The return of the ice ‘derby’: Milan v Bolzano in ice hockey

Some saw it as a pleasant coincidence, others as a bad omen. For many, it was an excuse to reminisce about the good old days, a Proustian madeleine. After 35 years, however, leagues and rules have changed. On 3 March 1991, a 3–3 draw could have been enough to win the league title—the first in 31 years. On 11 October 2026, however, this is not permitted. Extra time is played, and the match ends as soon as one of the two teams scores the fourth goal. The goalkeeper is beaten and lies on the ice; the puck goes into the net from point-blank range, and the bench storms the ice to celebrate. That is exactly what Cole Schneider, the American forward for the HCB Alto Adige Foxes in Bolzano, did.

This is how it works in the Ice Hockey League, the international championship in which, alongside Bolzano, Milan also plays – two rivals who had not faced each other for 5,041 days. Not since 22 December 2012. From the following summer, the South Tyrolean team would move to the EBEL, the Austrian league, to boost visibility and revenue. In the meantime, a great deal has transpired. Bolzano, already 19-time Italian champions, won two Ebel titles—which later became the Ice Hockey League—at the first attempt in 2014 and again in 2018, climbing from the bottom of the table to the last available play-off spot and going on to win the play-offs. Milan, too, did not last long in the Italian league, albeit for opposite reasons. Corporate upheavals, self-relegations, and the club’s dissolution in 2022. Finally, a revival fuelled by the Winter Olympics, the new Fiera Ice Arena and the entry into the competition of their long-standing rivals.

Just two days’ difference prevented the return of this great classic from coinciding with the return of ice hockey in Milan. On Friday 9 October, at the stadium’s opening ceremony attended by Senate President Ignazio La Russa and Minister for Sport Andrea Abodi, the opposition was Innsbruck. Everyone, however, had their minds on the derby. Milan’s Curva, immediately on form thanks to the atmosphere they created, proved they had never forgotten their repertoire of chants and taunts. The Bolzanini and the Tyroleans were the subject of rhyming jibes on several occasions. Tickets for the match sold out days in advance, even before the opening fixture. The away section was full too, a red-and-white wedge in a sea of red-and-blue.

The players let the adrenaline get the better of them. However, the skirmishes remained just that and did not reach the levels of the sensational brawl between Milan’s Michele Strazzabosco and Bolzano’s Carlyle Lewis in 2006. Milan took the lead three times through Nick Caamano, Lucas Chiodo and David Lindquist. When the match was last brought back to life by Jackson van de Leest’s superb shot, many home supporters will have been reminded of that final day of the 1991 Scudetto Group, when ice hockey filled the 11,000 seats at the Forum in Assago. They could not afford to lose the head-to-head clash if they were to avoid playing the play-off on neutral ground in Asiago. That spectre was averted with 4 minutes and 15 seconds remaining thanks to a diving goal by Richard Bragnalo: the puck went into the net immediately afterwards. This time it was Bolzano who won to retain top spot in the table. The Milan fans, however, were happy all the same. There’s no need to relive happier times when there’s finally a present to enjoy once more.