“We failed”: The tough Zisser balance sheet

The Blue Team set off for Latvia with great expectations. In the end, Italy was far from being able to fulfill this goal: three games, three defeats, only one goal scored. These are the numbers that reflect the modest achievements. Zisser finds clear words about this - and says whether the tournament will have personnel consequences.

How big is the disappointment after missing the Olympic qualification?

“The disappointment is huge. We focused the work in our 4-year program on this one tournament and after the first 60 minutes we already understood that we had missed our goal. That is very bitter. After all, we all believed in qualifying for the Olympics. Maybe we - including me - were too naive to believe it and didn't face reality. It's quite possible that 10 days of preparation wasn't enough. Latvia and France, for example, started preparing for the tournament in mid-July.”

The Italian ice sports association FISG has high hopes for participation in the Olympics. Will there be consequences now? "I don't know that. After all, it's not me who decides. If the association leadership believes that Greg Ireland is the wrong coach and I am the wrong sports director, then I have to accept that. I can only emphasize that Greg did a good job and put his heart and soul into it. He tried everything in the last game too. Unfortunately it wasn't enough to win. In my opinion, a change of coach does little good. After all, it is the players on the ice who are successful or not. Unfortunately we don't have any better players. That’s why we shouldn’t expect miracles.”

Daniel Frank & Co. had no chance.

Italy didn't score a goal in their first 2 games. At the end against Hungary it worked with the first and only goal. What is your analysis of the last game? “There was a slight upward trend compared to the other two games. Nevertheless, there was once again no sense of success. We had good chances, but somehow the puck didn't want to go into the goal. The bottom line is that Hungary has also shown us its limits. A single goal is usually not enough. Unfortunately, the opposing teams are often better than your own.”

Italy have lost all of their last 14 games. How much does that give you pause? “This is a catastrophic result and gives me a headache. I feel particularly sorry for the players. After such a negative series, they lack any self-confidence and belief in themselves. In such moments, you come to the point where you accept defeat and surrender to fate. For some players it was their last chance to take part in the Olympics.”

Despite everything, do you also take any positive aspects home with you from Riga? "Actually not. It may be true that the team spirit and fighting spirit were right. But that wasn't enough. Everyone needs to look in the mirror and question their own performance. We just weren’t good enough and failed.”

You could see with the naked eye that the ice surface in the Riga Arena was smaller. How did the players react to that? “It wasn't easy for her. The field was 60 meters long, but only 26 meters wide and therefore 4 meters narrower. It was incomprehensible to all of us because the Olympic Games take place on Olympic ice. Neither we nor France and Hungary knew anything about the smaller ice surface. But that shouldn’t be an excuse: we probably would have lost all three games anyway.”

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“We failed”: The tough Zisser balance sheet

Italy's national ice hockey team missed out on Olympic qualification (as expected). After the tournament in Riga, the Azzurri's sting runs deep - including sports director Stefan Zisser's.

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