
Italia Falls to Israel in Double OT; To Face Switzerland
It took a mid-game rain delay and six quarters of play to determine a victor in the final game of pool play between Italy and Israel.
The game was a hard-fought, back and forth contest, with Israel jumping out to a 3-0 lead before Italy stormed back over the course of three quarters, scoring the next 5 goals to make it 5-3.
With 6:39 left in the fourth, Italy’s Michael Rettberg received a feed from Jameson DeMarco and scored Italy’s final goal of the match to stretch their lead to 6-3. The Azzurri were able to maintain this lead for the next five minutes, but with 1:45 left in the game, Israel began a scoring run that would push the game into extra minutes.
Israel scored a tough goal, dodging through traffic, and drew a flag for illegal bodychecking. Italy lost the next face off and managed to hold off Israel’s man up barrage until they scored with 1:01 left in the game. Twelve seconds later, after an Italy delay of game at the face-off X, Israel was back on the board with a goal from Michael Stern, and tied the game 6-6.
It would take two quarters of back and forth extra time before Israel scored the game winning goal, finding a Shalev Tal on the doorstep in transition.
Italy looks to regroup after this difficult loss and will face Switzerland on July 23, 7:00 PM CET.