Clara, Larkin among initial six players named to Italy’s 2026 Olympic team

The first slate of names representing the hosts in next year’s tournament has been released.

On Monday, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) released the first six names playing for Team Italy at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina. Forwards Diego Kostner, Daniel Mantenuto and Tommy Purdeller will be joined by defensemen Thomas Larkin and Luca Zanatta, along with goaltender Damian Clara, for next year’s tournament.

This will be the 10th time in the nation’s history that Italy will compete in the men’s tournament at the Winter Games, and the first since Turin in 2006, the last time Italy hosted the Olympics.

Italy will certainly have its hands full, as 2026 will mark the first time in 12 years that NHLers will be competing in the Olympic tournament.

The only player of the six with active NHL ties is Clara. The 20-year-old netminder is heading into the second year of a four-year contract with the Anaheim Ducks. He joined the Ducks’ American Hockey League affiliate, the San Diego Gulls, late in the 2024-25 season, appearing in two games. He has played for Italy in each of the past three IIHF Men’s Division IA World Championships.

In fact, all six players competed for the Italian squad in this year’s D1A championship, helping Italy earn promotion to the top division next year.

Purdeller was a key part of the team that moved up to the top division, finishing tied for seventh in the D1A tournament this year with five points in five games. The former Peterborough Pete debuted with the Italian Senior National Team in 2024, along with playing for HC Pustertal in the ICEHL this past year.

Larkin has been the captain of the national team for the past three years, along with captaining the Schwenninger Wild Wings of the DEL in Germany. The England-born blueliner has been on the senior national team since 2011.

Along with playing Italy in its last appearance in the top division of the Men’s Worlds in 2022, Kostner has been playing some quality hockey in Europe, playing for HC Ambrì-Piotta of the National League in Switzerland since 2016, playing for HC Lugano before that.

Zanata has been Italian through and through, having played for Cortina for five years before joining Pustertal in the ICEHL this past year. He’s played for Italy at the Men’s Worlds four times, including in the top division in 2019.

Mantenuto has also spent time over the past couple of years in ICEHL, as he will be entering his fourth season with HC Bolzano next fall. The Thornhill, Ontario native played four years at Robert Morris University before moving to Italy in 2020 and has been there ever since. He made his debut with the senior national team at the 2022 IIHF Men’s World Championship.

In the country’s first nine appearances in the Olympic tournament, its best finish came in Cortina in 1956, ending up in seventh place. It will be tough for Gli Azzurri to replicate that result in Group B, going up against the likes of Finland, Sweden and Slovakia. The Italians are currently ranked 20th in the IIHF polls, the lowest of the 12 teams competing in next year’s event.

The men’s tournament is set to begin on Feb. 11, 2026, with the gold medal game scheduled for Feb. 22.