The running joke at the Division 1 A World Championships has been that the Italian team is really Team North America B with the head coach and nine players being from either the U.S. or Canada. This Italian team has the most experience overall playing at the highest levels in this tournament. This is a team that has been in a situation like this and has the experience to win promotion back up to the World Championships. The Italians have come to Budapest to win and anything else would leave a sour taste in their mouths. Forward Dave Borrelli said after the match against Great Britain “we have come to Budapest to win the World Championships and to go home with the gold medal around our necks, we will not be satisfied with second place”. He said later “yes their first goal is to get promoted but they have their eye on the gold”.
Goalies
The Italian squad has two very talented net minders in the 28 year old Adam Dennis and the 23 year old Andreas Bernard. In the cage Dennis is the representative of the North American contingency, he is also one of the most experienced keepers at this tournament, being drafter by the Sabres in 2005 after playing juniors in the OHL. He would play three seasons in the AHL before making the move to Italy. This is Dennis’ first time representing the Italians since he just became eligible to put on the Italian jersey. Bernard looks to be the up and coming talent and probably the future for the Italians in the net, he has been playing in Finland the past couple of seasons.
Defenders
Just like in the net and up front the defensive group also has their own set of Canadians, with a defensive pairing of Trevor Johnson and Daniel Sullivan the Italian squad would be one of the last teams you would think of. Johnson had played juniors in the WHL and then a couple of years in the UHL, ECHL and AHL before moving to Italy with having the goal of playing for the national team, Johnson brings a scoring touch to the blue line. Sullivan on the other hand went the route of the NCAA and then to Italy. Sullivan just like Johnson and the rest of the foreign born Italians he had to play three seasons in the domestic league to become eligible. Joining these two players on the blue line are a veteran and experienced group with no one being younger then the age of 26. What makes these defensemen dangerous is that some of them are also prolific scorers. Christian Borgatello had 29 points, Armin Helfer had 31 with Alexander Egger basically had a point a game with 42 points in 43 matches in the Italian league.
Forwards
This is where the real fire power comes for this team; the forward lines have a nice mix of veteran experience and young talent. About half the forwards were born in North America and a number of others have played there, this team can adjust to and play with both the North American style as well as the European style. Borrelli played college hockey in the NCAA and spent one season in the ECHL, Nate DiCasmirro also played college hockey after his stint in the USHL, after six seasons in the AHL he also made the move across the pond. Vince Rocco has almost the exact same resume as Sullivan; they played four seasons together at Niagara University and handful of games for Reading in the ECHL before going to the Italian league. The leading scorer in the tournament Pat Iannone and Giulio Scandella both came straight over after playing in the Canadian juniors, the former in the WHL with the latter in the QMJHL. Rounding out the North Americans is Rob Siriani who much like the others played college hockey and then played in the CHL, ECHL and the AHL before making the jump to the Italian league. What is surprising among the Italian born forwards is how many of them played juniors in North America. Anton Bernard spent one season in the EJHL where he had over a point a game with Luca Felicetti doing the same in the AWHL. Markus Gander played in the NAHL, Marco Insam spent a season in prep school in the U.S. and then played two seasons in the OHL.
These two teams are very familiar with each other aside from playing against each other two years ago. Balázs Ladányi played in Bolzano with Andrea Ambrosi, Borgatello Alexander Egger, Anton Bernard, Markus Gander, and Marco Insam this past season. Árpád Mihály played with Dave Borrelli in Reading and with Borgatello in Bolzano. Levente Szuper was teammates with Iannone and Scandella in both Bolzano and Milano, with Insam joinging them in Milano. Borgatello probably knows the Hungarian team the best, aside from playing in Italy he also spent part of a season playing for Székesfehérvár where he got to know most of the Hungarian national team.
Former Hungarian team player Roger Holéczy said “we will have to play with the exact same effort and heart as on Wednesday. They have allot of Canadians, so they will bring more of a straight forth approach skating and shooting, they play simple and work hard…we will have to outwork them”
Szabolcs Závodszky
Twitter: @Zavodszky