‘It was beautiful’: Italy relishes scaring Sweden in Olympic opener
When Luca Frigo attended a Sweden game at the Turin 2006 Olympics, he couldn’t have imagined the stage he would be on 20 years later — home ice, scoring against the Tre Kronor at the Olympics.
Born and raised in Moncalieri, a suburb of the 2006 host city, the now 32-year-old HC Bolzano forward made his Olympic debut at Milan Cortina 2026 on Wednesday, netting the opening goal as Italy held Sweden to a 5-2 loss, despite being outshot 60-22.
“I don’t have many memories of [2006], but I think the atmosphere was amazing,” Frigo said. “I’m in front of my family, in front of my friends, in front of a world crowd, an Italian crowd. It’s unbelievable.”
With Italian hockey already riding high off the women’s team advancing to the Olympic knockout stages, Frigo sent the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena crowd into bedlam early, putting the Azzurri up 1-0 on Sweden just 4:14 into the opening frame
The Italian supporters were euphoric, cheering throughout to push on the only team without NHL talent against a Swedish outfit with a combined NHL salary cap of $167.88 million.
“It was beautiful. The atmosphere was very warm. They supported us throughout the game, even when we were down,” Frigo added. “I think overall we played a great game, and we were in their face. I don’t think they were expecting that at all, so they got a little bit frustrated during the game.”
While the result didn’t fall in Italy’s favor, it will go down as a landmark game in the country’s hockey history. At the 2006 Games, they opened the tournament with a 6-0 loss to Finland, offering a very different outlook for the rest of the tournament.
Around the world to Italy
Even with many foreign-born players of Italian heritage added through a tedious residency and citizenship process, and a Finnish coach, Jukka Jalonen, behind the bench, the early spotlight fell on the born-and-raised Italians.
Frigo netted the opener, as Damian Clara, a 2023 NHL Draft Pick of the Anaheim Ducks, born in Brunek, Italy, made 46 saves before exiting after suffering what appeared to be a tweaked right leg on Sweden and Vancouver Canucks forward Elias Pettersson.
“He’s a great kid,” Frigo said of the netminder. “He’s working very hard in practice; he’s very focused, and I’m super happy for him. He played an amazing game, and he has a bright future in front of him.”
As much as Frigo and several others have ample experience representing the Azzurri on the international stage through various levels, many were making their competitive debuts on Wednesday, the culmination of a years-long journey headlined by the Olympic hope.
For Matt Bradley, who tied the game at 2-2 in the second period, it was about his 95-year-old grandfather, Guido Garzitto, who grew up in a small village outside of Udine and moved to Canada at a young age, where he still lives in East Vancouver.
“He was for sure in an all-Italian tracksuit, sitting on his couch, East Vancouver. That goal is for my grandfather back home, and he’s going to be tuning in for every game and watching probably prouder than anyone,” said Bradley, a fifth-round pick of the Montreal Canadiens in the 2015 NHL Draft, now playing for Bolzano.
“This is my first time playing at a real international tournament with this team. We do not have many expectations. We just have to keep that confidence up and show teams that we can play with them.”
Despite not picking up a result and surrendering a late empty-net goal, which hurt their goal differential, the Italian team has plenty of hope after an impressive showing and will have its eyes on the qualification phase beyond, potentially to a quarterfinal.
Next up, they’ll take on Slovakia on Feb. 13, before closing out preliminary play against Finland on Feb. 14. A win in a single game could see them avoid the fifth-ranked team in the qualification phase.
“We have good players on this team, playing at high levels and in high European leagues,” added Bradley about the momentous task they still face against NHL-loaded rosters.
“We’re using that as motivation. You go out there, and you’re lined up against NHL players, but at the end of the day, we all lace up the skates the same way, and we went out there and used it as a motto.”