Italy (in white) narrowly lost to Slovenia. © FISG/Vanna Antonello

In Val Gardena: Blue Team misses revenge

In Val Gardena, Italy's national ice hockey team tested against Slovenia for the second time in 24 hours on Friday evening. The Azzurri narrowly missed out on revenge.

09. February 2024

From: dl

After the disappointing 1:5 the day before, The Azzurri showed a better side in Val Gardena. In the end, the Blue Team still had to admit defeat to the Slovenians. The guests won 2-1 after a penalty shootout.

The best Azzurro on Friday was a goalie: Asiago's Marco De Filippo showed his best side and kept Italy in the game again and again. Overall, the Slovenians dominated the game again and seemed a little livelier. But Italy took the lead: In the power play, Thomas Larkin remained ice cold after a cross pass in the 26th minute. When the Slovenians equalized, when Jan Cosic hit the top corner from the slot, De Filippo's view was somewhat obscured.

At the beginning of the final third, Daniel Mantenuto missed a good chance for Italy. In overtime, the Azzurri had the advantage for two minutes, but couldn't get anything going. In the penalty shootout, Slovenia's Ken Ograjensek scored the only goal, while Daniel Tedesco, Dante Hannoun, Daniel Catenacci, Giordano Finoro and Pascal Brunner all missed for the Blue Team.

A little fact on the side: Italy's national team seems to be doing better in Val Gardena these days than in Bolzano. Maybe also because there are a lot of tourists in the Valley of the Woodcarvers while there was a game going on in the state capital on a nonsensical Thursday evening. In any case, around 500 more spectators made the pilgrimage to Wolkenstein than the day before to Bozen Süd, where the World Cup will take place in just under three months.

Italy – Slovenia 1:2 nP

Italy: De Filippo (Bernard); Trivellato-Larkin, Amorosa-Gregory, Spornberger-Randal, Glira-Insam; Deluca-Misley-Giordano, Brunner-Catenacci-Hannoun, Frigo-Mantenuto-Tedesco, Gellon-Felicetti-Mantinger.
Coach: Keenan

Slovenia: Pintaric (Kroselj); Urukalo-Masic, Crnovic-Magovac, Cosic-Stebih, Bohinc-Gomboc; Ograjensek-Macuh-Kuralt, Sabolic-Tomazevic-Jezovsek, Zajc-Bericic-Maver, Mahkovec-Sitar flours.
Coach: Terglav

Gates: 0:1 Larkin (25.30), 1:1 Cosic (35.17); Decisive penalty: Ograjensek

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