Italhockey, Italian national team call-ups for Budapest tournament

The technical staff of the Italian national team has made official the call-ups for the second round of the European Cup of Nations scheduled in Budapest Dec. 12-14. There are 29 (as in Poland) players selected for the Hungarian effort, included in the context of a roster that will have eight new faces compared to what was seen in Sosnowiec, none of whom are making their debut with the national team. The “measures” at home in Italy do not change, with three goalkeepers, ten defenders and sixteen forwards selected. This will be the last international commitment before the final convocations for the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics.

Andrea Gussoni

In the three goaliesselected we see again Damian Clara, who has played so many minutes (with even a shutout) in recent weeks at Brynäs and along with him here are Davide Fadani and Jacob Smith. The former had to miss the November commitments due to a physical problem now resolved, the latter returns to the national team after the last World Cup and has so far authored an excellent start to the season with the Wheeling Nailers of the ECHL (94.3% of savesin 8 games).

There are also two new additions to the defensive package compared to Sosnowiec. Back is Gregorio Gios, 26-year-old tezinofrom Asiago who had played his last matches in the Azzurri in friendly tests last season, and back is Phil Pietroniro. The latter, who had to skip the November challenges due to a physical problem, is back from a very good moment with his Rytiri Kladno in which he was able to make himself felt a lot at the level of realization as well. Along with them confirmed all the other players seen in Poland, with captain Thomas Larkin leading a block of full-backs who have long gravitated to the Azzurri such as Luca Zanatta, Alex Trivellato, Daniel Glira and Peter Spornberger.

In contrast, there are four differences among the forwards in the national staff’s choices. Two players who were unavailable in November for physical reasons, namely Pascal Brunner and Giovanni Morini, join the team: the young Bolzano forward and the experienced Lugano leader have been back regularly in recent weeks and will get a chance to show themselves. Along with them the other new additions are named Tommaso De Luca, returning to the Azzurri after a year, and Alex Ierullo, whose positive start with Val Pusteria brought him back to the national team as at the last World Cup. Present, then, are all the other players already seen in Poland with the Bolzano “block” (seven players chosen from the Foxes) to head the list with its firebrands such as Matt Bradley, Cristiano DiGiacintoand Dustin Gazley. In addition to Ierullothe Val Pusteria is represented by Mats Frycklund and Tommy Purdeller, with the latter already preconvened for the 2026 Winter Olympics. Six players are playing abroad, including experts Diego Kostner and Alex Petanand upstarts Marco Zanetti and Alessandro Segafredo.