Kaltern is in the final. © Diego Barbieri

Plenty of discussion material and victorious Kaltern

After a long wait, the moment finally arrived on Friday evening: The Santa Giulia Arena in Milan was inaugurated on the occasion of the Italian Cup semi-final between SV Kaltern and Varese. The match, which ended with a victory for Hechte, did not go entirely smoothly.

09 January 2026

From: leo

The Milano Hockey Finals, where the Italian championship and cup titles will be awarded, are serving as a tough test this weekend ahead of the Olympic Games in less than a month. The tournament kicked off on Friday evening between SV Kaltern and Varese. While the game began with a bit of drama, it ended with Kaltern celebrating a resounding 8-3 victory and an overall positive conclusion.

The Pike started nervously in front of 5000 fans and racked up numerous penalties. This proved costly: Raphael Bastille scored the opening goal after just three minutes on a 1-on-0 power play. Kaltern needed some time to recover from the early shock, but then equalized with a long-range shot from Emiliano Valentini. Even before the period ended, everyone involved was worried. Suddenly, a medium-sized hole in the ice needed to be patched. A scene that even the New York Times The incident was picked up and caused quite a stir on social media. Fortunately for everyone, it was the only mishap of the evening.

Kaltern is turning up the heat

On the pitch: A spectacular individual effort by Tommaso Terzago, who made Giovanni Reffo look completely out of sorts, led to Mastini regaining the lead 93 seconds after the restart. From that point on, only one team was playing – and that was the Pike. First, Mikael Saha equalized at 2-2 after a brilliant assist from Maximilian Sölva, before David Galassiti's deflection in the 25th minute put Kaltern in front for the first time.

What happened next was unpredictable, as Varese collapsed like a house of cards. Jonas Schöpfer, whose shot Varese goalkeeper Filippo Matonti failed to convert, Mattia Clericuzio (with a deflection), and Sölva's solo effort were responsible for the 6-2 scoreline. The home fans then waited in vain for a response from the underdogs, who conceded further goals from Andreas Vinatzer and Luca De Donà. Dennis Perino's late goal was merely a consolation.

Kaltern has thus reached the Coppa Italia final, which will take place on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. Their opponent will be determined on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. when HC Eppan and Alleghe face each other in the second semi-final.

Italian Cup, semi-finals:

SV Kaltern – Varese 8:3
Goals: 0:1 Bastille (3.04), 1:1 Valentini (10.01), 1:2 Terzago (21.33), 2:2 Saha (22.54), 3:2 Galassiti (24.57), 4:2 Creator (34.22), 5:2 Clericuzio (37.32), 6:2 Sölva (38.42), 7:2 Vinatzer (45.00), 8:2 De Donà (48.29), 8:3 Perino (51.37)