Victory in the penalty thriller: Italy stays in class!

What a finale! After a disappointing and pointless tournament to date, Italy and Austria fought a battle to stay in the league that was hard to beat in terms of excitement. This was only decided in the penalty shootout, when Bernard outgrew himself and his teammates used a lot of nerve in front of the goal to secure the first, all-important World Cup victory. The Azzurri ended up winning 4-3. To Austria last year and a few hours before Great Britain Italy is only the third promoted team in 3 years to not immediately be relegated.

The final game to stay in the league began exactly as the men in white and blue wanted: In the 10th minute, HCB newcomer Anthony Bardaro outplayed an opponent and shot the disc into the top corner.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=VrsX_9dL7qA

For the first time in this tournament, Italy took the lead. However, this only lasted 2 minutes before Finland legionnaire Manuel Ganahl used a rebound to equalize. The Beddoes protégés tried to defend themselves promptly, but conceded their second goal before the break. This time it was NHL star Michael Raffl who went around goalkeeper Andreas Bernard and made it 2-1.

While the Azzurri had already shown their best performance of the tournament up to that point, they picked up the pace again halfway through the game and were now putting Austria in trouble every minute. Before the second break, they finally rewarded themselves with a brace: in the 35th minute, Simon Kostner hit the mark from the slot after an exemplary pass from Miceli. This was the first goal by a South Tyrolean in the current competition and at the same time the first goal for the native of Val Gardena at an A World Cup. Just 1 turns of the pointer after Kostner's 1:4, veteran Marco Rosa brought Italy into the lead for the second time that evening with a single action.

Goalie Andreas Bernard showed his entire class – not just in the penalty shootout. © AFP / VLADIMIR SIMICEK

After the break in the second period, the cold shower followed: Philadelphia striker Raffl grabbed the target again, held his own against Simon Kostner, who was unable to play in this scene, and made it 2:3. Immediately afterwards, Bardaro missed a double chance before Bernard was forced to make a spectacular save when he was outnumbered on the other side. He saved Italy in overtime. This was just 3 minutes old when ÖEHV striker Konstantin Komarek failed to put the disc into the empty goal. Rosa missed Italy's best chance in a one-on-one with goalie David Kickert. Azzurri with nerves of steel The score remained 3:3 and so it came to the ultimate nail-biter, the penalty shootout. Komarek and Rauchwald on the one hand and Miceli and Rosa on the other remained ice cold. When Rauchwald started a second time, Bernard stood in front of him and defended himself. Then Sean McMonagle took the Italians' 2th penalty - and scored! The Azzurri's relegation was perfect and Austria's relegation was sealed.

>>> You can read the entire game here in our live ticker Group B

Austria - Italy 3: 4 nP Austria: Kickert (Starkbaum); Pallestrang-Heinrich, Schumnig-Unterweger, Schlacher-Strong, Peter; Schneider-Herburger-Thomas Raffl, Hofer-Komarek-Michael Raffl, Haudum-Rauchenwald-Zwerger, Cijan-Ganahl-Hundredpfund, Obrist

Italy: Bernard (De Filippo Roia); Hofer-Trivellato, McMonagle-Helfer, Tauferer-Zanatta, Pavlu-Marchetti; Gander-Andergassen-Traversa, Bardaro-Kostner-Miceli, Insam-Rosa-Ramoser, Hochkofler-Lambacher-Deluca

Gates: 1:0 Anthony Bardaro (9.59), 1:1 Manuel Ganahl (11.25), 1:2 Michael Raffl (16.08), 2:2 Simon Kostner (34.35), 3:2 Marco Rosa (38.57), 3:3 Michael Raffl (41.45), 3:4 Sean McMonagle (decisive penalty)

Sweden - Latvia 5:4 Gates: 1:0 Pettersson (10.15), 1:1 Bukarts (29.35), 2:1 Kempe (33.38), 2:2 Bukarts (41.11), 2:3 Jaks (43.42), 3:3 Lander (49.00), 4: 3 Hornqvist (50.09), 4:4 Bukarts (56.36), 5:4 Rasmussen (59.26) Pos Country Games Points 1. Russia 6 18 2. Czechia 6 15 3. Sweden 6 15 4. Switzerland 6 12 5. Latvia 6 6 6. Norway 6 6 7. Italy 7 2 8. Austria 7 1 Group A

France - Great Britain 4:5nV Gates: 1:0 Rech (23.36), 2:0 Treille (27.31), 3:0 Rech (27.37), 3:1 Dowd (34.59), 3:2 Hammond (38.04), 3:3 Farmer (45.16), 3: 4 Davies (62.03) Canada - Denmark 5:0 Gates: 1-0 Dubois (1.00), 2-0 McCann (6.06), 3-0 Marchessault (8.23), 4-0 Reinhart (33.53), 5-0 Reinhart (44.38)

Pos Country Games Points 1. Finland 6 16 2. Canada 6 15 3. USA 6 14 4. Germany 6 12 5. Slovakia 6 9 6. Denmark 6 5 7. Great Britain 7 3 8. France 7 1

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Victory in the penalty thriller: Italy stays in class!

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