‘They are real hockey players now’: Italy’s performance in women’s hockey could be transformative
Chris Jones reports from Milan.
One dream is over. A different dreaming has just begun.
The Italian women’s hockey team — with a Canadian general manager, a Canadian head coach, and a former member of Canada’s team — lost its quarterfinal to the fearsome Americans, 6-0.
But even as this unlikely team disassembles and leaves Milan, its aftereffects will linger. Now hockey exists for women in Italy. Hockey exists for girls.
Daniele Sauvageau, the Hall of Fame coach and builder, will go back to her day job as the general manager of the PWHL’s Montreal Victoire, but she will remain invested in her other grand project.
“It will be fun to see,” she said. “Every Olympics, there’s some magic happening. This is it. This experience will be part of my heart forever. It’s as simple as that.”
Eric Bouchard will return to Shawinigan, where he’s an assistant for the QMJHL’s Cataractes. He, too, will carry this team’s achievements with him.
“I’m so thankful for this group,” he said. “This group has been my family. We were all in this together.”
The United States took down Italy 6-0 in quarterfinal play to advance to the semifinals at Milano Cortina 2026.
And Laura Fortino, a two-time Canadian Olympian and gold medal winner in 2014, will stay in Italy, playing hockey where her grandparents once lived.
“I’m pretty sad that it’s over,” she said. “Any time an Olympics comes to an end, it’s a lot of emotion. But I stand here, with this jersey on, with so much pride.”
To qualify to play for Italy, the 35-year-old had to spend two seasons in the country’s nascent women’s league. (There are fewer than 500 women registered to play hockey in Italy.) She grew up in Hamilton, hearing her family’s stories of home. Now whenever she goes back to Canada, she tells them hers.
“It’s been very special,” she said. “This is my forever team now, and I certainly want to continue growing the game here.”
She, and her teammates, have already done so much.
Every time a “USA!” chant started up in the sellout crowd, the Italians countered with a louder, more passionate version of their own: “Italia! Italia! Italia!”
The scene was close to surreal. At their only previous Olympics, in Torino in 2006, the Italians lost 16-0 to Canada and finished eighth. Here in Milan, they won twice, over France and Japan, to advance to their first elimination game.
“We wanted to go out there and leave the ice knowing that we did our best,” Fortino said. “I think we can all say we did.”
They were never going to beat the U.S., which demolished Canada 5-0 in the preliminary round. Italy was outshot 20-2 in the first period, 51-6 in the game. The first few minutes of the second period, after the Americans had made their adjustments and the Italians began to buckle, were especially hard to watch.
In losses there is learning
But in losses, there is learning, and they were better on Friday night than they were on Friday morning.
“It’s true,” Sauvageau said. “It was hard. They were flying, they were hurting. But they were on the same ice as the best team in the world, and they were in their way. They are real hockey players now. They always will be.”
Some of the allegiances, and Italian residencies, will prove more temporary. Assistant coach Pier-Alexandre Poulin, Canadian captain Marie-Philip’s older brother, will no doubt cheer on Canada in its own quarterfinal against Germany on Saturday.
He’ll need to find a place to stay. It’s one of the cruel realities of the modern Games: Athletes and coaches must leave the Olympic Village within 72 hours of their last event.
The early evictions began in Tokyo in 2021 as a COVID protocol. They remain in place to contain sickness — Milan has had a bout with norovirus, and Livigno with respiratory ailments — and to prevent one athlete’s cutting loose from interfering with another’s preparations.
So, bags will be soon packed. Hugs will be shared. Tears will be shed.
Even Milan’s hockey rinks will be dismantled after the last game here, their ice turned to water and drained away.
But the memories of this remarkable team will last, hanging in the air of empty rooms, until these women, and the generations they’ll no doubt inspire, meet again.
“They don’t realize that one day someone will tell them, I saw you play,” Sauvageau said. “My daughter saw you play.”
They don’t realize they will close their eyes and remember the sound of each other’s laughter. They don’t realize they will hear the chanting of that crowd for the rest of their days.
Italia, Italia, Italia.
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