Brave Azzurri cut a good figure against Finland

One thing in advance: Italy could never hope for a sensation in Riga. The difference between the bravely fighting Azzurri and the Finns, who were superior in all respects, was too great. It was not to be expected that the Blue Team would annoy the reigning world champions so much and only lose 0-3. But in the end it was like that. And so, although they are still waiting for their first World Cup point, the Azzurri can look forward to their next game against Kazakhstan (Saturday at 11.15 a.m.) with their heads held high.

The game started exactly as the Finns had imagined. They put a lot of pressure on Justin Fazio and scored the reassuring lead early on. When Daniel Frank was in the penalty box for a petty whistled foul, defender Tony Sund fired an unstoppable slap shot into the net from the blue line. At this point around seven minutes had been played. Things got even better for the Scandinavians in 90 seconds when Niko Ojamäki outplayed Peter Spornberger on the blue line, stormed towards Fazio and played a perfect chip pass to Arttu Routsalainen. The latter had an easy time pushing it in – the score was 0-2 after 20 minutes. Frigo goal disallowed Even though the outsiders were hopelessly inferior, they didn't give up - on the contrary: the Azzurri fought back with all their might and made life difficult for Finland. The team around Alex Trivellato and Markus Gander, who replaced Sebastiano Soracreppa and Thomas Galimberti, were also rewarded for their tireless efforts: In the 24th minute, Luca Frigo deflected a Spornberger shot into the net. The follow-up goal? No, because the referee team decided after studying the video that the HCB crack had his blade too high. Even though it remained 2-0, the action was symbolic of the commitment of the Blue Team. It was only thanks to this effort that Finland only scored one more goal in the middle period: again it was the strong Sund who defeated Fazio with a Sunday shot into the corner (29th).

Daniel Frank & Co. gave it their all. © HHOF-IIHF Images

There was no more tension after this goal: Finland managed to keep the struggling Azzurri away from the goal in the final third. At the same time, the Scandinavians shifted down several gears in the game. This resulted in a babbling final third, which in no way detracted from the performance of De Bettin's troops. Now it's time for Italy to recover well, as their next game against Kazakhstan is on Saturday. Italy-Finland 0:3 Italy: Fazio (Fadani); Trivellato-Pietroniro, Spornberger-Glira, Casetti-Miglioranzi, Marchetti-Gios; Frank-Petan-Miceli, Frigo-Bardaro-Gander, Giliati-Andergassen-Hochkofler, Deluca-Pitschieler-Magnabosco Coach: De Bettin

Finland: Säteri (Juvonen); Koivisto Sound, Kaski-Määtä, Pokka-Ohtamaa, Nousiainen-Lindbohm; Anttila-Bjorninen-Maenalanen, Ojamäki-Lundell-Routsalainen, Pakarinen-Kontiola-Innala, Puutsinen-Tiivola-Sallinen Coach: Jalonen

Gates: 0:1 Sund (6.50), 0:2 Routsalainen (8.20), 0:3 Sund (28.33)

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Brave Azzurri cut a good figure against Finland

Italy suffered its fourth defeat in the fourth game against Finland at the Ice Hockey World Championships in Riga on Thursday evening, but still collected positive points with a courageous performance.

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