There are two candidates for Ireland's successor

The players from the U20 and U18 teams sweated in a performance center under the sun of Lignano Sabbiadoro. The U15 and U16 players met several times in Neumarkt, where they worked under the supervision of fitness coach Alex Doliana. The women (senior and U18), however, were in Brixen. Ice training begins for the first teams at the beginning of August. There are currently no plans for the men's senior selection.

“Originally, a training camp with games against Ukraine was planned at the end of August. Because HCB Südtirol, HC Pustertal and HC Asiago, as well as all AlpsHL clubs, are in the middle of preparing for the season during this period, taking part in tournaments and playing test games, we have decided to cancel the activity,” says Stefan Zisser, the person in charge National teams of Italy.

Stefan Zisser. © kp

One reason for this was the fact that the “Azzurri” are currently without a coach. “The coaching question has not yet been answered. Greg Ireland's contract expired on June 30th and was not renewed. “I would have liked to continue working with him because, in my opinion, the project we started with him two and a half years ago has started to bear fruit, even if the results at the World Cup in Helsinki didn’t prove that,” Zisser is aware. Ice sports association would like to employ a full-time coach The association's goal is to employ a full-time trainer. Also because the only full-time trainer to date is no longer available around the clock. Zisser: “Giorgio De Bettin is returning to his hometown club after two years as coach and will now be in charge at Cortina in the AlpsHL. He remains the U2 national coach and assistant to the senior team, but we will miss him because he traveled a lot, especially in the youth sector, and watched a lot of games.”

The era of Ireland, who was most recently a coach at HCB Südtirol, has come to an end with the “Blue Team” after relegation from the World Group. Also because the Canadian has now landed at the Chinese KHL club Kunlun Red Star. “Due to his new job, further collaboration would have been difficult, almost impossible. We created a list of potential successors and narrowed it down to 2 names. We would like to present the new coach by the end of August,” hopes Zisser. Personal acquaintance overseas planned The former national striker is expected to travel to North America with FISG officials in mid-August and come into personal contact with the two Canadian candidates, with a trip to the U20 World Cup in Edmonton also planned. The new coach will not only accompany the “Azzurri” to the World Cup in Division I Group A in Nottingham next year and lead them back to the A group, but will also be on the board at the 2026 Olympic Games in their own country.

In just under 4 years, one or two dual citizens should be naturalized and be eligible to play for the hosts. ICEHL newcomer Asiago in particular has recently tried to provide numerous Italos with multi-year contracts in the hope of receiving financial support from the FISG - as announced a few months ago. “The rumor that Asiago is sponsored by the association is completely untrue. This season there will probably be no money for dual nationals because it simply doesn't exist,” assures Zisser.

The ice sports association has recently been in close contact with the state-owned company “Sport e salute” and has presented a project with a view to the 2026 Olympics. But because the Draghi government recently fell, a lot is currently hanging in the balance.

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There are two candidates for Ireland's successor

The next ice hockey winter is definitely coming. While the first clubs will start ice training in the next few days, the Italian ice sports association FISG has also been active in the past few weeks. At least when it comes to the offspring, the women and the dry training.

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