From the cold of the streets with the “scrognola” one hundred years ago to the European dream, up to the return among the young people: the story of a team that never stops being reborn, even in the letters to Santa Claus
It had already happened in the mid-70s, then again in 1997 and 2006: it has always gone well in the past, will history still be a teacher of life? On the 90th anniversary of its foundation, Asiago Hockey starts again with young people. After three complicated seasons in the Ice Hockey League, the Venetians returned to play in the Alps Hockey League (a supranational championship with Italian, Austrian, Slovenian and Croatian teams of less prestige than the Ice) with a new club, a new president and a new logo. The team is made up of just five foreigners, all from Canada, and 16 players who grew up on the Plateau, including seven making their senior league debut. There are four winners of the last under-18 Second Division Group A World Cup with Italy (Lorenzo Ferretti, Giacomo Marcazzan, Raffael Nitz and Alessandro Parco) and the Italian top scorer of the last under-20 World Cup (Fallou Mbow). The captain is Gregorio Gios, son of the FISG president Andrea and nephew of Cesare, who died last August: the defender number 4 is the third generation of Gios to wear the “C” on the chest. The head coach is John Parco, a Giallorossi legend between the 90s and 2000s and already winner of two championships on the bench in 2013 and 2015: he has the task of governing the restart. The start of the championship was not the best: after two consecutive away defeats (5-1 against Renon and 6-3 against Kitzbühel), on Saturday 27 September – on the 18th anniversary of Darcy Robinson’s death on the ice, remembered with a minute’s silence before the match – Asiago lost 7-2 at home against Red Bull Salzburg Junior in front of 1,047 spectators. However, it is not a trivial fact: the new company chaired by real estate developer Mario Lievore had set the threshold to be exceeded for the home debut at quadruple figures. Mission accomplished.