Italhockey brakes at World Cup, no goals and loss to Slovenia
Hockey, Senior National Team: Azzurri beaten by Slovenia at World Cup
Italy succumbs 0-2 to Slovenia on the third day of the 2024 IIHF World Championship Division I, Group A. The Balkan lineup came out on top with cynicism and with a Kroselj capable of hitting the first shutout of the entire tournament. With this result, Italy finds itself in third place behind Hungary, still the leader, but surprisingly defeated by Romania 1:2, and Slovenia itself, which rises to second place. Earlier, the Asian derby è was won by Japan, which moves up to fourth place after a 4:3 win over South Korea. The rainbow tournament continues on May 3. Italy will challenge Hungary in a very important match for the rankings.
The big-match of the day between Italy and Slovenia starts at a great pace. Mantenuto wises up Kroselj’s reflexes on a diagonal shot. Then the confrontation continues with continuous face-offs. After the first penalty against Italy (Mantinger, 2’ for hook with stick), Slovenia starts to get threatening in attack. Lots of work for Clara: Italy closes out the inferiority unscathed, and when back in numerical parity, Coach Pelino’s lineup has to fend off the Balkans’ good momentum. Right at halftime, Clara’s double save on Jezovsek’s shot and Bericic’s rebound. Slovenia always remains dangerous, particularly with a Masic diagonal, and then takes the lead with a Ticar trick from behind goal (15:52) finds the rebound on Pietroniro’s skate. The first half ended with the Slovenians’ minimal lead.
The middle period è much more balanced, with the two teams careful not to uncover themselves. Italy tried to show up more consistently in Kroselj’s sides: a nice action by Mantenuto, who flew towards the Slovenian goal, faded, while Insam tried a solution from the blue. The match heats up in the last 5’ games of the middle period. Mantenuto failed to find the winning touch from two steps after a shot by Frank, while Macuh failed to capitalize on a clear chance at goal. The Azzurri were proactive, but Slovenia remained ahead by one goal at the end of the first 40’.
The early stages of the third half are all in favor of the Azzurri, who besiege Kroselj’s goal and also earn the first superiority’ of the match. In the powerplay, Italy created some good chances: Slovenia found itself in trouble and Podlipnik saved a puck on the line. Numerical parity restored, the Balkans extend: Tomazevic opens for Kuralt who from close range makes it 2-0 Slovenian (44:08). The match remains tight. Italy tries to climb back up the slope and the favorable opportunity comes shortly after half time, when in numerical superiority the Azzurri crash on the wall erected by Kroselj. On the other side of the rink, Slovenia è close to the third marker with Mahkovec, dangerous under goal. Italy insisted. First Catenacci and then especially Salinitri came close to scoring the first goal for the Azzurri, who called time-out with 167 seconds left in the third siren and resumed play with the extra attacker. Italy also earned another superiority, but the result did not change anymore.
