photo: Vito
The final game of the IIHF U18 Worlds DIIA pitted an undefeated host Italy against an undefeated Great Britain, with the latter having entered the final contests without having allowed a goal against all tournament long.
Put shortly, you couldn’t have scripted a better way to wrap up a tournament!
With roughly 1600 spectators in attendance the night before Easter Sunday, it was clear that hockey night in Asiago was on, and the game proved to be everything those in attendance could wish for.
Both teams entered the contest playing the kind of test and prod hockey that showed that neither wanted to be guilty of making the first mistake. Great Britain likely had the better part of puck possession and even threw the better share of hits over the first 10 minutes of play, also getting several good looks during a powerplay in the sixth minute of play in which one Italian defender lost his stick for a good portion of the penalty kill.
Unfortunately for the red, white, and blue, key contributor Jordan O’Brien had to leave the game with a lower body leg injury after a collision in his zone shortly after the 11 minute mark, when Italian forward Samuele Trenti seemed to want to take issue with O’Brien having checked him into a stanchion just moments before.
This altercation certainly didn’t lead to the contest becoming any less intense.
Despite a close call when a Robert Hendeson shot off the rush beat Italian goalie Filippo Mantonti only to then hit the post, the first period would end scoreless, meaning Great Britain had played 13 straight periods of hockey without letting in a single goal against.
The second period picked up right where the first period left off, but over the first 10 minutes of play, it became more and more noticeable that Italy was enjoying more offensive zone time and creating more high-quality chances. Then it finally happened at minute 29:02, when Lorenzo Ferretti picked up the puck in his own zone, raced down the ice, and then fed linemate Matia Lenta with a crisp cross-ice pass, who proceeded to wrist a rocket of a shot over the far shoulder of goaltender Alfie Blakeley.
The dam had been broken.
And is often the case when any team is as dominant defensively as Great Britain had been throughout this event, that first goal against changed everything.
Not even two minutes later, a puck that was sent into the British slot and then batted around a couple of times, ended up on the stick of Villi Pisetta, who wristed in his first goal (and first point since a 4-assist outing on the tournament’s opening night), giving Italy the 2-0 lead at 30:51.
An ensuing timeout by Great Britain failed to bring the desired effect as only 45(!) seconds later, Italy broke in on what was essentially a 2-on-1 break seeing Leo Kruselburger slide a perfect pass over to Philipp Winkler, who simply tipped the puck in past a diving Blakeley.
The entire outlook of the game had changed within less than three minutes.
But there’d be no giving up. Several failed breakout attempts by the Italian side combined with some heavy English forechecking had the puck mired around the Italian goal. It didn’t take long until Noah Kaariainen would find captain Brynley Capps right next to the right side of the goal for a tap-in, bringing about a rather large cheer from the stands, showing just how many in attendance were rooting for the young men from the British Isles.
The third period would continue to showcase plenty of careful hockey and a decrease in passing through the neutral zone, with players on both sides more interested in carrying the puck and getting it deep.
Then, at 50:01 of the final frame, Italian captain Josef Prast marched the puck from one side of the ice to the other, sent a shot on goal and then battled behind Great Britain’s net to regain the rebound and head back out front where he unleashed what looked to be a rather harmless shot through traffic and it found its way in, giving the Azzuri a commanding 4-1 lead with less than 10 minutes to play.
This only invigorated the Italians, who continued to keep the pressure on their opponent.
There was a blemish along the way when Italian defender Noah Frick put an impressively heavy check on a puck-carrier behind the Italian goal only to push the puck straight to the forechecking Louie Kynaston, who quickly found Daragh Spawforth wide open in the slot, leading to a deft one-timer being deposited behind Mantonti.
It would all prove to be too little, too late. Pulling the goalie with just under two minutes left in the game, the puck did remain in the Italian zone for a good portion of time, save for one wide open empty-net opportunity that saw the puck strangely skip over the Italian forward’s stick just as he wanted to shoot it.
All in all, a last scurry around the Italian net accompanied the final buzzer and the Italians rushed onto the ice with sticks, gloves, and helmets flying through the air in a shower of blue.
Promotion had been gained by an Italian host that went 5-0 to earn its way back into the U18 D1A.
What nation it will replace will be determined next week in Hungary.
