The Azzurri celebrated so exuberantly. © Masi-GMT CIP

Landeros hat trick: Italy easily defeats Japan

Italy's national ice hockey team secured their second consecutive victory at the Paralympics in Milan on Thursday. The Azzurri are now aiming for fifth place.

March 13, 2026

From: leo

Alex Enderle and his teammates cruised to a 5-0 victory over Japan in the placement matches semifinals. This gives Italy the chance to finish fifth against Germany on Saturday. The hosts achieved this result previously in Beijing in 2022. The Germans are a familiar opponent, having defeated Mirko Bianchi's team 2-1 in the group stage.

Defender Nikko Landeros became the man of the match, scoring a hat trick. He opened the scoring after six and a half minutes with a powerful shot from the center of the ice, finding the back of the net. Before the end of the period, Landeros caused a stir again with a so-called Michigan goal.

It becomes clear

The game was effectively over when Roberto Radice and Sandro Kalegaris increased the lead to 4-0 in the second period. In the final period, the unmarked Landeros completed his hat trick. There was also great joy for 56-year-old Santino Stillitano, who kept a clean sheet and thus celebrated a shutout.

The Azzurri left nothing to chance. © Masi-GMT CIP

“What a satisfaction,” said Enderle after the match. “Japan proved to be a tough opponent. We had to stay focused until the very end to beat them. The support from our fans was fantastic once again. After the first two defeats, I almost felt guilty towards the fans, who never let us down despite everything and cheered us on from the first to the last moment of every game.”

Italy – Japan 5:0

ITA: Stillitano (Kasslatter); Enderle-Landeros, Macrì-Antiochi; Rosa-Larch-Depaoli, Kalegaris-Kafmann-Andreoni, Remotti Marnini-Radice-Torella.
coach: Mirko Bianchi

JPN: Horie (Okabe); Ishikawa-Sudo, Matsushita-Yoshikawa, Fukunishi; Niitsu Ito Ukai, Morisaki Kawahara Kumagai, Nasu Shioya Misawa.
coach: Kojin Nakakita

Gates: 1:0 Landeros (6.32), 2:0 Landeros (19.37), 3:0 Radice (26.28), 4:0 Kalegaris (28.01), 5:0 Landeros (44.33)