Ice Hockeybeijing 2022 olympics
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Riga tournament very bitter for the Azzurri: after the Latvian hosts, even the transalpine ones overtake the team of Ireland, which will not participate in the next Winter Games.
Saturday 28 August 2021 7 minutes reading time
Italy's Olympic dream of ice hockey ends on an afternoon in late August on the ice of the “Arena Riga”. After the 0-6 defeat against Latvia in the debut match, the Azzurri also surrendered to France. A 0-2 achieved all in the second half, with Treille's decisive brace.
Italy ends with a bitter taste especially for having dominated the far and wide the third time, but the blue heart was not enough. After a day of rest, the national team will return to the ice on Sunday 29 August, at 12 Italian time (live on olympics.com) for the last match against Hungary. “We gave our all - commented Tommaso Traversa at the end of the match - and we really believed in it despite yesterday's defeat. The Olympic dream is over, but we still want to honor the jersey and the tournament ”.
“We are disappointed with the defeat - adds coach Greg Ireland - but I cannot blame the guys who fought to the end today. I liked the energy of the first half, in the third quarter we just lacked luck, while in the second half we got crushed and we conceded too many penalties ”. Compared to the match against Latvia, coach Ireland completely shuffles the cards in attack, reviewing all the attacking blocks. In the cage, on the other hand, trust Andy Bernard, immediately called to the save-result parade on a two-on-one counterattack closed by the young Columbus Blue Jackets talent, AlexandreTexier.
The blues immediately rearrange the center of gravity and play openly, exploiting above all the speed in the restarts. The good puck comes out from behind the door for Captain Frank, stationed in the slot, but he is unable to correct on the net. Frank himself ends up in the penalty box a little later, but the extra weapon of the French (3 goals out of 5 in power-play against Hungary) crashes into the wall erected by Bernard. One of the new lines that seems to work better is the one made up of Giliati, Alberga and Traversa, with the latter finding two dangerous conclusions in the same action without being able to pierce Buysse. On the other hand Bernard takes the chair, who keeps Italy in the game with a decisive double intervention on Bertrand and Texier freed from two defensive inattentions.
As often happens to the Azzurri, the most complicated period is the second, which becomes the decisive one for the result. After just over three minutes, Sacha Treille signs the advantage with a deviation from Gallet's shot from distance, Italy suffers the pains of hell in inferiority, but also goes one step away from equalization: counterattack launched by Giliati, deviation in the Traversa slot, the impact with the disc is not sufficiently precise. On the third attempt the transalpine power-play hits, and it is Treille again to overcome a superlative Bernard thanks to a precise correction on a shot by Texier.
Italy loses Casetti who literally puts his face on a French conclusion from the middle distance, then in the final of the fraction the Azzurri fail to realize the first numerical superiority of the match. The last stage shows that the blue heart is still beating fast. Italy really tries in every way and puts under siege the cage of an excellent Buysse, who twice saves himself with a helmet on the conclusions of Miceli and Hochkofler. The French cage is bewitched especially in the final: Miglioranzi's cut on the far post makes screaming at the goal, but the puck "dies" on the leg of the opposing goalkeeper.
With 2 and a half minutes remaining, Ireland plays the sixth man's card, and the 6 on 5 turns into a 6 on 4 for a penalty. It is an assault with the sword to try to reopen the match, and the last gasp is given by Petan whose touch is destined for the net but is deflected by another miraculous intervention by Buysse.
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