Setting the stage
It seemed likely that the path to the final for host Italy may not be all too heavily contested after the team followed a 6-1 victory over the Netherlands with a 6-0 shutout of Romania. More interesting was that whereas Rocco Meneghetti (3-1-4) and Pisetta (0-4-4) set the pace in Game 1, they were nowhere to be found on the scoreboard of Game 2, where Noah Frick (2-0-2) and Philipp Winkler (1-1-2) were the only multipoint scorers in the contest.
But things got a whole lot more difficult when Croatia took their Adriatic neighbors to the brink of overtime, had it not been for an Alessandro Parco goal in the 56th minute of play to give Italy a 3-2 lead, which also ended up being the final score. The Azzuri followed that up by taking a commanding 3-0 lead over China in Game 4, but didn’t really bottle up this victory until Raffael Nitz put in the 4th and final goal of the contest 1:17 into the third period. What followed was a valiant defensive effort to wrap up a 4-2 win over the tournament’s one non-European participant.
As for Great Britain, their march to the all-decisive final gameday was paved by one shoutout after another. A 3-0 victory over Croatia was followed by an oh so tight 1-0 win over the Netherlands. These victories were topped by two more 3-0 results against China and Romania. An iron wall of defense could not be broken and almost astoundingly, this was achieved by a mighty “duo” in goal. Alfie Blakeley and Benjamin Clark Leach split goaltending duties, each collecting two shutouts and thus, two wins along the way. If anything, Blakeley had a bit more to do in stopping 76 shots as opposed to Clark Leach’s 61 saves.
This set up a widely anticipated final.
Looking forward to next year
For China, Croatia, and Romania, there were plenty of things to build on now that the dust has settled.
China clearly headed to Asiago intending to be a surprise player. Four points in the first two games showed that the Chinese were going to be in the thick of things. They then played a tied game for 35 minutes before Great Britain broke things open and then were only down 3-2 after 41 minutes of play against Italy before the Italians put their defensive game in overdrive. A couple of bounces here or there could have seen the Asian contestant enter the final day of gameplay with a promotion on the line. Alas, the team settled with a strong 3rd place finish on the back of a 2-1-2 record, which served as a strong warning for next year’s playing field.
Special teams was the name of the game for Croatia, which finished the tournament with the top powerplay, which clipped at 24% (6 goals on 25 attempts) while only allowing one goal against (ironically in the final game against Romania) over 14 shorthanded situations. This had them just behind Great Britain for the best penalty killing in the tournament. The team from the Adriatic also had the best overall scoring efficiency. Ultimately, the loss to Great Britain was sealed when an empty net goal capped things off while defeating China in the shootout showed that the team could deal with adversity, having given up a 3-0 lead in the game. The circumstances surrounding the late goal permitted in the 3-2 loss against host Italy hurt but the overall competitiveness gave the team the confidence to explode in its 6-2 win over the Netherlands.
“Our primary goal was retaining the class, but we had our chances to play for a medal,” explained Croatian coach Marko Sakic, who not only coaches the country’s U20 selection as well but also works professionally for the Lindau Islanders, one of Germany’s most unexpectedly successful Oberliga teams that is widely seen as on the rise in Germany’s scene.
Romania entered the tournament knowing that staving off elimination was the main goal. Its 6-2 win over the Netherlands was an absolute highlight for the program and both the 4-1 loss to China and 3-0 loss to Great Britain were first really decided in the third periods, showing that Romania was able to hang with the more established opponents. By the time the final gameday rolled around, the team knew it had left the Dutch side behind, no matter what would unfold against Croatia, which it managed to beat in overtime when Matei Bolocan scored his 4th tally of the tournament at the 1:05 mark of the extra frame.
Going home disappointed
For the Netherlands, the performance at this tournament was one that showed there is still much to work on. Despite bringing a number of players who are already getting their feet wet in a lower-level pro division or who play their junior hockey in North America or countries like Germany and Slovakia, the team was only able to show bouts of the play necessary to retain the class. Despite a valiant effort against the favorites from Great Britain, a 1-0 loss, the holes in the backend couldn’t be masked in the 6-1 loss to Italy and the 6-2 losses to both Croatia and Romania. The team’s fate was all but sealed as it headed into the final day of play against China, to whom the Dutch suffered a 4-2 loss despite a 1-1 tie after the first period.
