Ben Bowns in goal for the British side repeatedly put a stop to the Azzurri. © FISG/Vanna Antonello

After the disaster: “We didn’t play badly”

Now things are getting dicey for Italy. After the debacle against Great Britain, the long-awaited promotion threatens to slip through their grasp again.

01 May 2025

From: do

This was a severe blow to the self-confidence of ice hockey Italy. After a certain sense of optimism prevailed on Wednesday following the dominant 4:1 victory against Poland, the Azzurri had to face the undefeated Great Britain has to accept a real disgraceA glance at the scoreboard after 1 minutes read 5:XNUMX – the lead in the table was gone, and with it the chance of promotion on their own. Assistant coach Stefan Mair answered questions from the media after the British thrashing.

"At the end of the day, the quick goals conceded in the first period and the first goal conceded in the second period made the difference." The experienced South Tyrolean ice hockey coach was certainly right. The Blue Team completely missed the start of the game and the beginning of the second period. First, it took only 32 seconds, then 42 seconds before Davide Fadani had to reach behind him. From that point on, the score was already 3-0 for the islanders.

Otherwise, the 57-year-old believes his team didn't play badly. Rather, he is concerned about the lack of efficiency of his forwards: "We didn't play badly, but we weren't able to capitalize on the numerous scoring opportunities we had. 33 shots to 17—that's not going to buy us anything. We need to become more efficient and capitalize on the power play as well."

With this result, Italy gave up the success of its mission to advance, as Mair commented: "Now we have to look ahead, win on Saturday at all costs and wait and see what the others do."

Italy hopes for a small miracle

So the fact is that Italy still has a chance of promotion, but a few things have to happen. As Mair said, the Blue Team must win against Romania, currently bottom of the table, on Saturday. Furthermore, one of the following two scenarios must occur: Great Britain loses to Poland, or Ukraine loses to Japan – in regular time. However, both the British and the Ukrainians are favorites in their respective matches, so it will take a small miracle.