Italy Score First On Sweden In Olympic Men's Hockey

Italy led Sweden in men's hockey at the Olympics.

It didn't last long – Sweden's Gabriel Landeskog tied it up on the power play nearly five minutes later, and Gustav Forsling gave them the lead before the end of the first period.

But leading the Swedes for any length of time was a significant, pleasant surprise for Team Italy.

After the Swedes tested Italian netminder Damian Clara early in Wednesday's preliminary round game, Swedish netminder Filip Gustavsson misplayed a dump-in at the other end. He lost his stick and left the puck free in the inner slot.

With nobody covering him, Team Italy's Luca Frigo walked in, picked up the puck and shot it under Gustavsson's arm and into the net.

The home crowd in the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena erupted after the goal.

Although Sweden scored twice to take the lead entering the second period, Italy brought the crowd to their feet yet again.

Just 37 seconds into the second frame, Vancouver-born forward Matt Bradley tied the game at 2-2 on Italy's fourth shot of the game. Sweden scored the next three goals to win 5-2, with the fans giving an ovation in the final seconds.

Bradley, 29, was a fifth-round pick by the Montreal Canadiens in 2015. He's played for the WHL's Medicine Hat Tigers and Regina Pats, the ECHL's Newfoundland Growlers and Greenville Swamp Rabbits and briefly for the AHL's Toronto Marlies and Milwaukee Admirals. In 2021-22, he went to Europe to play in Austria, Germany and now Italy. He has 11 goals and 40 points in 41 games for HC Bolzano in the ICEHL.

Frigo, 32, is a left winger for HC Bolzano. Born in Moncalieri, Italy, Frigo has eight goals and 14 points in 43 games and has played for Bolzano for 10 years now.

Frigo and Bradley are two of 14 players on the national team who play in the ICEHL, which mainly has squads in Austria but also includes teams in Italy, Hungary and Slovenia. Seven players play for Bolzano, which is about a two-hour-and-45-minute drive northwest of Milan's Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena.

Those goals are the country's first in men's hockey at the Olympics since 2006 in Turin, which Italy hosted.

In 2006, Italy tied Germany 3-3 and Switzerland 3-3 but lost 7-2 to Canada, 6-0 to Finland and 4-1 to Czechia. They finished last in Group A and did not qualify for the quarterfinals. Sweden ended up winning gold in 2006.

This year, Italy and Sweden are in Group B, which has already had an intriguing result.

Earlier on Wednesday, Slovakia upset Finland 4-1. Slovakia's Juraj Slafkovsky scored twice, and goaltender Samuel Hlavaj stopped 39 of 40 shots to give the team a better chance at finishing top-two in the group and top-four overall.

The top four teams get a bye to the quarterfinal, while the rest play a qualification-round game.

Thanks to Frigo and Bradley's goals and stellar goaltending from Clara, Italy may finish higher than last place in the group stage and face a lower seed in the qualification round.

Clara, a 21-year-old Anaheim Ducks prospect who plays for Brynas in the Swedish League, stopped 46 of 49 shots against Sweden. Midway through the third period, he appeared to tweak something while robbing Elias Pettersson on the breakaway and left the game. But backup Davide Fadani played admirably, only allowing one goal on 10 shots.

Goal differential is a tiebreaker in the standings, and Italy prevented a blowout loss when it was more or less an expectation heading into the game. They gave hockey fans in Italy and beyond a lot to cheer about in the process.

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