1IT 1:4 DEN | Italy veterans - Denmark (World Championship)

World Championship

Italy veterans – Denmark	1:4 (end)	\|	Germany2 – Finland	0:4 (end)	\|	Norway – Sweden2	1:2 (end)
Kazakhstan – Latvia	4:5 (end)

final

Italy veterans

1:4 (1:1, 0:2, 0:1)

Denmark

Tuesday 13.05.2014, 15:45 • Chizhovka Arena, Minsk • World Championship

		There is the final buzzer, and Denmark have picked up their first points of the tournament with an emphatic 4-1 win over Italy! Despite some moments of panic the Danes didn't ever look in sufficient danger. Jesper Jensen opened up the scoring, but Diego Kostner quickly managed to level. The Danes then started to pull away however, quickfire goals from Jannik Hansen and Emil Kristensen put them in control before Kim Staal iced it with an empty netter. Thanks for following the game with us, and join me again soon for Norway against Sweden at the 2014 IIHF World Championships! (17:58:11)
	60:00	Game over.
	59:50	Before we're out we have another penalty, just ten seconds until the final buzzer sounds David Borrelli for tripping has been penalised
	58:12	Denmark commit icing. That fourth goal has certainly put them on the road to victory, a victory that will get them right back into the Group A picture
	57:34	Goal for Team Denmark! The puck gets deflected out of the Danish zone, KIM STAAL takes it up himself, on the left beats his opponent for skill and hits the empty net! It's 4-1! Assists- Mikkel Boedker and Philip Larsen
	57:13	With just under three minutes remaining Italy have already pulled Daniel Bellisimo in favour of the extra attacker!
	56:10	Daniel Bellisimo sees a wrapped wrister come in from the right faceoff circle and he gets his body right behind it
	54:51	Jakobsen! Now it's the Italian defence who are all over the place, Julian Jakobsen receives the puck at the right hand post and his backhander rolls all the way across the face of goal!
	54:38	A terrible Danish mistake in their own zone leaves the puck with Markus Gander, but his feed out to the crease goes all the way through and out!
	53:22	Bjorkstrand! From the high slot Patrick Bjorkstrand cracks a fierce wrist shot wide of the left hand post!
	52:49	Italy are back to full strength and they have just over seven minutes left to change the situation
	51:46	Jensen! Darting in and between all of his opponents skating with speed on the left flank Nicklas Jensen misses the far corner by only inches!
	50:49	And for hooking in that play Trevor Johnson is off to the penalty box for a couple of minutes
	50:49	Storm! The puck finds its way to Federik Storm hanging on the slot, with his back to goal he backhands it low but only into the goalkeeper!
	49:57	Danish players are rather struggling to keep their footing as again they go lazily offside
	48:24	Denmark drift offside just as Jesper Jensen got completely taken out by a strong Italian hit!
	47:05	Daniel Bellisimo with heavy traffic in front of him still reasonably comfortably gloves a high wrister from the blue line
	45:35	Federik Storm rushes away all on his own around the Italian crease, tries to feed an onrushing teammate but the pass is lacking
	44:51	Italy ice the puck. They aren't performing badly at all, but they need to do something soon to give themselves hope
	43:51	Nicola Fontanive almost barges his way through the entire Danish defence, but he loses control of the puck and goes spinning into the boards
	42:31	Mads Christensen cuts away from his defenders to the right hand boards, with pace whips the puck into the slot but Daniel Bellisimo kicks it out
	40:39	Rocco! That's what you call a golden chance to get your team back into the game! Lurking on the right Vincent Rocco is expertly picked out, Rocco fires first time but somehow Simon Nielsen makes a stunning save near post!
	40:26	Unsurprisingly the Italians didn't have time to create anything and it's a five on five hockey game again
	40:01	The deciding period has indeed started with Italy on the powerplay for a further twenty six seconds
	40:01	Start of 3rd period.
		Statistics after the first two periods- Shots on target- 8-25 Saves made by the goalkeeper- 22-7 Penalty minutes- 4-8
	40:00	2nd period finished.
