Italy's national ice hockey team suffered a setback in their final test match before the World Championship. © Matteo Canevari - PhotoSportandMore

A final to forget: Italy stumbles in their last World Cup warm-up match

On Tuesday evening, Italy's national ice hockey team played their final World Championship warm-up match. The Blue Team suffered an unprecedented collapse in the final period.

12 May 2026

From: never

In a way, it felt like déjà vu: Just like a week ago, Great Britain managed to take revenge against Italy in the World Cup test match. on Sunday's defeat The islanders once again found an answer and beat the Blue Team 5-3. The manner of the defeat dealt a significant blow to the Azzurri ahead of the World Championship in the Top Division (May 15-31).

With seven minutes remaining, national coach Jukka Jalonen's team was leading 3-1 – then came a veritable goal deluge. Italy's national ice hockey team conceded four goals in the final minutes and ultimately left the ice as losers.

Italy loses control after convincing performance

Italy started with intense offensive pressure and consistently established themselves in the offensive zone. In the opening minutes, the Azzurri immediately tested the reflexes of goaltender Mat Robson, who made excellent saves against Alessandro Segafredo and Matthew Bradley. Immediately after Bradley's penalty expired, the HC Bozen forward expertly controlled a through ball from Alex Trivellato and calmly slotted it home for a 1-0 lead.

Italy had everything under control for a long time. © Matteo Canevari - PhotoSportandMore

The second period saw a more open game with chances for both sides. Great Britain increased the tempo, but Italy held firm defensively and extended their lead to 2-0 through Marco Zanetti in the 34th minute. Shortly after, Joshua Waller capitalized on an Italian defensive error to narrow the gap to 2-1. Italy remained dangerous; Phil Pietroniro first hit the crossbar and later scored on a 5-on-3 power play to make it 3-1 before the second intermission.

Italy controlled the game for much of the final period before Great Britain struck back in the last seven minutes. Logan Neilson and Johnny Curran quickly tied the game at 3-3, before Waller scored his second goal of the night to give Great Britain their first lead. But that wasn't all: Italy pulled their goalie at the end, but still conceded an empty-net goal to make it 5-3 – with Waller completing his hat trick.

The World Cup is just around the corner.

With this bitter defeat weighing heavily on their minds, Italy now heads towards the World Championship. The Azzurri travel to Switzerland on Wednesday, and three days later they face Canada in their opening match (Saturday, 4:20 pm). Just one day later, they play Slovakia (Sunday, 12:20 pm).



Italy – Great Britain 3:5
Goals: 1:0 Bradley (17.11), 2:0 Zanetti (33.44), 2:1 Waller (35.11), 3:1 Pietroniro (38.31), 3:2 Neilson (53.55), 3:3 Curran (55.59), 3:4 Waller (56.17), 3:5 Waller (59.07)

Audience: 1.087

Italy: Smith (Furlong); Zanatta P. Pietroniro; De Luca Bradley Mansueto; Trivellato Rigoni; Saracino-Frycklund-Segafredo; Albis Gios; DiGiacinto-Schiavone-Zanetti; Buono Nitz; Porco-Misley-Deluca; Mantinger. Coach: Jukka Jalonen.

Great Britain: Robson (Bowns); Halbert Richardson; Curran C. Neilson Dowd; Tetlow J. Hazeldine; Waller-Perlini-L. Neilson; Brown Steele; Lachowicz-Betteridge-Harewood; Jenion Clements; Shudra Davies Hopkins; Nordstrom. Coach: Pete Russel.