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Team Italy goaltender Gabriella Durante, Anna Caumo, centre, and Nadia Mattivi, right, celebrate the team's 3-2 victory over Japan Monday in women's Olympic hockey at the Milano-Cortina Games. Photo by Gregory Shamus /Getty ImagesArticle contentMILAN — Long after time had expired for an historic game in her adopted sporting country, Laura Fortino — the Italian-Canadian from Hamilton, Ont. — was locked in an embrace with teammate Marta Mazzocchi that seemingly wasn’t going to end.

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Goaltender Gabriella Durante, an Italian-Canadian from Calgary, was mobbed by teammates after standing tall with 27 saves in a win over Japan here at Rho Arena on Monday.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.Try refreshing your browser, ortap here to see other videos from our team.Play VideoArticle content document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", function() { const template = document.getElementById('oop-ad-template'); if (template && !template.dataset.adInjected) { const clone = template.content.cloneNode(true); template.replaceWith(clone); if (template.parentElement) { template.parentElement.dataset.adInjected = "true"; } } });Article contentAnd all around them, the Italian crowd went wild in celebration of an upstart group of players heavily influenced by Canadians scored a 3-2 victory.

Not only did that triumph improve their record to 2-1, it also ensured that the Italians will advance from Pool B and into the quarter-finals.

“We wanted to win so badly as a group,” said Fortino, a rugged two-time Canadian Olympian who won gold in Sochi in 2014. “I am a bit speechless right now. I could not be more proud of this team, just proving to ourselves that we could do it.

“It’s incredible what we’ve managed to do at this tournament.”

For a team that had only appeared in the Games once previously — twenty years ago, when they were also a host qualifier at the Turin Games — it has been a remarkable story.

A 4-1 win over France was followed by a 6-1 loss to Sweden, leading to Monday’s win in which they were outshot 29-23 but managed to hang on late in the contest. In their previous Olympic attempt, they were 0-3 and outscored 32-1.

Already in these Games, they’ve lived up to the prediction of another Canadian, head coach Eric Bouchard, who prior to the Games boldly declared his team would “shock the world.” While it’s unlikely they’ll startle the superpowers of the women’s game, such as Canada and the U.S., in some ways its already mission accomplished.

Team Italy Captain Nadia Mattivi leads her team in a salute to the hometown crowd after they defeated Japan 3-2 in women’s Olympic hockey action at the Milano-Cortina Games on Monday. Photo by Gregory Shamus /Getty ImagesArticle content“We’re shooting for the highest, but quarter-finals was something on our radar. We believed that we could do it and no one else did,” Fortino said.

Canadian women looking to sharpen up against tougher Czechia at 2026 Olympics Finland's hockey women feeling much better after norovirus scare at Olympics Advertisement 1Story continues belowThis advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.document.addEventListener(`DOMContentLoaded`,function(){let template=document.getElementById(`oop-ad-template`);if(template&&!template.dataset.adInjected){let clone=template.content.cloneNode(!0);template.replaceWith(clone),template.parentElement&&(template.parentElement.dataset.adInjected=`true`)}});Article content“No one even thought we’d win a game here, so to be able to say we created history today by going to the quarter-finals is magical. It really is.”

Durante, who excelled as a goaltender for the University of Calgary Dinos, took advantage of her dual citizenship to be part of the Italian program. She moved to Italy to pursue her Olympic quest and to help develop the game for young women here.

“This is everyone’s dream come true for Italy, Durante said. “Everyone is really excited and hopefully this just grows hockey in Italy that much more, for all the little girls all over the country.

“It’s incredible. I’ve played here for two years now and to see the little girls trying to play, it’s not such a big sport, but I hope we can change that after this tournament. We’ve already rewritten history. Hockey in Italy isn’t big, but we want to change that.”

Article contentWith three games behind them, Italy will finish off group play with a date against France on Wednesday and then await a much stronger foe in the elimination round. For now, Fortino and her teammates are well aware of what they’ve accomplished.

“I’m proud that we captured the moment and didn’t let the pressure get to us.

“We’ve inspired the country. The support we have had is unbelievable. You can feel it every time we hit the ice.”

An ice surface that Fortino and her teammates didn’t want to leave on Monday afternoon.

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