Bolzano, in the South Tyrol region of Northern Italy in the shadow of the Alps, is the picturesque venue for this year’s IIHF World Championship Division I Group A. In its first season of operation, 1993/94, Sparkasse Arena hosted the top division of the World Championship, and this week, Sunday through Saturday, it will host six teams eyeing to advance to that level.

Only two teams will advance and there are three strong contenders for those spots: Slovenia and Hungary, which were both relegated from the top division last year, and host Italy. At the other end, newcomer Japan will aim to stay in the group, possibly at the expense of Romania or Korea.Here’s how the teams stack up according to the IIHF World Ranking:

Slovenia

A regular elevator team, Slovenia has gained promotion from eight out of the last 11 second-tier tournaments it has participated in. Last year, the Slovenes lost all seven games in the top division in Riga, but four of those losses were by one goal. The team’s defence was respectable but goal-scoring was a problem. The recent concern about Slovenia has been whether they have enough good young players to replace their aging veterans, and we might find out this year. Jan Drozg and Anze Kuralt, who scored six of their nine goals last year, are back, but a few of the other veterans are gone on this younger Slovenian team. With Jan Urbas no longer playing for the national team, Robert Sabolic becomes the captain.

Italy

Another elevator team, Italy had been expected to advance last year but finished third behind Great Britain and surprising Poland. Now playing on home ice, the Italians will be anxious to right that wrong. They have mostly the same lineup returning, led by captain Thomas Larkin, the Top Defender at last year’s tournament, and offensive forwards Luca Frigo and Daniel Mantenuto, who will be one of five Italians playing in his home rink in Bolzano. It will be interesting to see how heavily they lean on the goaltending of 19-year-old Anaheim Ducks prospect Damian Clara, who just finished backstopping Brynas back into the top league in Sweden.

Hungary

Like Slovenia, Hungary was relegated from the top tier of the World Championship last year and is anxious for a quick return. This is an experienced team but a bit younger than last year, without some veterans such as Gero Nagy, a holdover from Hungary’s 2008 World Championship team, and offensive-minded Istvan Bartalis. Instead, their biggest scoring threats are Balasz Sebok, an experienced forward from top leagues in Finland and Germany, and sharp-shooting winger Istvan Sofron. While they’ll look at the games against Slovenia and Italy as key, they can’t look past the early games – they lost to Japan 2-1 in an Olympic Qualifying game in Budapest in February.

Korea

It was 2018 when Korea played in the top division of the World Championship for the first time, and then returned to IA the next year. Since then, the Koreans have finished third once and fourth twice, entrenching themselves in the middle of the group. What was once a roster made up largely of naturalized citizens is now a team almost entirely born in Korea – an exception being 19-year-old US-born James Hong, who has family ties. Despite that, they still have seven players from their Olympic and World Championship season, notably Sang Wook Kim and Sang Hoon Shin. Their Olympic Qualifying was a mixed bag, with a loss to Ukraine but an overtime win over Poland.

Romania

Romania qualified for this group after surprisingly winning Group B in 2019, and since then has barely held onto its spot. In two years in Group A, the Romanians have managed one win, 3-2 over Lithuania last year to avoid relegation. The other four games they were outscored 24-6. This year, they’ll try to pick up points where they can and it may come down to the final game against Japan, but even that game’s not a given. With six points last year, Balazs Peter is the team’s big offensive threat. If the Romanians have one thing going for them, it might be team cohesion, with almost the entire roster concentrated on three teams in the Romania-Hungary-based Erste Liga.

​Japan

The Japanese are the newcomers, back in Group A for the first time since 2016 after last year’s dominant performance in Tallinn. The Japanese play a very disciplined, team-oriented game that should make them difficult to beat – which they demonstrated with a perfect record in Round 3 of Olympic Qualifying in February – but this is going to be a bigger challenge. Not only will the competition be much tougher, but they’re without their best player, Yushiro Hirano, who is currently in the ECHL playoffs. Instead, they’ll rely on a balanced scoring threat, and with the goaltending of Yuta Narisawa, staying in this group seems like a realistic goal.