Thomas Tragust is a

goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as goalie or netminder) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their own team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays ...

for Italy at the

2006 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships The 2006 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships was the 70th such event hosted by the International Ice Hockey Federation. Teams representing 45 countries participated in four levels of competition. The competition also served as qualifications for ...

and the

Texas Tornado The Texas Tornado were a Junior A hockey team located in Frisco, Texas, USA. The team joined the North American Hockey League's Central division in 1999 (and moved into the newly formed southern division three years later) while located in Nor ...

of the

NAHL Nahl or NAHL may refer to: * Nahl (surname) * National Accident Helpline, a British personal injury lawyer service * North American Hockey League, an American junior hockey league * North American Hockey League (1973–1977), an American profession ...

. He participated at three

IIHF World Championship The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF; ; ) is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 84 member countries. The IIHF maintains the IIHF World Ranking based on international ice hockey tour ...

s as a member of the Italian National men's ice hockey team.

Career

Before North America

Tragust began to play

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

Latsch Latsch (; ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) and a village in the province of South Tyrol in northern Italy, located about northwest of the city of Bolzano Bolzano ( ; ; or ) is the capital city of South Tyrol (officially the province of B ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, until he was eleven years old. Afterwards, he played for

Meran Merano (, ; ) or Meran () is a (municipality) in South Tyrol, Northern Italy. Generally best known for its spa resorts, it is located within a basin, surrounded by mountains standing up to above sea level, at the entrance to the Passeier Va ...

. In 2003, he debuted in the A1 series, the premier ice hockey league in Italy, where in his first game he recorded a 6-0

shutout In team sports, a shutout (North American English, US) or clean sheet (Commonwealth English, UK) is a game in which the losing team fails to score. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketba ...

. He led the team to two national championships. In 2005, he played for Italy at the

IIHF World U-20 Hockey Championship The IIHF World Junior Championship (WJC), sometimes referred to as World Juniors, is an annual event organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) for national under-20 ice hockey teams from around the world. It is traditionally ...

in Division I. He missed out on selection for the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics (), officially the XX Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February in Turin, Italy. This marked the second time Italy had hosted the Winter O ...

held in

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

, but in the

2006 IIHF World Championship The 2006 IIHF World Championship was held in between 5–21 May 2006 in Riga, Latvia. It was the 70th annual event, and was run by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). One of the requirements of the IIHF for Latvia to host the event ...

, Tragust was on the roster and got his break in the final game, when they were risking demotion to Group B. Italy was down 3-0 to Slovenia when head coach Mickey Goulet pulled veteran Jason Muzzatti in favour of Tragust, who ended up helping the Italians to tie the game. After Tragust left Meran, the team dropped to the second division.

North America and return to Italy

He was the starting goalie for the

. Having attended development camp with the Buffalo Sabres, he is seeking to further his professional career, possibly playing in the NHL. He returned to his native land to play for

HC Fassa HC Fassa Falcons, previously known as HC Fassa, is an ice hockey team from Canazei, Italy. Between 2016 and 2024, they played in the Alps Hockey League, and previously also played in the top division of Italian ice hockey, the Serie A The Se ...

. He also played for Italy at the

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

and

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

World Championships (four matches at each tournament, all defeats), and was on the roster for the

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

edition but did not make an appearance (other than in

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

, when he was not selected, Italy did not qualify for the elite level world finals in the odd-numbered years of that period, nor for the

2010 Winter Olympics The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Vancouver 2010 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held from February 12 to 28, 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with ...

References

External links

*
Interview with Tragust about playing ice hockey in North America
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tragust, Thomas 1986 births Living people Italian ice hockey goaltenders Germanophone Italian people People from Schlanders SHC Fassa players Ice hockey people from South Tyrol Italian expatriate ice hockey people Expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Italian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Texas Tornado players Italian expatriate ice hockey players in Germany Expatriate ice hockey players in Austria Italian expatriate ice hockey people in Germany Italian expatriate sportspeople in Austria ESV Kaufbeuren players HC Pustertal Wölfe players HC TWK Innsbruck players Ritten Sport players HC Merano players