The Italians began their semi-final strongly against the United States, with the host nation moving into a 3-2 lead at the halfway point of the contest.

Connor Cafferty had been the key player for the American side in the first period, scoring both of their goals, but the Italian defence were largely able to prevent him from having an influence in the second half.

While the United States were briefly able to draw level through Charles Baldwin, goals from Emanuele Ferrari and Tommaso Traversa saw the Italian team emerge as 5-3 winners against the 15-time champions.

The Italians will now appear in the final for the second time in their history, but face the daunting prospect of taking on the Czech Republic, who have won three of the last five editions of the competition.

However, they will head into the tie bouyed by their 4-3 victory over the Czech team in the group stage of the tournament.

France, though, had nearly eliminated the defending champions from the competition after taking the Czech’s to extra-time in the second semi-final, with the scores locked at 2-2.

Lukas Cik scored the crucial goal to give the Czech Republic a 3-2 victory and advance to the final.

The home crowd will also be able to cheer on an Italian team in the women’s junior final, despite their team falling to a 3-2 defeat to Finland in their last group game.

Due to their better goal difference than Canada, the Italian team ended as runners-up in the group to progress.

They will begin as huge underdogs when they take on Spain, who triumphed in all seven of their group matches.