Tournament resonance
For many of the participants, this was their first time visiting and playing in Asiago, Italy, a scenic little southern Alpine town located about as far away from the Austrian and Swiss borders as it is from Venice. As such, they got to experience a widely unknown corner of the hockey world, but one that adores and celebrates its hockey with a passion.
“Asiago is a little town that lives for hockey,” pointed out Sakic. “You could see it all around town and plenty of pubs and restaurants were adorned with jerseys, pictures, and sticks of all sorts. The ice rink was wonderful, and the Italian federation did a fantastic job organizing the whole event.”
The event also pointed out a rather hardline reality with the state of youth hockey in countries such as Croatia, the Netherlands, and Romania, namely that despite various levels of pro play in each nation, the national teams require their best players to gain experience abroad.
“Our young players need to play a lot more. And they need better competition. Without that, they won’t be able to take the next step and neither will we,” confessed Sakic when taking the opportunities many of his young players have in Croatia into consideration. “A number of our players have headed to foreign countries, as I did myself along the way. It seems to be the only way to go just now if you want to achieve something.”
For Italy, which featured a good number of players with pro AlpsHL experience or time spent in countries like Sweden and Germany, as well as Great Britain, whose line-up consisted of players already gaining pro experience in the British NIHL or NIHL2 pro circuits or abroad in North America, this a lesson they’ve spent many years learning while each nation’s federation has hit a point where it began placing a greater emphasis on the development of homegrown players.
Top performers
The aforementioned Blakeley and Clark Leach were the outstanding performers in the tournament, proving to be statistically dominant in goal - and it wasn’t even close heading into the final day of play. For Blakeley, who got the nod in goal against Italy, his overall stats took a turn for the worse, ultimately allowing 4 goals against in his final outing, which still meant he finished a good bit ahead of the next in line, China’s netminder Yinghao Tang, in GAA (1.35 to 2.00) and save percentage (96.58% to 92.54%).
Interestingly, scoring in general was spread out pretty widely among contributors throughout the rosters of just about every team finishing in the top 5. Ultimately, Croatia’s Alic Bruno (2-6-8) and Matko Idzan (5-1-6) were the tournament’s top scoring forwards while Italy’s top scorer Josef Prast led all tournament defensemen with 5-1-6 himself.
Italian defender Noah Frick led the tournament with a +11 rating.
Put shortly, you couldn’t have scripted a better way to wrap up a tournament!
With roughly 1600 spectators in attendance the night before Easter Sunday, it was clear that hockey night in Asiago was on, and the game proved to be everything those in attendance could wish for.
Both teams entered the contest playing the kind of test and prod hockey that showed that neither wanted to be guilty of making the first mistake. Great Britain likely had the better part of puck possession and even threw the better share of hits over the first 10 minutes of play, also getting several good looks during a powerplay in the sixth minute of play in which one Italian defender lost his stick for a good portion of the penalty kill.
Unfortunately for the red, white, and blue, key contributor Jordan O’Brien had to leave the game with a lower body leg injury after a collision in his zone shortly after the 11 minute mark, when Italian forward Samuele Trenti seemed to want to take issue with O’Brien having checked him into a stanchion just moments before.
This altercation certainly didn’t lead to the contest becoming any less intense.
Despite a close call when a Robert Hendeson shot off the rush beat Italian goalie Filippo Mantonti only to then hit the post, the first period would end scoreless, meaning Great Britain had played 13 straight periods of hockey without letting in a single goal against.
The second period picked up right where the first period left off, but over the first 10 minutes of play, it became more and more noticeable that Italy was enjoying more offensive zone time and creating more high-quality chances. Then it finally happened at minute 29:02, when Lorenzo Ferretti picked up the puck in his own zone, raced down the ice, and then fed linemate Matia Lenta with a crisp cross-ice pass, who proceeded to wrist a rocket of a shot over the far shoulder of goaltender Alfie Blakeley.
The dam had been broken.
And is often the case when any team is as dominant defensively as Great Britain had been throughout this event, that first goal against changed everything.
Not even two minutes later, a puck that was sent into the British slot and then batted around a couple of times, ended up on the stick of Villi Pisetta, who wristed in his first goal (and first point since a 4-assist outing on the tournament’s opening night), giving Italy the 2-0 lead at 30:51.
