Bitter World Cup slip-up: Italy beats itself

It could have been the preliminary decision: with a win against Poland, the door to an immediate return to the ice hockey world group would have been wide open. Instead, the Azzurri suffered a bitter 2-4 defeat at the World Cup in Nottingham (England) on Tuesday evening.

The outcome of this key game was bitter, on the one hand, because of the result. Due to the defeat against the promotion hopefuls from Poland, Alex Trivellato & Co. now have to win the remaining two games against Lithuania and the new league leaders Great Britain in order to move up in class. On the other hand, this Tuesday evening was bitter because of the performance shown.

Former NHL coach Mike Keenan's protégés disappointed in every respect. At the back they made inexplicable mistakes, at the front it was difficult to see any structured attack moves. The Azzurri acted largely without concept in the power game, but they scored two goals in the penalty kill. The key scenes Dropouts I Gregorio Gios shows a hair-raising lack of attention behind his own goal, allows the puck to be stolen from him and can only watch as it comes to Mateusz Michalski in front of the goal. He scores with a well-placed shot to make it 1-0 for Poland (6th). Trivellato's hammer Just 65 seconds after the score was 0-1, Alex Trivellato equalized with a hard-hitting shot. After Daniel Mantenuto won a face-off, the 30-year-old from St. Jakob didn't hesitate for long and scored into the corner of the cross (7th). Dropouts II Immediately after the first third siren, Tommaso Traversa allowed himself to be lured into a completely unnecessary reaction foul. He gives an opponent a light headbutt. The result? A match penalty, a five-minute shorthanded game and the 2-1 by Krystian Dziubinski (23rd). Tedesco's counterattack Italy equalizes again: England legionnaire Daniel Tedesco elegantly completes a clean counterattack to make it 2-2 (27th). However, it is just a flash in the pan. Dropouts III A hair-raising bad pass from Peter Spornberger, who had shone as an assist in the 2-2 draw, paves the way to 3-2. The Rittner defender plays directly to Dziubinski, whose shot is directed into the goal by Bartlomiej Jeziorski's leg guard (38th). In the final third, Grzegorz Pasiut increased the score to 4:2 in the power play (57th). However, not everything that the Blue Team showed in their third World Cup game was bad. Just two days after Damian Clara's strong performance in the 6-1 win against South Korea Justin Fazio also knew how to impress in goal. He is not to blame for the four goals conceded. The 31 shots fired also give reason for hope. However, there is no question: If Italy already on Wednesday (from 17 p.m. in SportNews -Ticker) meets underdog Lithuania, these goals must be achieved more often and at the same time the defensive lapses must be remedied, otherwise the mission of resurgence risks failing.

Italy – Poland 2:4 Italy: Fazio (Clara); Larkin-Spornberger, Pietroniro-Trivellato, Miglioranzi-Insam, Glira-Gios; Tedesco-Petan-Miceli, Zanetti-Mantenuto-Frigo, Brunner-Hannoun-Marchetti, Deluca-Traversa-McNally. Coach: Keenan

Poland: Murray (Miarka); Kruczek-Wajda, Kolusz-Ciura, Dronia-Kostek, Gorny-Jaskiewicz; Wronka-Pasiut-Fraszko, Dziubinski-Pas-Lyszczarczyk, Jeziorski-Walega-Zygmunt, Michalski-Starzynski-Galant. Coach: Bad luck

Referee: Hansen, Zrnic (Muzsik, Zgonc)

Gates: 0:1 Mateusz Michalski (5.23), 1:1Alex Trivellato (6.28), 1:2 Krystian Dziubinski (22.10), 2:2 Daniel Tedesco (26.35), 2:3 Bartlomiej Jeziorski (37.06), 2:4 Grzegorz Pasiut ( 56.53)

Viewers: 1318

The table: Pos Nation Games Points 1. Great Britain 3 8 2. Poland 3 7 3. Italy 3 6 4. South Korea 3 3 5. Romania 3 3 6. Lithuania 3 0

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Bitter World Cup slip-up: Italy beats itself

Italy's national ice hockey team suffered its first defeat at the 1st Division World Championship. And this hits the Blue Team to the core.

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