With two new arrivals to Poland

Italy's national ice hockey team will play two test matches against Poland this weekend. Two more players joined the Blue Team on Thursday.

17 April 2025

From: cst

Forward Daniel Tedesco (who plays in England for the Guildford Flames) and goalie Damian Clara are the two latest additions for national coach Jukka Jalonen. Clara recently played two AHL games for the San Diego Gulls, after previously playing for Färjestad (SWE) and Kärpät (FIN). Another goalie, Rudy Rigoni, left the preseason camp, which moved from Bolzano to Sosnowiec on Wednesday.

In Poland, the Blue Team faces a double international match against the home side. The Eastern Europeans will also face the Azzurri at the World Cup in Romania (April 1 to May 27). Swiss international Diego Kostner, however, doesn't attach too much importance to the friendlies: "These two games will give us a lot of insight, but the World Cup will be important. We've had intensive days of training. I see a motivated team that's approaching the game with the right mindset."

Diego Kostner, attacker from Val Gardena. © VANNA ANTONELLO

By the way: While the matches against Poland will be the first pre-World Cup tests for Kostner and his team, Poland has already played four times. They won two matches against Lithuania (2-1, 2-0), and against Ukraine they won one match (3-2), and lost one match (2-3).