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Matt Bradley’s playing for his nonno, 95 year old Guido Garzitto
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Published Feb 10, 2026 • 4 minute read
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Italian Olympic hockey team player Matt Bradley. Hockey fans in east Vancouver will be watching the team and Vancouverite in blue when Italy faces off against Sweden’s team on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. Photo Credit FISG/Vanna Antonello. For Patrick Johnston. Photo by FISG/Vanna Antonello.Article content
MILAN — When Italy faces off Wednesday against Sweden in men’s hockey at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Games there will be plenty of Vancouver hockey fans tuning in to see how Elias Pettersson does.
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But in at least one home in east Vancouver, a 95-year-old man with deep roots in Italy will be looking at the team in blue.
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Guido Garzitto, who grew up in a small village outside of Udine, in the northeastern province of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, and moved to Canada as young man and found prosperity here, will surely be beaming with pride when he spots his grandson Matt Bradley hit the ice.
“He’ll be watching every game, so to be here and be representing where he’s from, it’s pretty special,” a beaming Bradley told reporters on Sunday, after one of Team Italy’s last practices before the Olympic tournament got under way.
For Bradley, it’s been a remarkable journey to get to Milan. He started his hockey life playing for Vancouver Minor, then his family moved to White Rock, where he kept playing for Semiahmoo. He was talented enough to draw the attention of scouts for the Valley West Hawks of the B.C. Major Midget League, where he played for two years. After an eight-game stint with the BCHL’s Surrey Eagles, Bradley was scooped up by the Medicine Hat Tigers for the 2014 WHL playoffs and dressed in 17 games as the Tigers made the Western Conference final. After a strong 2014-15, he was picked in the fifth round by the Montreal Canadiens.
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He attended two summer development camps for the Habs, but got hurt in the summer of 2016. That injury, in its own way, put him on a course away from his original NHL dreams and toward where he is now, playing for his nonno.
Italian Olympic hockey team player Matt Bradley. Hockey fans in east Vancouver will be watching the team and Vancouverite in blue when Italy faces off against Sweden’s team on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. Photo by Vanna Antonello /FISG
In the first period of the first scrimmage of the Canadiens’ development camp that summer, he separated his shoulder. He spent the summer rehabbing, but it kept him from being able to skate in the Canadiens’ rookie camp that September. And that’s when the Canadiens’ medics discovered another problem — a large benign tumour growing in his nasal cavity. He had broken his nose the previous spring and spent four months struggling to breathe.
“They said I was born with it, and just breaking my nose kind of triggered the growth of it,” Bradley explained. “But yeah, it became a serious issue, and Montreal helped me get rid of it and get back to being healthy.”
Even though his NHL dream didn’t play out with the Habs, who didn’t offer him a contract, he has nothing but good things to say about the Canadiens.
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“No bad things to say about them. It was first-class organization. And they showed me what it takes to become a pro and what I had to do,” he said. “They got me in to see the best doctors and helped me get my health back to normal. So I can thank them for that. But just unfortunate timing.”
He could have been drafted anew in 2017, but passed. The Regina Pats scooped him up as an overager and he played in five Memorial Cup games with the hosts in 2018, who lost in the final to the Acadie-Bathurst Titan.
Off his solid junior career, the Toronto Maple Leafs signed him to a minor-league contract. He spent two seasons in the ECHL with the Newfoundland Growlers, where he proved to be handy two-way player. He skated in two AHL games for the Toronto Marlies, then moved on for two more seasons with the Greenville Swamp Rabbits before he moved to Europe, first signing in Vienna.
He realized he was eligible for an Italian passport, and the rest is history. Living in Italy, playing for Italy, getting to know his Italian teammates, it’s all given him flashbacks of his nonno and his Italian community back in Vancouver.
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“There’s little things,” he said. “Just the way guys talk to each other, and the screaming matches and the talking with your hands — little things like that reminds me of home. It’s awesome.”
Italian Olympic hockey team player Matt Bradley. Hockey fans in east Vancouver will be watching the team and Vancouverite in blue when Italy faces off against Sweden’s team on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026.Photo Credit FISG/Vanna Antonello. For Patrick Johnston. Photo by Vanna Antonello /FISG
He has skated with Bolzano in the Italian league the last two years and finally made his Italian national team debut this winter, playing four times for the Azzurri. And then there he was last Friday, walking into the San Siro Stadium for the Olympic opening ceremony. That’s when it finally seemed real.
“Just looking up at all the people from all over the world. That was pretty special,” he said.
But he is also here to shock the world. Italy are the hosts. Yes, they’re underdogs. Yes, it will be fun to be in the Olympic Village with a whole bunch of NHL stars. But they have each other. They’re here to get it done.
“We’re not just here to ‘enjoy the Olympics,’” he said. “We’re here to compete and do the best we can. So we got a great group and it’s been a fun week together at practice.”
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