Italy claim best ever finish with fifth place at Ice Sledge Hockey World Championships

Italy secured their best-ever finish at an IPC Ice Sledge Hockey World Championships ©Getty Images

Italy have secured their best ever finish at an International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Ice Sledge Hockey World Championships after winning the A-Pool fifth-place game against Germany at the HarborCentre in Buffalo, New York.

Having finished in sixth position at the last World Championships in 2013 and the Sochi 2014 Winter Paralympic Games, the Italians went one better with a 4-2 victory.

“Finishing fifth place for us is really important because our National Paralympic Committee will now put us in a new category for support for our training,” said Italy’s defencemen Gianluigi Rosa.

Valerio Corvino opened the scoring two minutes before the end of the first period, and Italy’s advantage was doubled nine seconds later when dual-sport athlete Andrea Macrì struck home.

Jörg Wedde, who lost both his legs after falling under a train at age 13, put Germany on the board shortly into the second period, before goals from Greg Leperdi and then Rosa stretched the reigning European champions’ lead to three.

Germany’s rising star Felix Schrader found the net for the second-straight game in the third period, but it proved to be in vain as Italian goaltender Gabriele Araudo prevented any more pucks from getting past him, finishing the day with 12 saves.

“In this tournament we've played really strong on defence without shooting so much, and in this game were able to do both,” said Rosa, who was sidelined for two months earlier this season with a shoulder injury.

Zdeněk Krupička scored the Czech Republic's opening goal in their win against Japan ©Getty Images

Earlier in the day, the Czech Republic beat Japan 5-1 in the seventh-place game to clinch the top-seed spot for the 2017 World Championships B-Pool.

Two-time Paralympian Zdeněk Krupička set the Czech Republic on their way to victory just over five minutes into the first period, before a goal from Pavel Kubes and a Jiří Berger brace extended their lead to four at the break.

Kubes made it 5-0 in the third period, following a scoreless second, while Kazuhiro Takahashi notched Japan’s only goal of the game.

“In the tournament, we didn't always score when we had the opportunity, and our penalty kill wasn't so good,” said Kubes.

“But we weren't as nervous for this last game, and thus were able to enjoy it more and do better.”

As the eighth-place finisher in Buffalo, Japan will now be the second-seeded team for the 2017 World Championships B-Pool.