Italy's women suffered a narrow defeat in the Ritten competition. © Max Pattis

Italy starts the U18 World Cup with a narrow defeat

The Italian women's U18 national team had an unsuccessful start to their home World Championship campaign. They suffered a 2-3 defeat against Norway in their opening game of the IIHF U18 World Championship Division I, Group A, on Monday at the Ritten Arena. France and Japan also started their round-robin tournament with victories.

12 January 2026

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After a scoreless first period, in which Italy twice played shorthanded for two minutes, Stella Dal Pont put her "Azzurrine" in the lead on Monday evening, assisted by Anna Franci (28:36). However, it took just over a minute and a half for the game against Norway to be evened: Linne Knardahl scored the equalizer for the Scandinavians, assisted by Vilde Jolma-Stensland and Maja Raknes (30:14). Things got even better for Norway, as just a minute and a half later, Nikoline Osteraas put them ahead 2-1, assisted by Elvira Stavnes and Sina Lie (31:38).

Italy was under pressure, and after an unsuccessful power play, Luca Byrne's team managed to equalize before the second intermission. Olivia de Bortoli made it 2-2 for the "Azzurrine" (37:31). In the final period, it didn't take long for Norway's Osteraas to put them ahead 3-2, set up by Lie (45:15). Italy rallied against the defeat and missed another chance to tie the game, including a power play opportunity, but the Norwegian victory remained unchallenged.

France surprises, Japan dominates

The IIHF U18 Women's World Championship opened on the Ritten mountain with a match between France and Germany. And there was a minor upset right from the start, as France secured a 2-1 victory in overtime thanks to a decisive goal by Clemence Boudin (63:40). Germany had taken the lead midway through the second period through Alexandra Boico (30:27), before Albane Bernel equalized shortly after the start of the third period (41:50), forcing overtime. The real disappointment for Germany, one of the favorites for promotion to the top division, was their superiority in the game, as they fired significantly more shots (43-24 in favor of France).

In the afternoon, Denmark and Japan kicked off their tournament in Klobenstein. The match ended with a victory for the favorites, Japan, who defeated the Scandinavians 6-3. Japan's Reina Kakuta opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal (9:39), but Filippa Petersen equalized before the end of the first period (15:50). Denmark then took the lead thanks to Teresa Christensen (23:14), but Japan responded with three goals before the second period buzzer. Momona Fukuzawa (31:31), Nana Akimoto (32:37), and Nanaho Yamaguchi (38:17) put Japan ahead 4-2. The preliminary decision came with Saika Kiyokawa's 5:2 (43.45), even though Nikita Bergmann scored the 3:5 for Denmark (53.13) and Momona Fukuzawa again scored the 6:3 final score (58.53).

The action continues on Tuesday with three more matches. At 1 p.m., Germany and Denmark face off, at 4:30 p.m. the current group leaders Japan and Norway meet, and at 8 p.m. it's Italy's turn again, this time against France.

U18 Women's World Championship Division 1, Group A:

Tuesday, January 13nd
13 p.m. Germany – Denmark
4:30 PM Japan – Norway
20 p.m. Italy – France

Thursday, January 15th
13 p.m. Japan – France
4:30 p.m. Denmark – Norway
20 p.m. Italy – Germany

Saturday, January 17th
13 p.m. Norway – France
4:30 p.m. Germany – Japan
20 p.m. Italy – Denmark

Sunday, January 18st
13 p.m. Germany – Norway
4:30 p.m. France – Denmark