Major Clara-Bock: Italy loses last World Cup test

Italy's national ice hockey team lost the dress rehearsal for the B World Championship in Romania. However, the result of the test in Bruneck was secondary. The main focus was on two men who are the pride of the Pustertal Valley's ice hockey team.

22 April 2025

From the Intercable Arena in Bruneck

From:
Alexander Foppa

The nearly 1.000 spectators had come primarily for him, who had never played a single game at the Intercable Arena. Italy's most valuable ice hockey gem: goaltender Damian ClaraHowever, the 20-year-old from Reischach could not prevent Italy's 2-4 defeat against Slovenia.

Worse still, the Azzurri star played a key role in his team's two defeats in three World Cup preseason games heading into the tournament. Clara clearly had to take the blame for the second goal. The goalie, who plays for the Anaheim Ducks and played in Sweden, Finland, and the North American AHL last season, attempted to snag a puck with his stick in the 33rd minute, but shoveled it over the line himself. This put Italy on the losing path.

Azzurri only really strong towards the end

However, the defeat cannot be blamed solely on Clara. The Blue Team repeatedly showed good approaches, combining well at times, but they were far too error-prone to score anything significant against the higher-class Slovenians, who secured promotion to the elite division last year in Bolzano. Gaps repeatedly appeared in defense, and their attacking mechanisms weren't yet fully working.

And what about Pustertal’s second big ice hockey star, Tommy PurdellerThe HCP striker was named Rookie of the Year in the ICE Hockey League before the game. Afterward, he played diligently on the ice as usual, but was unlucky in the final stages.

Who can come along and who has to go home?

Purdeller and Clara have certainly secured their seats on the plane when Italy's national team departs Treviso for Romania on Thursday. This is not yet the case for many other stars. Head coach Jukka Jalonen, along with his coaching staff and the Ice Hockey Federation officials, will announce the 20 field players and three goaltenders who will represent Italy at the World Championships by Wednesday afternoon. A handful of players will still be cut from the squad. No one really made a name for themselves on Tuesday.

The Italian line of Bryce Misley, Alex Ierullo, and goal scorer Nick Saracino combined well to temporarily tie the score at 1-1 (18th minute). They made up for a mistake by Mikael Frycklund, who had signaled Slovenia's 1-0 lead by losing the puck at the blue line (4th minute). However, the visitors were so dominant that Matic Torok deservedly made it 3-1 with a hidden shot (46th minute). Italy's best phase then began. However, they were unable to get any closer than a 2-3 tie with a powerful shot from Dylan DiPerna (50th minute). In the closing seconds, Filip Sitar sealed the final score at 4-2.

Italy - Slovenia 2:4

Italy: Clara (Fadani); Glira-Larkin, Zanatta-Pietroniro, Trivellato-Di Tomaso, Di Perna-Seed; Tedesco-Frycklund-Purdeller, Ierullo-Misley-Saracino, Frigo-Mantenuto-Gazley, Mantinger-Kostner-Zanetti, Brunner.
Coach: Jalonen

Slovenia: Pintaric (Dukaric); Magovac-Cepon, Podlipnik-Golicic, Podrekar-Stebih, Rep-Smolnikar; Zezelj-Sitar-Drozg, Sever-Torok-Jezovsek, Crnkic-Marn-Langus, Petrovic-Povse-Bukovec.
Coach: Terglav

Gates: 0:1 Anze Zezelj (3.11), 1:1 Nick Saracino (17.52), 1:2 Miha Stebih (32.07), 1:3 Matic Torok (45.04), 2:3 Dylan DiPerna (49.34), 2:4 Filip Sitar (59.44)

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