Italian ice hockey pride set to face Olympic reality

MILAN, Feb 2 : As the Winter Olympics return to Italy this week, the host nation's men's hockey team will take to the ice as the tournament's biggest underdog - the only side without NHL players in a field stacked with the sport's elite.

For the Azzurri, the Milano Cortina Games will be less about chasing medals and more about withstanding waves of speed and skill rarely encountered in their domestic competitions, while trying to seize rare moments that can electrify a home crowd.

The Italians are the only outfit in the 12-team field that did not compete at last year's World Championship. The last time they featured in the competition's top tier came in 2022 when they lost all seven matches.

Italy also rarely qualify for Olympic ice hockey on merit, and automatic entry as hosts has propelled a modest roster drawn mainly from Italian-based clubs into a tournament dominated by North American and Nordic powerhouses.

The majority of Italy's squad comes from HC Bolzano and HC Val Pusteria, two Italian clubs that compete in the International Central European Hockey League (ICEHL), a cross-border competition made up largely of Austrian teams alongside clubs from Hungary and Slovenia.

The remaining players are based in Switzerland, Germany, Czech Republic and Sweden, while none compete in Italy's own domestic league, whose top tier is confined to a small geographic area.

Concentrated in Veneto and South Tyrol, Italian ice hockey remains largely confined to Alpine communities, with little reach into the country's broader sporting landscape.

Ice hockey attracts scant media attention in Italy, a situation unlikely to change during or after the Games, where the hosts' medal hopes rest largely on Alpine skiing, speed skating and curling.

Ita