World Cup Analysis | Poor defense and lack of discipline

The Blue Team returned home early on Saturday morning from Nottingham via Manchester and Munich. Instead of the gold or silver medal, only the bronze medal was in the luggage of the players who had left the Motorpoint Arena with bowed heads the day before after the defeat against Great Britain.

National coach Mike Keenan's team was unable to completely convince in any of the five games. The two clear opening victories against Romania (6:2) and South Korea (6:1) belied the Azzurri's blatant weaknesses. At the latest after the 2:4 defeat against Poland, the hat was on fire. But by then it was already too late. Against the blatant outsiders Lithuania, who had to be relegated without a win, the Italians, peppered with eight dual nationals, struggled to a 6-4 win. In the end there was a 3:5 defeat against the hosts and the dream of promotion was shattered.

Larkin best defender “Great Britain played a great tournament. The home team deserved to win, hats off to them. The two teams that deserve it will be promoted. “We all have to look in the mirror and try to do better next time,” said Thomas Larkin after the final siren. The captain was his team's top scorer with five goals and was named the tournament's best defender. Ben Bowns (Great Britain) was honored as the best goalkeeper, while Krystian Dziubinski (Poland), who was also the tournament's top scorer with 11 points, was honored as the best striker.

“We came here to get gold, we wanted to win this thing. But unfortunately we had a few weaknesses at some point. We will improve and come back stronger,” Daniel Mantenuto encouraged himself and his teammates. The Italian-Canadian from HCB Südtirol led the team's internal scorer ranking with seven points together with his Bolzano colleague Luca Frigo.

Alex Trivellato & Co. clearly missed promotion. © Valentina Gallina/FISG

Italy's biggest weak point was their defense. In particular, goalkeeper Justin Fazio, who received Keenan's trust three times, was not the support he had hoped for. The Italian-Canadian was tested 63 times and had to defend himself ten times (average goals conceded per game: 3,37). A catch rate of only 84,13 percent is insufficient. But Fazio's front men also fell short of expectations and were very prone to errors. 16 goals conceded in five games are far too many for a promotion candidate. For comparison: Great Britain only conceded seven goals and Poland conceded nine.

Too many penalties In addition to the lack of defensive performance, Tommaso Traversa and Co.'s own discipline was their downfall. The referees imposed 59 penalty minutes against last year's relegated team. That's 11.48 minutes per game. Behind them were Poland with 43 and Lithuania with 42 minutes. The hosts, on the other hand, only received 18 penalty minutes (an average of 3.36 per game).

In addition to Fazio, Alex Petan in particular was a huge disappointment. The Italian-Canadian should actually have been the linchpin in the offensive department. Keenan should have known that, like Dante Hannoun, he is not a center forward. Nevertheless: Just one goal is far too little for the royal transfer from HC Pustertal. Of the 20 field players, 18 were able to enter the scorer ranking at least once. Only the two Asiago players Gregorio Gios and Michele Marchetti remained without a point.

The coaching team has to question itself But Keenan, who had five assistants at his side, was also unable to meet the expectations placed on him. The former Stanley Cup winner was unable to teach the team a game system. In addition, the special teams did not work as desired. All reasons that ultimately led to the disappointing performance and missed promotion.

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World Cup Analysis | Poor defense and lack of discipline

Immediate promotion back to the world group was the goal for the Italian national ice hockey team at the World Championships in Division I Group A in Nottingham. But nothing came of it. For the Azzurri, the tournament ended in disaster and great disappointment.

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