	39:30	We're now in the final 30 seconds of a fantastic second period for the Danes despite their opponents set to start the third stanza with a man's advantage
	38:26	Nicklas Jensen for high sticking though has given Italy a decent opportunity to get at least something going
	37:20	The Italians look really despondent! Twice in very quick succession the Danes have very promising breakaways, but on both occasions Daniel Bellisimo did his job well!
	36:19	Goal for Team Denmark! They have the Italians exactly where they want them now! EMIL KRISTENSEN winds up from the point and his effort seems to drift past everyone and into the net! It's 3-1! Assists- Julian Jakobsen and Mikkel Boedker
	35:55	What a miserable powerplay that turned out to be for the Italians and both teams are now back to full strength
	35:50	Goal for Team Denmark! In this sort of game this goal could turn out to be vital! The Italians deep in the attacking zone cough up the puck, JANNIK HANSEN charges away with it down the left flank and beats the goalkeeper far post! Shorthanded goal and it's 2-1!
	33:55	For interference though Julian Jakobsen has evened up the numbers and the Italians will have over a minute's powerplay time
	32:42	Alex Trivellato for delaying the game has been dealt a two minute penalty for the Italians
	32:20	Simon Nielsen follows the trail of a long dump into his crease and with Italians sniffing away for any rebounds he twists and holds
	29:51	Morten Poulsen pulls away from the slot to a tough angle on the right, under pressure spins and gets a wrister away but the goalkeeper sees it all the way
	29:44	Daniel Bellisimo comfortably gloves a fairly weak slapper from the point and doesn't take any chances with freezing
	28:10	Jensen! Jesper Jensen for Denmark cuts sharply to the tip of the crease, backhands with pace but the netminder chests it away!
	27:52	Italy really couldn't create anything and their opponents are back to full strength
	25:52	Kim Staal for hooking has been punished and out of nothing the Italians are going on the powerplay
	28:25	Kristensen! Emil Kristensen finds space down the left flank, looks to catch out the goalkeeper far post but Daniel Bellisimo just succeeds in not giving up a rebound!
	23:31	Daniel Bellisimo sticks away a dangerous looking wrist shot from the right faceoff circle! That caused the Italian netminder some problems, he had to re adjust
	22:53	Denmark ice the puck just after they caused mayhem on the Italian crease
	21:35	Scandella! What a chance for the Italian playmaker to give his team the lead! The Danish defence is nowhere to be seen as Giulio Scandella charges hard down the left, but one on one he is denied by Simon Nielsen!
	20:01	Here we go in the second period! And at one a piece this game is delicately poised
	20:01	Start of 2nd period.
		Statistics after the opening period of play- Shots on target- 4-12 Saves made by the goalkeeper- 11-3 Penalty minutes- 2-2
	20:00	1st period finished.
	19:57	And we're now into the final few seconds of the first period
	19:21	Markus Gander completely free skating away through the middle is fed with a cutting pass, but he just can't gather it in his stride! He would have been clean through one on one!
	17:50	The Danes are now back at full strength
	17:28	Wriggling his way onto the left of the slot Brian Ihnacek squeezes a low wrister in that Simon Nielsen in the Danish net pads away!
	16:20	A very forceful slapper from the point doesn't travel far wide of the left hand post! And as Italian players scramble for the rebound the net even gets dislodged!
	15:50	Nicklas Jensen for interference has been called into the penalty box and the Italians have their first powerplay of the day
	15:01	Mikkel Boedker makes a forceful rush down the right, flashes the puck across the face of goal but it's too strong for anyone to connect with!
	12:59	Just as a Danish forward was going for an instant response charging through one on one he's chopped down! But despite vehement Danish protests the referees don't blow on the play!
	12:15	Goal for Team Italy! They make amends for that miss pretty quickly! And it's DIEGO KOSTNER who cuts to the slot from the right flank and with a tricky wrist shot beats the goalkeeper at his near post! It's 1-1! Assists- Giulio Scandella
