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Celebrations from Dan Catenacci & Co. © Vanna Antonello/IIHF
Stroll against Romania: Italy's perfect start to the World Cup
First game, first win: Italy achieved an undisputed success at the start of the home World Cup in Bolzano on Sunday. Opponent Romania did not prove to be a high hurdle.
28 April 2024
From the Sparkasse Arena
From:
Leo Holzknecht
The euphoria was palpable around the Sparkasse Arena on the first day of the World Cup. Fans from all participating nations created an exuberant, happy atmosphere. This reached its climax when the host country Italy intervened in the evening. The performance of Mike Pelino's team was not impressive, but the 6-1 win against ice hockey dwarf Romania ensured that around 3000 spectators went home with high spirits. And that Italy began its intended promotion mission in a befitting manner.
Italy met what was supposed to be their weakest World Cup opponent on Sunday. The fact that no game can be taken lightly was shown at lunchtime when South Korea put the highly favored Slovenians in their place 4-2. In contrast to the Asians, who repeatedly caused great damage with their speed, Romania fought with blunt weapons. The Eastern Europeans were technically, running and physically inferior to the Azzurri. The shot ratio of 55:20 in favor of the home side speaks volumes.
Clara is still watching
And yet not everything that glitters was gold at Luca Frigo & Co. Improving the evaluation of chances and eliminating individual mistakes - like in Alex Trivellato's 1:2 - is necessary if the bar is raised in the coming days. The highlight of this evening was goalgetter Anthony Salinitri, who hit the mark twice and also prepared a goal. But Tommy Purdeller also showed a confident, convincing performance on his World Cup debut. His former teammate, Damian Clara, was rested on Sunday after joining the team just 24 hours earlier. His replacement Andreas Bernard showed a concentrated performance and exuded great calm.
Full commitment from Tommaso De Luca. © IIHF/Vanna Antonello
It continues on Tuesday with the game against Japan (19.30 p.m.), which lost 1-3 to promotion hopefuls Hungary at the start of the World Cup. As against Romania, a threesome is mandatory against the Asians.
The highlights
| Warnschuss | Italy dominated the first period at will, repeatedly had good chances thanks to the eye-catching Tommy Purdeller and were unlucky when Frigo hit the bar. |
| The first hurray | The Romanian wall lasted until the 17th minute: then Dustin Gazley and Dan Catenacci initially missed a double chance before Anthony Salinitri unstoppably deflected a long-range shot from Alex Trivellato. |
| The second hurrah | 14 seconds before the end of the first third, the same storm line increased the score to 2-0. The unsure Zoltan Toke allows a shot to rebound from Salinitri, Catenacci is there for the rebound. |
| Capital misfire | Alex Trivellato misplaces the puck on the power play at his own blue line, Tamas Reszegh runs alone to goalie Andreas Bernard and loads him up. |
| Italy strikes back | The 1:2 is just a small dent from which the Azzurri quickly recover: Daniel Frank makes it 3:1 after a face-off, and Salinitri goes one step further after a Frigo pass. |
| Now it's clear | Michele Marchetti steals the puck from a Romanian on his own blue line and gives Toke no chance. The final point is set by Diego Kostner, who is there after a Marchetti shot in the goal area. |
Italy – Romania 6-1
ITA: Bernard (Clara); Seed Trivallato; Spornberger-Larkin, Amorosa-Pietroniro, Glira-Insam; Mantenuto-De Luca-Frigo, Catenacci-Salinitri-Gazley, Kostner-Marchetti-Frank, Deluca-Mantinger-Purdeller.Trainer: Pelino
ROU: Adorjan (Toke); Haaranen-Imre, Bors-Ferencz-Scibi, Sallo-Laday, Gyorfy; Reszegh-Rokaly-Skachkov, Zagidullin-Peter-Gliga, Sandor-Molnar-Molnar, Fodor-Kovacs-Rokaly.
Trainer: Macqueen
Gates: 1:0 Salinitri (17.03), 2:0 Catenacci (19.46), 2:1 Reszegh (26.15), 3:1 Frank (35.27), 4:1 Frigo (38.50), 5:1 Marchetti (47.44), 6: 1 Kostner (51.27)
Viewers: 3011
Division IA World Cup in Bolzano:
South Korea – Slovenia 4:2Goals: 0:1 Sabolic (3.34), 1:1 Yu Chang Kong (15.43), 2:1 Sang-Hoon Shin (16.48), 2:2 Sodja (22.25), 3:2 Chong-Min Lee (48.17), 4:2 Sang Yeob Kim (55.15)
Japan – Hungary 1:3
Goals: 0:1 Varga (7.57), 0:2 Terbócs (41.58), 1:2 Nakajima (46.52), 1:3 Hári (59.12)
The table
| Pos | Country | Games | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Italy | 1 | 3 |
| 2. | Hungary | 1 | 3 |
| 3. | South Korea | 1 | 3 |
| 4. | Slovenia | 1 | 0 |
| 5. | Japan | 1 | 0 |
| 6. | Romania | 1 | 0 |
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