Right now, with the hot phase of the Alps Hockey League and the IHL-Series A coming up, Jari Sailio will be missing for quite some time. A groin injury has put a strain on the Finnish winger, forcing him to stop for at least six weeks. An absence that pushed Adolf Insam to look around on the market. The sport director of the Rittner Buam found what he was looking for 25 kilometers away from the Ritten Arena, at the Palaonda of Bolzano. With Dylan Di Perna, therefore, a defenseman of the HCB Alto Adige Alperia will be on loan on Renon until the end of the 2021/22 season.

"Dylan Di Perna is a very strong and physically present player. He comes from a higher category championship and can help us in many areas, such as game building, power play and penalty killing. But, above all, he brings a lot of stability in our defense, where we need a player who is particularly effective in the one-on-one", says Insam commenting the signing of the defenseman, 1,88 meters tall and 92 kilograms of weight.

In the last two seasons, Dylan Di Perna, born on April 26, 1996 in Mississauga, Canada, but in possession of the double citizenship Canadian and Italian, has played 80 ICE Hockey League games and seven Champions Hockey League games for the HCB Alto Adige Alperia. As a youngster, he played two OHL games for the Kingston Frontenacs in the 2012/13 season, later transferring to the Kitchener Rangers, the Frontenacs' direct opponents in the league. In his 313 games played to date, he has scored 21 goals and made 65 assists. In 2017, he moved on to the USports college league. In his three seasons in a Saint Mary's University uniform, he collected 55 points in 109 matches. He later signed with HCB Alto Adige Alperia.

On Monday night, Dylan Di Perna trained with the Rittner Buam and will most likely be involved in his first Alps Hockey League game on Thursday, January 20, at the home game against the Red Bull Hockey Juniors.

Photo: HCB/Vanna Antonello