Ice hockey, Italy: major defection weighs on promotion dream

After a fine 4-1 win over Japan on Sunday, Italy came back down to earth on Monday with a shoot-out loss to Ukraine (3-2 final result) that could weigh in no small part on the economics of the Division 1A World Cup, which awards two spots for the 2026 Top Division. Tuesday is a rest day before the final rush, with the Azzurri also having to deal with a major defection, that of Mikael Frycklund.

The Val Pusteria forward, in fact, suffered against the Ukrainians a fractured malleolus in his right foot. As confirmed by the Italian Ice Sports Federation, the Swedish-born Azzurri will return to Italy for surgery and, therefore, will no longer be able to be part of the roster available to technical commissioner Jukka Jalonen.

In fact, the rules of the International Federation do not allow for running changes once the rainbow tournament begins.

Thus, 19 movement players remain at the disposal of the Finnish coach, who in addition to eight defenders will have to rotate eleven forwards on Wednesday against Poland, Thursday against Great Britain and Saturday in the challenge against hosts Romania.

What Italy is facing this year is the third Division 1A World Cup it has faced in a row: in both the 2023 edition in Nottingham and the 2024 edition in Bolzano, the national team finished third, leaving promotion in the first case to Great Britain and Poland (then relegated the following year) and in the second to Hungary and Slovenia.