Thomas Tragust

Thomas Tragust (b. May 28th 1986 in Silandro, Bolzano, Italy) is an Italian goaltender who plays for SHC Fassa of the Serie A.

The much promising player emerged as one of the best young Italian players when he joined HC Merano. He made his Serie A debut on October 16th 2003, blanking HC Val Pusteria 6-0 and becoming the youngest netminder to prevent his opponents from scoring for the whole 60 minutes of a Serie A game.

Tragust did very well with the U18 and U20 Italian National Teams, so well in fact that his continuous progresses incitated senior squad head coach Mickey Goulet to select him to participate in the 2006 World Championship in replacement to Günther Hell, who was initially choosen to be Jason Muzzatti's back up. When the Italian squad faced hard times and found itself in the relegation round despite its continuous hard work, Goulet decided it might be a good idea to bring Tragust in, in order to relieve Muzzatti from all the work on his shoulders. He made his debuts in the third period of the game against champions Sweden. When Italy faced the Slovenian National Team in the relegation round, absolutely needing a tie or a win to maintain themselves in the Elite for the next season. After Muzzatti offered a poor performance and the Azzuri found themselves down 3-0, Goulet choose to bring Tragust in the game in replacement for Muzzatti. His courage and determination woke up his teammates; a pair of goals by Luca Ansoldi and one by Michele Strazzabosco made 3-3 and secured in extremis a place for Italy in the 2007 World Championship.

Tragust, along with Strazzabosco, was invited to the Buffalo Sabres' training camp held in September. The two became the first Italian-born players to receive one such an invitation. Both did well, but if Strazzabosco failed to sign a contract in North America, Tragust impressed enough to earn a spot with the Texas Tornado of the North American Hockey League. He played a single season there before returning to Italy in 2007, signing with SHC Fassa.