U20 World Cup: The South Tyroleans lead Italy to their opening victory

Italy's U20 national team made a perfect start at the Division IB World Championship in Bled (Slovenia). The South Tyroleans, who were represented in large numbers, played a large part in the success against Estonia.

11 December 2023

From: leo

This year, coach Giorgio De Bettin can rely on the most talented squad in many years: there Tommaso De Luca, who is a regular at Ambrì Piotta, Tommy Purdeller, who is active in North America, Ritten crack Alan Lobis and Cortina defender Enrico Larcher. Only goalkeeper Damian Clara is not there in Slovenia. Given the high quality, promotion is certainly possible. At the start, the Azzurri met outsiders Estonia on Monday and didn't let anything go wrong - the score was 5-1 in the end.

While the Italian ice sports association FISG announced in the last few days that Purdeller might miss the first game, the Peterborough Petes striker arrived in Bled in time. The Pusterer stormed alongside Unterland crack Alex Egger and Tommaso Madaschi (Biel).

4 hits in the majority

Italy immediately applied a lot of pressure and got a deserved lead in the 10th minute: Purdeller fed Larcher on the blue line, who passed it on to Madaschi, who scored directly. Five minutes later, Lobis was also able to celebrate: In the power play, the Kalterer was lurking in the slot and was successful with a direct pass after a De Luca pass.

Edoardo Berti had a quiet day. © IIHF

Although the Estonians came close at the beginning of the second third, Italy made things clear with two more power play goals. First, Lobis, who was named best player, directed a Larcher shot into the goal, then De Luca hit the top corner with pinpoint accuracy. The game was now over. In the final third, Purdeller – again outnumbered – made the final score 5-1 thanks to a direct shot. The next game is on Tuesday at 16 p.m. against Croatia.

Estonia – Italy 1:5

Estonia: Aganezovs (Rembetti); Velja-Kudeviita, Tammeorg-Mattik, Sildre-Proskurin, Antonov; Marek Postinok-Erik Postinok-Timofejev, Stepanov-Nevolainen-Kontseus, Abeljanov-Masljonov-Morozov, Frolkov-Sepma.
coach: Lukkainen

Italy: Berti (Rindone); Prast-Larcher, Albis-Tolomelli, Lacedelli-Nitz, Gorgone; Segafredo-Lobis-De Luca, Madaschi-Egger-Purdeller, Remolato-Gschliesser-Girardi, Manganelli-Zandegiacomo-Covelli, Garau.
coach: De Bettin

Gates: 0:1 Madaschi (9.35), 0:2 Lobis (15.47), 1:2 Marek Postinok (24.15), 1:3 Lobis (31.33), 1:4 De Luca (35.20), 1:5 Purdeller (45.12)

The table