	12:08	Kostner! He should have done better there! Brilliant work from Giulio Scandella who skates from the crease right around pulling the netminder out of position feeds Diego Kostner, but with an empty net to aim at he fluffs his lines!
	11:23	Denmark keep the puck in the Italian zone for what seems an age, but still they fail to get any shots away!
	09:41	Jensen! Nicklas Jensen holds the puck away from his opponents, twists all the way around the net but his wraparound attempt sails well off target!
	08:40	Italy defended against that penalty very solidly and they're back at full strength
	08:23	Brian Ihnacek shorthanded wrists in low right on the left faceoff circle, but the Danish goalkeeper easily kicks it round
	07:26	Denmark move offside as they try to get set up in the Italian zone
	06:40	For tripping Giulio Scandella is off to the penalty box and Denmark have a powerplay chance to rain some shots down on goal
	06:08	Italy are pressing to get into the zone but everytime they are being closed down at source
	04:10	The Danes immediately look more aggressive after scoring that goal! They will be relieved to have drawn first blood
	02:51	Goal for Team Denmark! Just as I say that the Danes striker! The puck pops out to the doorstep where the open JESPER JENSEN sweeps it home! It's 1-0! Assists- Patrick Bjorkstrand
	02:10	And we have just seen that the Italians off a sharp snapshot from the high slot smacked the post within the first seconds! They have started the faster
	01:09	Giulio Scandella for Italy twists around the right flank, looks to find someone on the slot but his cross ice pass is cut out
	00:33	The battle of the minnows is underway! Both teams really need the win today to keep their tournament hopes alive
	00:01	Game started.
		The teams are now emerging out on to the ice and the opening faceoff is minutes away!
		Starting lineups: Italy: Bellisimo (Bernard)- Egger, Nicoletti, Borrelli, Rocco, Ihnacak- Trivellato, Johnson, Scandella, Di Casmirro, Kostner- Borgatello, Hofer, Tudin, Gander, Felicetti- Larkin, Sullivan, Insam, Fontanive Denmark: Nielsen (Galbraith)- Larsen, J B Jensen, Green, Poulsen, Christensen- Lassen, Lauridsen, Hansen, N Jensen, Madsen- Bruggisser, Kristensen, Staal, Jakobsen, Boedker- Storm, Bjorkstrand, J Jensen Referees: Jerabek, Nord, Bulanov, Carnathan, Dahmen.
		Italy got well beaten by Norway in their opener 3-0, before hitting back with a smash and grab 2-1 victory over giant killers France. Their opponents Denmark despite matching Sweden for long periods got beaten also 3-0, and in their second outing they were only narrowly seen off by the Norwegians 4-3.
		Here are the standings of Group A prior to the game today. 1. CAN W2 L1 GS 10 GA 7 PTS 7 2. NOR W2 L0 GS 7 GA 3 PTS 6 3. SWE W2 L0 GS 7 GA 3 PTS 5 4. FRA W2 L1 GS 9 GA 7 PTS 5 5. ITA W1 L1 GS 2 GA 4 PTS 3 6. CZE W1 L2 GS 9 GA 10 PTS 3 7. SVK W0 L3 GS 6 GA 12 PTS 1 8. DEN W0 L2 GS 3 GA 7 PTS 0
		Both of the teams have never particularly performed well at this level, but this year could be a turning point. The Italians have already picked up points, and the Danes have shown signs of real promise.
		Good afternoon and welcome to this 2014 IIHF World Championship Group A match between Italy and Denmark. These teams aren't amongst the big hitters, but both really need points today.
		Welcome. Game starts at 15:45.

Commentary by

Shaun Nicolaides

Goals & lineups Match log

Goals and assists: 13. Kostner (Scandella) – 3. Jensen (Bjorkstrand), 36. Hansen, 37. Kristensen (Jakobsen, Boedker), 58. Staal (Boedker, Larsen)

Italy veterans: Bellisimo (Bernard)- Egger, Nicoletti, Borrelli, Rocco, Ihnacak- Trivellato, Johnson, Scandella, Di Casmirro, Kostner- Borgatello, Hofer, Tudin, Gander, Felicetti- Larkin, Sullivan, Insam, Fontanive

Denmark: Nielsen (Galbraith)- Larsen, J B Jensen, Green, Poulsen, Christensen- Lassen, Lauridsen, Hansen, N Jensen, Madsen- Bruggisser, Kristensen, Staal, Jakobsen, Boedker- Storm, Bjorkstrand, J Jensen

Referees: Jerabek, Nord, Bulanov, Carnathan, Dahmen

Attendance: 5092

1st period
	02:51
	06:40
	12:15
	15:50
1st intermission
2nd period
	25:52
	32:42
	33:55
	35:50
	36:19
	38:26
2nd intermission
3rd period
	50:49
	57:34
	59:50
Final