Italy's national coach Jukka Jalonen has announced his personnel decisions. © Vanna Antonello

World Cup nomination surprise: Clara stays at home

This weekend, Italy's national ice hockey team begins its mission to advance at the B World Championships in Romania. The Azzurri have now announced the 23 players who will be participating. Several prominent players fell victim to the roster cuts.

23 April 2025

From: fop

On Wednesday morning, Italy's Ice Sports Federation announced the list of players who will compete with the Blue Team in the World Championships of the 1st Division (Group A) starting Sunday. Among them are six South Tyroleans. One of them, however, will stay at home (for now), namely the team's true star: Damian Clara.

The 20-year-old from Reischach, who is under contract with the NHL club Anaheim Ducks and played last season in Sweden, Finland, and the North American AHL, will serve as the third goalie, but will not initially travel to Romania. Clara is considered Italy's greatest ice hockey gem, but he hasn't been flawless recently. This was also the case at the last World Cup test on Tuesday in Bruneck.

Spornberger, Deluca and Brunner are missing

While Clara will travel to Italy if necessary, the World Cup dream has definitely been shattered for Peter Spornberger and Pascal Brunner from Bolzano, as well as Ivan Delcua from Pustertal. They, along with Asiago's Matteo Gennaro and HCB striker Anthony Salinitri, have been dropped from the squad. Among those competing at the World Cup are twelve naturalized Italians and South Tyroleans Alex Trivellato, Daniel Glira, Matthias Mantinger, Tommy Purdeller, and Diego Kostner.

Luca Frigo (right) and Italy will face Poland, among others, at the World Cup. © Vanna Antonello

It was already clear in advance that prominent players such as Tommaso De Luca (Ambrì-Piotta), Giovanni Morini (Lugano), Alessandro Segafredo (Zurich), and Alex Petan (Pustertal) would be missing. They are injured, are still playing with their clubs, or have not been given permission by their clubs.

Italy's national team will depart for Treviso on Thursday morning, where they will fly to Bucharest. They will then travel by bus 200 kilometers to Sfântu Gheorghe, where the Azzurri will play their five World Cup matches against Japan, Ukraine, Poland, Great Britain, and Romania starting Sunday.

Italy's World Cup squad

Goalkeeper: Davide Fadani (Ambrì-Piotta/SUI), Jake Smith (Esbjerg/DEN), Damian Clara (substitute – Anaheim/USA)

Defender: Dylan Di Perna, Jason Seed (both Bolzano), Daniel Glira, Luca Zanatta (both Pustertal), Thomas Larkin, Alex Trivellato (both Schwenningen/GER), Gregory Di Tomaso (Cortina), Phil Pietroniro (Kladno/CZE)

Striker: Luca Frigo, Dustin Gazley, Daniel Mantenuto, Nick Saracino (all Bolzano), Mikael Frycklund, Matthias Mantinger, Tommy Purdeller (all Pustertal), Alex Ierullo, Bryce Misley (both Asiago), Daniel Tedesco (Guildford/GBR), Diego Kostner (Ambrì-Piotta/SUI), Marco Zanetti (Lugano/SUI)

Coaching staff: Jukka Jalonen (Head Coach), Giorgio De Bettin, Stefan Mair, Diego Scandella (Assistant Coach), Thomas Tragust (Goalkeeper Coach), Mike Kader (Athletic Coach)

World Cup 1st Division (Group A) Schedule

Sunday April 27th: Japan – Italy (11.30:XNUMX a.m.*)
Monday, April 28th: Italy – Ukraine (11.30:XNUMX a.m.*)
Wednesday, April 30th: Poland – Italy (15.00 p.m.*)
Thursday, May 1th: Italy vs. Great Britain (11.30:XNUMX a.m.*)
Saturday, May 3th: Italy – Romania (15 p.m.*)

*All times in CEST