Across England to Finland: The Blue Team travels. © R. Bait / FISG
The Italian national ice hockey team makes one last and unusual stop before the World Cup in Finland. Selection coach Greg Ireland offers an explanation.
May 04, 2022
From: fop
“Here we can test against a first-class opponent and at the same time adapt our game to the smaller ice surface,” says the head coach from Canada. The Blues pitched their training tents on Wednesday in Coventry, England – a truly unusual place to wrap up World Cup preparations. However, the playing space there has the same dimensions as the World Cup stadium in Helsinki. “We don’t want to be surprised and that’s exactly why we’re planning this stop,” Ireland says.
The Azores will hold up to two training sessions per day at the Skydome in Coventry. There are also two friendlies against the hosts and the Great Britain World Cup match. The two teams meet in Milton Keynes on Thursday (8:30 p.m.) and face each other in Coventry on Tuesday.
McNally instead of Castleter
Brandon McNally, the rookie, will participate in two final rehearsals. The Italian-Canadian, who has played with Sterzing, Postertal and Asiago in the past, won the British Championship with Cardiff Devils on Saturday. He could be one of the 25 starters in the World Cup. The team currently consists of 28 players. Hannes Kesslater, who returned to Val Gardena before leaving for the island, is no longer with us.
Italy provisional squad for the World Cup
Goal: Andreas Bernard, Justin Fazio (Bolzano), David Fadani (Lugano / Switzerland)
defense: Lorenzo Cassetti, Cameron Genetti, Gregorio Gius, Enrico Miglioranzi (all Asiago), Daniel Gilera (Postertal), Peter Sporenberger (Schoeningen/Ger), Alex Trevelato (Bozen), Dylan de Berna (Ritten), Phil Petronero (Mulhouse/France)
attacks: Simon Berger, Ivan DeLuca, Dante Hanoun, Matthias Mantinger (all Postertal), Leonardo Felicity (Vasa), Daniel Frank, Luca Frigo, Marco Insam (all from Bosen), Simon Costner (Ritten), Marco Magnapusco, Daniel Mantenuto (both Asiago) ), Brandon McNally (Cardiff / Great Britain), Alex Petain (Fehervar / HUN), Marco Sana (Cortina), Tommaso Traversa (Sheffield / Great Britain)
Coach: Greg Ireland
Assistant coach: Giorgio de Petén, Diego Scandela, Larry Horace
Goalkeeper coach: Cameron MacDonald
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