\nJessica Schultz; Anchorage, Alaska; Curling\nJames Southam; Anchorage, Alaska; Skiing-Cross Country\nRachel Steer; Anchorage, Alaska; Biathlon\nJeremy Teela; Anchorage, Alaska; Biathlon\nPam Dreyer; Eagle River, Alaska; Ice Hockey\nRosey Fletcher; Girdwood, Alaska; Snowboarding\nJay Hakkinen; Kasilof, Alaska; Biathlon
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To repeat an earlier answer 31 plus Germany qualified but almost every country in the world participated, more than the Olympics.  Brazil was upset because as winners of the last cup they did not get automatic qualification but because of numbers they had to qualify.\nQualifying has been going on for two years now.
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The Olmpic Charter says:\n\n"To be included in the programme of the Olympic Games, an Olympic sport must conform to the following criteria:\n\n1.1 only sports widely practised by men in at least seventy-five countries and on four continents, and by women in at least forty countries and on three continents, may be included in the programme of the Games of the Olympiad
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Italy. They had two argentinians players naturalized italians playing for their team.
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Do you mean World Cup of Hockey?  If so, it is held at irregular intervals, and was previously known as the Canada Cup. It is organised by the NHL and the IIHF. \n\nWorld Cup Hockey is now held every four years, between Olympic years. In 2004 Canada won the World Cup.   \n\nOr, If you mean the World Hockey Championship, The Czech Republic won the 2005 World Hockey Championship on May 15 in Vienna, Austria. Canada finished second, losing tthe title it held in 2003 and 2004. \n\n2006 IIHF World Championship is held right now in Riga, Latvia, scheduled from May 5-21 \n \nSchedule of events:\nMay 5-10 Preliminary round \nMay 11-18 Qualification round \nMay 20 Semifinals \nMay 21 Bronze- and gold-medal games \n\nThe link below will tell you whats going on.