Milan, 10 February (LaPresse) – Everything is ready for Italy's debut in the men's hockey tournament, with Sweden as their opponent tomorrow at the Milano Hockey Arena Santagiulia. After today's training session, Thomas Larkin spoke to the Azzurri about the possibility of competing in the Winter Olympics at home: ‘It's hard to describe how special it is to play in the Olympics in your hometown. My mother grew up 15 minutes from here, I grew up 45 minutes from here. I left Italy 21 years ago, thinking I would spend a year playing hockey somewhere else, without thinking that I would come full circle and return here for the Olympics,’ he said. ‘The other day, I rode my scooter to my aunt's house to spend time with my cousins and their children, places I've been to all my life. To think that now the whole hockey world is here is incredibly surreal for me,’ added the Italian player. On the presence of National Hockey League (NHL) stars at the Olympic Village, Larkin revealed that ‘when all the NHL players showed up, and we were all in the cafeteria at the same time, it was a bit of a shock to see some of these players in our same line at the buffet. That's when I realised that we're all here for the same tournament and that we all play the same sport.’