Justin Fazio had his hands full. © HHOF-IIHF Photo

Italy suffered its fourth defeat in its fourth game against Finland at the World Ice Hockey Championship in Riga on Thursday night, but with a brave appearance they still scored extra points.

27. May 2021

First of all: Italy could not hope to make a big fuss in Riga. The difference between the brave fighter Azzurri and the superior Finns in all respects was very large. The blue team wasn’t expected to bother the world champions much and only lose 3-0. In the end it was like this. Thus, although they are still waiting for their first point in the World Cup, they can look forward to the next match against Kazakhstan (Saturday 11:15 am) with their heads held high.

The game started just as the Finns imagined. They put a lot of pressure on Justin Fazio and scored the comfortable opening goal early on. When Daniel Frank was in the penalty area for a whistling foul, defender Tony Sound slammed into the net from the blue line. At this point, about seven minutes were played. For the Scandinavians, things improved in the 90 seconds when Niko Ojamaki beat Peter Spornberger on the blue line, dashing towards Fazio and giving Arto Rötsalainen a perfect pass. The latter had an easy match on input – it was 0: 2 after 20 minutes.

Frego hit denied

Although the outsider was hopelessly inferior, he did not give up – rather, on the contrary: the Azuri withstood all means and made life difficult for Finland. The team surrounding Alex Trevellato and Marcus Gander, who replaced Sebastiano Surakriba and Thomas Gallimberti, were also rewarded for their tireless efforts: in the 24th minute, Luca Frejo forged an indefensible Spornberger shot into the net. Contact hit? No, because the referees team decided after studying the video that the HCB scoop was too high. Even if he stayed 2-0, the measure was symbolic of the Blue team’s commitment. Thanks to this effort alone, Finland scored only one more goal in the middle division: once again, it was the powerful Sund who defeated Fazio with a shot in the corner on Sunday (29).

Daniel Frank & Co. gave it all. © HHOF-IIHF Photo

There was no further tension after this goal: Finland managed to push the Azzurri from the penalty area in the final third. Meanwhile, Scandinavia has shifted several gears in the game. This resulted in a wavy third trimester, which in no way detracted from De Bettin’s performance. It is now important for Italy to recover well, as the next match will be against Kazakhstan on Saturday.

Italy 0-3 Finland

Italy: Fazio (acd); Trivellato-Pietroniro, Spornberger-Glira, Casetti-Miglioranzi, Marchetti-Gios; Frank Petan Messili, Frigo Bardaro Gander, Gilliati-Underergasseen-Hochkofler, DeLuca-Bechiller-Magnabusco
Coach: De Peten

Finland: SATRI (Juvonen); Koivisto-Sund, Kaski-Määtä, Pokka-Ohtamaa, Nousiainen-Lindbohm; Anttila-Bjorninen-Maenalanen, Ojamäki-Lundell-Routsalainen, Pakarinen-Kontiola-Innala, Puutsinen-Tiivola-Sallinen
Coach: 2 gallons

rip: 0: 1 Sunday (6.50), 0: 2 Routsalainen (8.20), 0: 3 Sunday (28.33)

Author: Liu