The men’s national team was back in action. We got their first real test of the year. A rematch with the same country they beat to earn promotion and silver at last year’s Division 1 Group A World Championships. Italy was looking for revenge as they continued to build towards their Olympic squad for the 2026 games in their home country. Poland prevailed for the second time in a row with a 3-1 victory. Poland will now play the winner of Austria versus Hungary for the cup tomorrow.

This game belonged to the Italiens to start, and they would take an early lead. Two and a half minutes into the match, Alberto Colli would beat Murray to put the Italians on top. Italy would keep up their dominance to end the first, but a switch flipped during the intermission. Poland would bounce back in the second and take control. The red and white twice would beat Italy goaltender Vallini. Jeziorski got Poland on the board with assists from Kostek and Lyszczarczyk. Closely before the end of the period, Krezolek would score the game-winner. In the third, Poland did play back a bit to protect their lead and made it extremely difficult for the Italians to break into the Polish zone. With the goalie pulled, Captain Dziubinski would ice it for Poland, scoring on the empty net. Your final score was three to one, with shots tied at 24 a piece.

Poland proved their victory over Italy at the Worlds was no fluke. Kalaber and his team are indeed for real if anyone had doubts. To me, the biggest takeaway from this game was against a formidable opponent. Poland kept a clean sheet and took zero penalties. The confidence and clean hockey that Kalaber has this group playing with is a good sign. Especially in the Elite division, giving the top-tier clubs too many chances with an advantage will sink Poland into blowouts. Krezolek was also impressive for Poland in this game and drove quite a few scoring chances. It is good to see him have such a strong year. For the Italians, it might be time to start rethinking if Keenan really is the coach they want to bet it all on.

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