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Chris Jones reports from Milan.
It was a victory for Italy. She was also Canadian.
Italy’s women’s ice hockey team, who qualified for the Olympics only as hosts, beat Japan 3-2 on a thrilling Monday morning in Milan to earn an improbable quarter-final appearance.
As the final anxious seconds ticked away, Daniele Sauvageau, the Canadian team’s general manager, looked at 35-year-old Laura Fortino, the 2014 gold medalist with Canada who now wears Italian blue, both with tears in their eyes.
For the 63-year-old Sauvageau, a Hockey Hall of Fame coach and builder and general manager of the PWHL’s Montreal Victoire, it was the purest form of celebration, the culmination of another great adventure in the game he loves.
Three years ago, Sauvageau was approached by the Italian Ice Sports Federation to build a competitive team out of limited parts: fewer than 500 women were registered to play in Italy, and Milan had no rink. The Italians have appeared in one previous Olympics, in Turin 2006, when they lost 16-0 to Canada and finished eighth.
Hosts Italy secured a place in the quarter-finals of Olympic women’s hockey after a 3-2 win over Japan.
Sauvageau accepted the job and began scouring the world and her hockey memories for possible talent. She started to list names and realized that they could make a decent team. “I thought, ‘These players have more potential than anyone would believe,'” she said.
One of her first calls was to Fortino, who played with Harvey’s team on the PWHPA’s Dream Gap Tour circuit, after playing his final game for Canada in 2019. To be eligible to play for Italy, Fortino would have to spend two seasons in Italy’s domestic league. She decided to do so, first moving to Bozen and then to Caldaro.
Now she looked at Sauvageau before jumping into the arms of her Milan team-mates.
“It’s magical,” Fortino said. “Being a part of this group is a privilege and an honor for me. I couldn’t be more proud of every single girl on this team. The story that’s been written here — I’m so happy to be a part of it.”
Shortly after Sauvageau took the job in Italy, the PWHL was formed, and she joined Victoire. She wanted to keep her international commitment, but Montreal, out of necessity, became an unlikely home base for an even more unlikely team.
Other players have joined, including Montreal native Kayla Tutino, who came out of retirement to open the scoring in last week’s win over France, and Calgary native Gabriella Durante, who was outstanding in goal against Japan.
She most recently played for the University of Calgary Dinos. Now she won for Italy.
“That will be a fundamental memory for me,” Durante said. “I’ll never forget that game.”
She was far from alone.
Last October, Sauvageau hired Eric Bouchard, a Shawinigan assistant coach, to be Italy’s head coach; one of his employees was Pier-Alexandre Poulin, brother of the Canadian captain Marie-Philip, as an assistant.
Together, they held a multi-week camp in Montreal during December and January, working on hockey fundamentals but also instilling in their players the kind of ambition that helps them make history.
“No one thought we’d have a chance to win here,” Bouchard said now that they did, his voice almost gone. “We wanted to shock the hockey world and that’s what we’re doing.”
For Sauvageau, real success will mean expanding the hockey world, but also shocking. She made sure that Italians – Italians without hyphens – played key roles on and off the ice, as coaches, as physiotherapists, as liaisons and, most importantly, as players.
Matilde Fantin, the 19-year-old from Como who scored twice against Japan, is one of those who flourished under mentors like Fortino.
“She’s going to be a great player,” Bouchard said.
Italy will play their last Group B match against Germany on Tuesday. That result, combined with the battle for seed in Group A, will determine the opponent in the quarterfinals. No one involved wanted to look beyond Germany, but Canada is a real possibility.
“I wasn’t into it, to be honest,” Fortino said.
Sauvageau will see it as another opportunity to do something permanent.
“I’m someone who thinks about the next step,” she said. “I’m not here to run and run and leave. We – I’ll tell you, the Canadians – were considered hockey experts, and the Italians trusted us. We’ve seen them get better, week by week, and we’re developing the game.”
As the players began to huddle together in celebration, the full crowd rose to their feet. “Italy! Italy! Italy!” cried the new fans of the new team.
Sauvageau looked down at her hands and tried to rub away the goosebumps.
“I’ve seen a lot of things,” she said, “but that also means I realize how special this is.”
It was a victory above all for hockey.
