Opening Doors For Others

No one is looking at Italy as the next superpower in women's hockey. As of right now, the IIHF has them ranked as the 19th best country on the planet - just behind Netherlands and Korea and just ahead of Poland and Great Britain - so they're in that group of countries that's emerging on the scene. With Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo hosting the 2026 Olympiad, the Italians want to prove to the rest of the world that they're ready to take the next step in hockey by joining the top teams at the best tournaments regularly. Like host countries before them, it looks like Italy is speeding up their progress by recruiting established hockey players to help them take that next step.

There's nothing wrong with this from an IIHF standpoint. We've seen Kazakhstan recruit multiple North American players who play for the KHL's Barys Astana squad as they've granted those players citizenship. China did the same thing when they hosted the Olympics in Beijing, and I suspect we'll see more countries who want the Olympic bump use this tactic as well. As long as the IIHF sees no issue with it, this practice will continue for the next Olympiad and beyond.

As indicated on The Rundown last weekend, Calgary Dinos goaltender and Canadian citizen Gabriella Durante opted to head to Italy to follow her roots as she has plans on playing for Team Italy. The Calgary Dinos made it official today, however, as they announced that Durante was headed to Turin, Italy to join Real Torino for the 2024-25 season! It should be noted that her single game against the Saskatchewan Huskies last weekend would officially qualify as her fifth and final year of eligibility in U SPORTS, so Gabriella Durante would not be able to return to any U SPORTS hockey team in any future season even if she wanted to play again.

She may not have to worry about that, however, because it sounds like she'll be busy in Turin. According to hockeyitalia21.com, "Real Torino announced that it will enter a team in the next Italian IHL Women 2024/25 championship" as the team rejoins the women's Italian Hockey League to give Turin a hockey team at that level for the first time since the 2018-19 season and it will mark the first time Real Torino HC has played at the IHL level since 2014-15.

Turin will play host to the 2025 FISU Universiade Games from January 13-23, 2025, so it seems that Italy is looking to have more women playing at a higher level in more cities as they approach both the Universiade and the Olympics. We'll see the Italians return to the IIHF Women's World Championship Division I Group B tournament after earning a bronze medal there last season, so getting more women playing at a higher level will be crucial for the Italians if they hope to repeat the success they saw in 2024.

Bringing in players like Gabriella Durante to help at the internal league level will promote growth and development so that the Italians see better players develop along the lines of Martina Fedel, Laura Lobis, and Anna Caumo at the international level. If a few of those players they bring in to help become naturalized citizens as well, the Italian hockey federation won't complain, I'm sure.

For Gabriella Durante, she'll get to stop pucks against the likes of EV Bozen's Kristin Della Rovere, EV Bozen's Justine Reyes, and Neumarkt/Egna's Olivia De Ciantis. All of those players have North American ties, but they'll all skate in the Italian Hockey League this season with the potential to be naturalized for the 2026 Olympics. The key is that they'll all make their teammates better as they skate in the IHL this season and beyond, and there's a good possibility that they'll help to make Italy a better hockey country in the long run whether they suit up for the country themselves or they continue to play for one of the teams in the Italian league.

No one is expecting Gabriella Durante to change Italian hockey in any way, but her presence both in the country's top league and playing for the Italian national team may very well do that incrementally. With her and Martina Fedel potentially being the Italian netminders at the 2026 Olympics, Italy will have a pair of backstoppers who could potentially steal games like they did when they beat Slovakia and Slovenia at the 2024 IIHF World Championships.

I want to wish Gabriella Durante all the best this season with Real Torinto, and my hope is that she plays as well as she did for the Dinos while she earned her degrees. Seeing Durante at the 2026 Olympics would be incredible, so here's hoping this opportunity goes well for her. Knowing the type of person she is, though, I suspect she'll have a major impact on Italian hockey not only as they approach the Olympics, but well beyond it as well.

She'll make players better through her play, her positive attitude, and her approach at the rink, and that's the kind of leader that Team Italy needs when it comes to establishing themselves as hockey nation. This is a big oppotunity for Gabriella Durante, but I suspect she'll open doors for so many more Italian players during her time in Italy. That's just who Gabriella Durante is.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!