An ensuing timeout by Great Britain failed to bring the desired effect as only 45(!) seconds later, Italy broke in on what was essentially a 2-on-1 break seeing Leo Kruselburger slide a perfect pass over to Philipp Winkler, who simply tipped the puck in past a diving Blakeley.
The entire outlook of the game had changed within less than three minutes.
But there’d be no giving up. Several failed breakout attempts by the Italian side combined with some heavy English forechecking had the puck mired around the Italian goal. It didn’t take long until Noah Kaariainen would find captain Brynley Capps right next to the right side of the goal for a tap-in, bringing about a rather large cheer from the stands, showing just how many in attendance were rooting for the young men from the British Isles.
The third period would continue to showcase plenty of careful hockey and a decrease in passing through the neutral zone, with players on both sides more interested in carrying the puck and getting it deep.
Then, at 50:01 of the final frame, Italian captain Josef Prast marched the puck from one side of the ice to the other, sent a shot on goal and then battled behind Great Britain’s net to regain the rebound and head back out front where he unleashed what looked to be a rather harmless shot through traffic and it found its way in, giving the Azzuri a commanding 4-1 lead with less than 10 minutes to play.
This only invigorated the Italians, who continued to keep the pressure on their opponent.
There was a blemish along the way when Italian defender Noah Frick put an impressively heavy check on a puck-carrier behind the Italian goal only to push the puck straight to the forechecking Louie Kynaston, who quickly found Daragh Spawforth wide open in the slot, leading to a deft one-timer being deposited behind Mantonti.
It would all prove to be too little, too late. Pulling the goalie with just under two minutes left in the game, the puck did remain in the Italian zone for a good portion of time, save for one wide open empty-net opportunity that saw the puck strangely skip over the Italian forward’s stick just as he wanted to shoot it.
All in all, a last scurry around the Italian net accompanied the final buzzer and the Italians rushed onto the ice with sticks, gloves, and helmets flying through the air in a shower of blue.
Promotion had been gained by an Italian host that went 5-0 to earn its way back into the U18 D1A.
What nation it will replace will be determined next week in Hungary.
Setting the stage
It seemed likely that the path to the final for host Italy may not be all too heavily contested after the team followed a 6-1 victory over the Netherlands with a 6-0 shutout of Romania. More interesting was that whereas Rocco Meneghetti (3-1-4) and Pisetta (0-4-4) set the pace in Game 1, they were nowhere to be found on the scoreboard of Game 2, where Noah Frick (2-0-2) and Philipp Winkler (1-1-2) were the only multipoint scorers in the contest.
But things got a whole lot more difficult when Croatia took their Adriatic neighbors to the brink of overtime, had it not been for an Alessandro Parco goal in the 56th minute of play to give Italy a 3-2 lead, which also ended up being the final score. The Azzuri followed that up by taking a commanding 3-0 lead over China in Game 4, but didn’t really bottle up this victory until Raffael Nitz put in the 4th and final goal of the contest 1:17 into the third period. What followed was a valiant defensive effort to wrap up a 4-2 win over the tournament’s one non-European participant.
As for Great Britain, their march to the all-decisive final gameday was paved by one shoutout after another. A 3-0 victory over Croatia was followed by an oh so tight 1-0 win over the Netherlands. These victories were topped by two more 3-0 results against China and Romania. An iron wall of defense could not be broken and almost astoundingly, this was achieved by a mighty “duo” in goal. Alfie Blakeley and Benjamin Clark Leach split goaltending duties, each collecting two shutouts and thus, two wins along the way. If anything, Blakeley had a bit more to do in stopping 76 shots as opposed to Clark Leach’s 61 saves.
This set up a widely anticipated final.
Looking forward to next year
For China, Croatia, and Romania, there were plenty of things to build on now that the dust has settled.
China clearly headed to Asiago intending to be a surprise player. Four points in the first two games showed that the Chinese were going to be in the thick of things. They then played a tied game for 35 minutes before Great Britain broke things open and then were only down 3-2 after 41 minutes of play against Italy before the Italians put their defensive game in overdrive. A couple of bounces here or there could have seen the Asian contestant enter the final day of gameplay with a promotion on the line. Alas, the team settled with a strong 3rd place finish on the back of a 2-1-2 record, which served as a strong warning for next year’s playing field.
