Tre Kronor has an on-ice session planned hours after the players land in Milan. Whether they take advantage of the ice time depends on whether the trips from North America have gone without delays.
"The hope is that everyone will be in place just before lunch on Sunday, which means we have the opportunity for ice time later in the day. But it will be some kind of activity - a meeting, team training or individual work," says national captain Sam Hallam.
"Laid the foundation"
Due to the short turnaround, preparations have begun in advance.
"We have already started digital meetings with the squad, both for practical information and technical and tactical details. So we have laid the foundation," says Sam Hallam.
The majority of the squad, 21 of 25 players, have participated in one or more of the last two World Cup tournaments and the Four Nations last year.
"It means a lot for relationships. In the Four Nations we had 1.5 weeks together; that means a lot both for my relationship with the players and between the players. So that and the World Cup tournaments have been important for the Olympics," says Hallam.
Sleepy premiere?
The time difference is key. It's usually estimated that the body adjusts at a rate of one day per hour of time difference. NHL players face between 6 and 9 hours of time difference to deal with.
So the match against Italy on Wednesday night will be tough. On the other hand, most people expect the home nation to be the punching bag of the tournament.
Then Finland awaits in the second match, two days later, on Friday.
For that match, the conditions will be the same for both teams, the national captain notes.
The final group stage match against Slovakia will be played on Saturday.
Goran Sundberg/TT
Facts: Tre Kronor's Olympic squad
TT
Goalkeepers: Filip Gustavsson, Minnesota, Jacob Markström, New Jersey, Jesper Wallstedt, Minnesota.
Defenders: Rasmus Andersson, Vegas, Philip Broberg, St. Louis, Rasmus Dahlin, Buffalo, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Toronto, Gustav Forsling, Florida, Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay, Erik Karlsson, Pittsburgh, Hampus Lindholm, Boston.
Forwards: Jesper Bratt, New Jersey, Joel Eriksson Ek, Minnesota, Filip Forsberg, Nashville, Pontus Holmberg, Tampa Bay, Marcus Johansson, Minnesota, Adrian Kempe, Los Angeles, Gabriel Landeskog, Colorado, Elias Lindholm, Boston, William Nylander, Toronto, Elias Pettersson, Vancouver, Rickard Rakell, Pittsburgh, Lucas Raymond, Detroit, Alexander Wennberg, San Jose, Mika Zibanejad, New York Rangers.
