MILAN (AP) — Dustin Gazley grew up in Novi, Michigan, played hockey at Michigan State, led the ECHL in scoring one season and skated in more than 300 games in the American Hockey League. Then he took his talents to Europe and settled in Bolzano in the Italian Alps.
"I haven’t looked back," Gazley said.
Now he's playing for Italy at the Olympics on home ice in Milan. Since the host country opted against seeking out NHL players with Italian ancestry, more than half of the roster is homegrown talent while the rest is made up of foreigners with heritage whose winding roads through the sport unpredictably took them to this point.
"It is a melting pot for sure — we are all proud to be Italian," said Thomas Larkin, who was born in London to an Italian mother and an American father, grew up in Varese just outside Milan, played college hockey at Colgate and also spent some time in the AHL and ECHL. “A melting pot is really what Italy has always been, historically, so I think it’s a pretty good representation in that sense.”
Gazley and Nick Saracino, a St. Louis native like Matthew and Brady Tkachuk, are Italy's two U.S.-born players. Eight are from Canada and one is from Sweden.
The women's team also has some help from abroad, with five Americans and three Canadians. Calgary's Gabriella Durante backstopped Italy into the quarterfinals at the Olympics for the first time.
"It’s been an absolutely amazing ride," said Amie Varano, who's from Duxbury, Massachusetts and whose family came from Calabria. “I’ve always been proud of my Italian heritage. I grew up with all the culture. And once I got my passport, it was just like this proud feeling that I could someday represent this amazing country on the world stage, let alone an Olympics.”
A similar process unfolded for other players from North America to get an Italian passport and/or citizenship, who then have to spend two years with the national team to be eligible. Even then, Saracino knew it wasn't a sure thing.
“I knew Italy was hosting an Olympics ... but didn’t know if I was going to be able to make the team as I was getting older and the way your career goes,” said Saracino, who is 33. “I was able to stick it out, and it’s been a pretty cool experience.”
Now 37, Gazley got his passport while in high school, right around the time he was playing under-16 hockey in the same league as Patrick Kane, just in case he ever went overseas. Before that, he spent time with the AHL's Hershey Bears and attended Washington Capitals training camp, where he shared the ice with Alex Ovechkin.
“I had to go one on one against that guy in practice,” Gazley said. “It wasn’t fun.”
Gazley is in Milan and Ovechkin is not, with Russia barred from team sports at the Olympics because of its war in Ukraine.
Also at the Games is Vancouver native Matt Bradley, a 2015 fifth-round pick of the Montreal Canadiens whose time in North America was derailed by injury and a golf ball-sized benign tumor in his nose that sidelined him for significant time. He knows his 95-year-old grandfather Guido Garzitto will be watching.
“He’ll be watching every game, so to be here and be representing where he’s from, it’s pretty special,” Bradley said, acknowledging there are some familiarities in Italy from where he grew up. “Just the way guys talk to each other and the screaming matches and the talking with your hands: Little things like that remind me of home.”
Larkin left home in Italy to cross the Atlantic because there was no developmental path there in hockey. He's hoping eventually, like in soccer and other sports, there is enough growth that foreign assistance is not needed at such tournaments in the future.
For now, he is wrapping himself in the flag and glad to have teammates from elsewhere doing the same.
“The dream is always to stay here and to make the place where you are at better and not need to look abroad for development, whether that’s in hockey or in other jobs,” Larkin said. “Everyone loves Italy and wants to make it better, so if guys are proud to wear these colors and the blood runs Italian, that’s good with me.”
This story was corrected to fix Amie Varano's first name.
AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
FILE - Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin, left, from Russia, works against forward Dustin Gazley during practice at their NHL hockey practice facility, Friday, Sept. 15, 2017 in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
Japan's Suzuka Maeda, left, challenges Italy's Amie Varano during a preliminary round match of women's ice hockey between Japan and Italy at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
Italy's goalkeeper Gabriella Durante (1) makes a save in the third period against Germany during a preliminary round match of women's ice hockey at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
