Italhockey, clear victory in World Cup debut
Italhockey, results
It starts on the right foot Italy’s adventure at the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship 2024 Division I Group A in Bolzano. In front of 3,000 spectators at the Sparkasse Arena, the Azzurri won 6 to 1 against Romania in a match that was never in dispute and with plenty of chances built by the home team. Double for Salinitri, named best player for Italy. For Romania, goalkeeper Toke was in the spotlight. After the first day, three teams with full points: Italy, South Korea and Hungary.
Italy’s attack è marked by good offensive pressing. Lots of actions created by coach Mike Pelino’s lineup and thus a lot of work for goalkeeper Toke. On 5° the biggest of the chances with Tommaso De Luca, who, however, had to sit on the penalty bench shortly after. In the powerplay of the opponents, è Italy distinguished itself with a nice action Frank – Mantenuto. Numerical parity restored, again the home national team trying with a Gazley – Salinitri combination. There’è also Italy’s first superiority shortly after half time and Gazley again wise the reflexes of Toke who saves the result. Again the Romanian fullback starred with a save on Purdeller and then a Frigo post. At 17:03 Italy finally unlocks the score at the end of a heady action: after four shots in a row, there s the deflection of Salinitri on Seed s conclusion. Italy insists. Just 14 seconds before the first siren, there’è the winning rebound by Catenacci allowing the Azzurri to close on 2-0 the first fraction.
The period changes, but the substance of the game does not change with Italy leading the dances. On 25° great chance with Gazley opening for Catenacci but the striker’s shot, from close range, è parried by Toke. On the same play Italy earned a powerplay, but despite some good chances there was no scoring. On the contrary, in numerical inferiority è Romania halved the disadvantage after a mistake by Trivellato and the winning descent by Reszegh (26:15).
The opponents seem more enterprising and take to Bernard’s sides with more frequency. Italy responded with a shot by Amorosa from the blue. Another superiority for the home team does not change the result but allows the Azzurri to be dangerous again from Toke’s sides. The goal è in the air and came from a precise conclusion by Frank (35:27) who collected a stray puck and surprised the Romanian goalie at the first post. The end of the period è all of the Azzurri who play first and repeatedly come close to the fourth goal that comes 70 seconds from the central siren with a wild Salinitri (double) in a situation of numerical superiority.
In the third half Italy starts like a rocket and builds chance after chance. After the most clear-cut one by Salinitri, there’s the fifth blue goal by Marchetti who recovers a puck in the middle of the rink and scores on a counterattack (47:44). The home team also found the sixth goal with Diego Kostner who repeated in the slot into the net (51:27). The Blue Team, despite the substantial lead, continued to press on the accelerator but in the end the result did not change anymore with Italy winning 6:1.
