Ice hockey, Italy ready for anything to get back among the big boys

Having closed the training camp held at the Sparkasse Arena in Bolzano, the Italian national ice hockey team moves to Poland, to Sosnowiec, where in addition to training it will play a couple of friendlies against the home selection: the goal is to arrive at the World Cup in Division 1A in the best possible condition to achieve promotion to the Top Division.

“These are two matches that will give us the first indications, but what will matter afterwards is the World Cup – explained the blue Diego Kostner, starting his speech with the matches to be played on Friday at 6:30 pm and Saturday at 2:15 pm -. These have been very intense days of training: with one ice session and one athletic training session a day we also have time to recover the energy spent”.

“I see the whole team very motivated and that is extremely positive. The mindset is the right one” then concluded the’1992 class forward, who recently finished his ninth season in Switzerland, wearing the Ambrì-Piotta jersey. The goal for Kostner and the other Azzurri is to finish among the top two in the tournament that includes, in addition to Italy, Japan, Ukraine, Great Britain, Poland and Romania (the host).

The review, which will begin April 27 and end May 3, awards two spots for the Top Division: Italy has been missing from the top division since the 2022 World Championships, when in Finland the Azzurri finished with just one point in the standings, the result of an overtime loss to France. In the next two years, Italy finished third both times, only coming close to promotion.