A pair of Greater Trail hockey players led the Italian national ice-hockey team to a 4-0 victory over Korea on Sunday to open the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Championship in Budapest, Hungary.
Fruitvale's Patrick Iannone set up two goals, while Trail native Trevor Johnson also picked up a helper in the winning cause.
Iannone, a former WHL Kootenay Ice captain, who plays for Pestertal of the Italian league, picked up his first point of the tournament when he fired a shot at the net and line-mate Diego Kostner jumped on the rebound to make it 1-0.
Johnson, also a former Ice defenceman ('98-'02) and Trail Smoke Eater ('97-98), set up the second goal on the power play when he dished off to David Borrelli who made a nice cross-ice pass into the slot for Robert Sirianni who fired it home 2:53 into the second period.
Borelli would make it 3-0 before the end of the middle frame, and Iannone picked up his second point of the night on a nice set up for Stefano Marchetti with just over six minutes to play.
Italy plays Japan in its next Div. 1 group A round robin game on Monday and Great Britain on Wednesday.
There are six teams in the division with Japan, Korea, Great Britain, Kazikstan, and Hungary rounding out the tournament. The top two teams qualify for the 2014 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships.