from the latest post on hockeynet, nz, sa and aus have officially confirmed they wont be going to Bari... i know from the nz perspective that officially, nzuwh approves of the idea of the games but the timframe and lack of notice is just too tight to make it practical for us, financially (and in terms of player burnout, in my own opinion).

hendo says he's expecting similar confirmations of non-attendance from another handful of countries soon.

i know that nzuwh is happy to consider going to the next one if they have one in 2009 for example, but in the meantime expect to go ahead with shc in chch and what was going to be the next worlds in durban...

apparently the durban worlds could be officially recognised by cmas as a continental championship... if everyone treats it like a worlds then maybe it will be treated as a worlds by the countries themselves.

maybe we'll end up with euros being the bari thing every year, the shc rotating as it usually does and a "continental championship" every 2 years that cmas calls continental and everyone just treats like a world champs?

that way perhaps the euro countries that rely on cmas for their insurance issues in order to book pools and for sponsorship and funding can keep what they need there and things will be the same for the rest of us?

or, maybe if it happens that way it'll force a split with cmas in the end.

i guess we'll see as it unfolds.

liam