Special teams was the name of the game for Croatia, which finished the tournament with the top powerplay, which clipped at 24% (6 goals on 25 attempts) while only allowing one goal against (ironically in the final game against Romania) over 14 shorthanded situations. This had them just behind Great Britain for the best penalty killing in the tournament. The team from the Adriatic also had the best overall scoring efficiency. Ultimately, the loss to Great Britain was sealed when an empty net goal capped things off while defeating China in the shootout showed that the team could deal with adversity, having given up a 3-0 lead in the game. The circumstances surrounding the late goal permitted in the 3-2 loss against host Italy hurt but the overall competitiveness gave the team the confidence to explode in its 6-2 win over the Netherlands.
“Our primary goal was retaining the class, but we had our chances to play for a medal,” explained Croatian coach Marko Sakic, who not only coaches the country’s U20 selection as well but also works professionally for the Lindau Islanders, one of Germany’s most unexpectedly successful Oberliga teams that is widely seen as on the rise in Germany’s scene.
Romania entered the tournament knowing that staving off elimination was the main goal. Its 6-2 win over the Netherlands was an absolute highlight for the program and both the 4-1 loss to China and 3-0 loss to Great Britain were first really decided in the third periods, showing that Romania was able to hang with the more established opponents. By the time the final gameday rolled around, the team knew it had left the Dutch side behind, no matter what would unfold against Croatia, which it managed to beat in overtime when Matei Bolocan scored his 4th tally of the tournament at the 1:05 mark of the extra frame.
Going home disappointed
For the Netherlands, the performance at this tournament was one that showed there is still much to work on. Despite bringing a number of players who are already getting their feet wet in a lower-level pro division or who play their junior hockey in North America or countries like Germany and Slovakia, the team was only able to show bouts of the play necessary to retain the class. Despite a valiant effort against the favorites from Great Britain, a 1-0 loss, the holes in the backend couldn’t be masked in the 6-1 loss to Italy and the 6-2 losses to both Croatia and Romania. The team’s fate was all but sealed as it headed into the final day of play against China, to whom the Dutch suffered a 4-2 loss despite a 1-1 tie after the first period.
Tournament resonance
For many of the participants, this was their first time visiting and playing in Asiago, Italy, a scenic little southern Alpine town located about as far away from the Austrian and Swiss borders as it is from Venice. As such, they got to experience a widely unknown corner of the hockey world, but one that adores and celebrates its hockey with a passion.
“Asiago is a little town that lives for hockey,” pointed out Sakic. “You could see it all around town and plenty of pubs and restaurants were adorned with jerseys, pictures, and sticks of all sorts. The ice rink was wonderful, and the Italian federation did a fantastic job organizing the whole event.”
The event also pointed out a rather hardline reality with the state of youth hockey in countries such as Croatia, the Netherlands, and Romania, namely that despite various levels of pro play in each nation, the national teams require their best players to gain experience abroad.
“Our young players need to play a lot more. And they need better competition. Without that, they won’t be able to take the next step and neither will we,” confessed Sakic when taking the opportunities many of his young players have in Croatia into consideration. “A number of our players have headed to foreign countries, as I did myself along the way. It seems to be the only way to go just now if you want to achieve something.”
For Italy, which featured a good number of players with pro AlpsHL experience or time spent in countries like Sweden and Germany, as well as Great Britain, whose line-up consisted of players already gaining pro experience in the British NIHL or NIHL2 pro circuits or abroad in North America, this a lesson they’ve spent many years learning while each nation’s federation has hit a point where it began placing a greater emphasis on the development of homegrown players.
Top performers
The aforementioned Blakeley and Clark Leach were the outstanding performers in the tournament, proving to be statistically dominant in goal - and it wasn’t even close heading into the final day of play. For Blakeley, who got the nod in goal against Italy, his overall stats took a turn for the worse, ultimately allowing 4 goals against in his final outing, which still meant he finished a good bit ahead of the next in line, China’s netminder Yinghao Tang, in GAA (1.35 to 2.00) and save percentage (96.58% to 92.54%).
Interestingly, scoring in general was spread out pretty widely among contributors throughout the rosters of just about every team finishing in the top 5. Ultimately, Croatia’s Alic Bruno (2-6-8) and Matko Idzan (5-1-6) were the tournament’s top scoring forwards while Italy’s top scorer Josef Prast led all tournament defensemen with 5-1-6 himself.
Italian defender Noah Frick led the tournament with a +11 rating.