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Gabriel Nitz from Brixen (second from right) created a memorable moment. © ANSA / SALVATORE DI NOLFI
At the World Cup: A shining moment for the 19-year-old South Tyrolean
Italy suffered their second defeat in as many games at the Ice Hockey World Championship in Switzerland on Sunday. However, the youngest player on the roster had a stellar performance.
17 May 2026
From: det
There are days an athlete never forgets. Young Gabriel Nitz experienced such a day on Sunday. In his second game on the big World Championship stage, the 19-year-old defender from Brixen scored his first goal. It was also the first goal for the Azzurri at this World Championship. Ultimately, they suffered an expected defeat against Slovakia: the final score was 1-4 after 60 minutes.
But back to Nitz, who wrote a fairytale story with this goal and was ultimately named his team's best player. It was the 46th minute when, after a scramble, the puck slid to the defenseman: Nitz didn't hesitate and fired the puck into the net from the blue line. For the first time in 44 years, a 19-year-old Italian had scored a point at a World Championship: the last time this happened was in 1982 when Martin Pavlu achieved this feat.
What's particularly curious is that Nitz has only scored one goal in adult ice hockey so far, in the 2024/25 season in the Italian Hockey League for Brixen. The stay-at-home defenseman is nevertheless considered a great ice hockey talent, having played primarily for the Wipptal Broncos in the Alps Hockey League last winter and also getting a taste of ICE hockey with HC Pustertal. Next season, Nitz and his twin brother Raffael will move to Finland, joining the youth program of the first-division team HPK.
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Italy fought back against Slovakia in front of nearly 4.000 fans – as was the case the day before against Canada – very brave. However, the Eastern Europeans, spurred on by their enthusiastic fans, were simply too strong, even without numerous star players. The Slovaks' clinical finishing was particularly impressive. Nitz's goal to make it 1-3 gave Italy a significant boost, and the Blue Team was briefly able to dream of an upset. Ultimately, however, they came away empty-handed.
The highlights
| crept to the gate | Slovakia dominated the match in the opening minutes and took the lead after 14 minutes: Rosandic was given too much space in front of the goal and played a perfect pass to Hrivik, who sneaked behind the Italian defense and scored to make it 1-0 (14th minute). |
| Freezing Slovaks | On one side, the Azzurri missed a chance to equalize with a 2-on-1 counterattack (Frigo and Mantenuto), while on the other side, the Slovaks scored their second goal. With 27 seconds left in the second period, Kmec fired the puck against the boards after a counterattack, and it rebounded back to him, making it 2-0 (40th minute). Immediately after the restart, the favorites increased their lead to 3-0 when Kristian Pospisil, assisted by his brother Martin, calmly slotted the puck past Jake Smith (41st minute). |
| Nitz gives hope | Suddenly, the Azzurri are back in the game – thanks to youngster Gabriel Nitz. After a scramble, the puck slides to the Brixen native, who unleashes a shot from the blue line – scoring the Azzurri's first goal of this World Championship (46th minute). Italy now has a real boost, and the equalizer seems within reach. But in the end, it wasn't to be: Slovakia seals the 4-1 victory on the power play (55th minute). |
Italy now has a day of rest. On Tuesday at 4:20 pm, they face their next, enormously important match: against Norway, the Azzurri have their first realistic chance of earning a point.
Italy – Slovakia 1:4
Italy: Smith (Fadani); Zanatta-Pietroniro, Trivellato-DiPerna, Spornberger-Gios, Buono-Nitz; Tommaso De Luca-Bradley-Purdeller, Saracino-Frycklund-DiGiacinto, Frigo-Mantenuto-Segafredo, Mantinger-Misley-ZanettiCoach: Jalonen
Slovakia: Gajan (Rabcan); Rosandic-Gajdos, Koch-Kmec, Knazko-Strbak, Radivojevic, Kristian Pospisil-Martin Pospisil-Fasko-Rudas, Liska-Hrivik-Okuliar, Sykora-Cederle-Chromiak, Petrovsky-Kollar-Mesar, Minarik
Coach: Orszagh
Gates: 0:1 Marek Hrivik (13.31), 0:2 Viliam Kmec (39.32), 0:3 Kristian Pospisil (40.30), 1:3 Gabriel Nitz (45.03), 1:4 Oliver Okuliar (54.13)
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