Nottingham hosts GB vs Italy ice hockey World Championship warm-up
Great Britain face Italy at the Motorpoint Arena today in the second of four exhibition games before the 2026 World Championship, with several Nottingham Panthers favourites in the squad.
Morning briefing Nottingham
Temperature
11° to 19°C
Rain
Rain this evening
Wind
Gusts 16 mph
Sunset
20:33
Ride details Good to ride
Recommended gear
- Light layers
Best times to ride
Breezy today
- 06 11°
- 09 13°
- 12 17°
- 15 19°
- 18 19°
- 21 17°
The Motorpoint Arena sees Great Britain face off against Italy on the ice today for the second of four games building up to the World Championships. Home favourites Josh Tetlow, Johnny Curran, and Ollie Betteridge are on the British team.
There are four games played against Italy before the IIHF World Championship 2026. The first was on Thursday in Milton Keynes, where Italy managed to win 4-6. Ex-Panther Logan Neilson scored twice in the first period. Johnny Curran and Brett Perlini both scored too, but the Italian side played a cleaner game, which included an empty net goal in the last minute. Two penalties were given to the British side, with a clean bill for the away team.
The second match will hopefully fair better for the home team today. The final two matches are in Italy: on the Sunday 10th May at 15:30 and Tuesday 12th May at 18:50 in Varese.
These matches are exhibition games - with no impact on tournament rankings - and so the score itself doesn't matter too much. National players spend more time with their local teams, so these games are used as serious warming up to get ready for the Championship. Brad Jenion and Travis Brown had never iced for Britain before this week, and so the team building done across these four games is crucial.
Italy are a good choice for us to test our mettle against. Both teams were promoted back to the top division of international play during the 2025 Division I tournament, with GB getting a gold medal and Italy scoring a silver. Italy are eager to show that they've improved in that time - as we saw on Thursday.
There are still a few tickets left for the match today at the Motorpoint. The tickets available are further up the stands, but fear not: the atmosphere reaches all the way back there and it's often easier to follow the fast paced game with a wider view. All four games are streamed on gbicehockey.tv too.
