IIHF – WM IA Day 1: GB

The highlight of the first day of the first day of the IIHF World Championship Division I Group A in Sfantu Gheorghe, Romania was a back-and-forth game between Great Britain and Ukraine that was settled in a shootout. That was sandwiched between regulation victories by Italy and Poland, who both look strong to start the tournament.

The Day 1 results were:

Italy over Japan 4-1,

Great Britain over Ukraine 4-3 in a shootout, and

Poland over Romania 4-1.

Japan 1 – Italy 4 (0-2, 1-2, 0-0)

The Italians were disappointed not to advance from last year’s I-A tournament on home ice and served notice in their opener this year that they’re not going to take anybody lightly. In their first World Championship game with Jukka Jalonen behind the bench, they dominated most of the first two periods and defended well in the third, defeating Japan 4-1.

“We tried to have a good start to this tournament,” said Tommy Purdeller, who led the Italian offence with two goals and an assist. “We scored a big goal right away at the beginning and kept scoring after that. We’re happy with the end result of this game and we just want to keep going.”

One line did most of the damage for Italy, with the HC Pustertal pair of Purdeller and Mats Frycklund, complemented by Daniel Tedesco scoring three of the team’s goals. In addition to Purdeller’s output, Frycklund and Tedesco had two points each.

“They’re two great players,” the centre Frycklund said of his wingers. “I know Tommy from before – he likes to shoot and I like to pass, so it’s very simple. Teddy (Tedesco) has been playing with us for three games, I think, and he’s playing really well. We’re building chemistry now and we’re playing better and better, and I know we can do a little better.”

Italy got the game’s first power play just 41 seconds in when Riku Ishida was called for hooking and went to work right away. Yuta Narisawa got a glove on Phil Pietroniro’s initial shot but Purdeller was right there to put in the rebound.

The Italian attack continued and went up 2-0 in the eighth minute – Nicholas Saracino forced a turnover with a hit behind the net and a quick pass from Bryce Misely found Alexander Ieurullo for the one-timer in front.

The Purdeller–Frycklund–Tedesco was all over the Japanese zone on the 3-0 goal – Tedesco sent a no-look backhand pass along the boards to Frycklund behind the net. He held the puck long enough to draw Japanese…