Fassa

The valley of Fassa had its ice long before it had a league to play in, and when a hockey club took shape there in 1955 it carried the name of the village itself: Canazei. Three decades later it became HC Fassa, and only in 2015 did the Falcons name arrive.

What the club never quite shed is its place in the Ladin valleys. Across the mountains sits Val Gardena, and matches against HC Gherdëina are played as the Derby Ladino, a fixture that carries the shared language and history of the two valleys rather than just the standings.

The names people in Canazei still bring up are not always the highest scorers. Martino Soracreppa's number, 22, hangs retired for games played rather than goals scored, and Thomas Dantone's 20 sits beside it. For a season in the late 1990s an NHL name passed through the valley too, Tony Amonte turning out for the club in 1997–98 before returning to the United States.

That same era produced the closest the club has come to silverware: a run to the 1998 Coppa Italia final, lost to HC CourmAosta. No Serie A title followed it, and none came before it either. Fassa stayed in Italy's top flight until 2016–17, then spent eight seasons in the multi-national Alps Hockey League before dropping back into Italy's second tier for 2024–25, still chasing the one trophy the Ladin valley has never actually won.