Paolo Della Bella

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Paolo Gerolamo Della Bella (born September 12, 1977, Lugano, Switzerland) is a Swiss ice hockey goaltender.

He played for the Swiss national team in four European and Junior Championships (1994-1997) and was elected the team's best player in 1994 and 1995. He has also played around 100 national team exhibition games for Switzerland (junior and senior team).

He graduated from the University of Ottawa in 2001 with a bachelor's degree in business administration. While on the hockey team there, he was voted the teams most valuable player in 1998-99 and was named to the OUA all-star team.

Della Bella was the first European to ever play in the Russian Super League, playing for Metallurg Magnitogorsk. Throughout his career he played in Switzerland (for HC Ambri-Piotta, HC Davos and HC Lugano in Nationalliga A and for HC Ajoie and HC La Chaux-de-Fonds in Nationalliga B), Canada (at the University of Ottawa), USA (for the Knoxville Ice Bears of the ACHL and for the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks of the AHL) and Italy (HC Varese and HC Vipers Junior Milano).

Della Bella experienced success for many of the teams he played for in Europe. He helped Ambri-Piotta to their first Swiss junior championship in 1995 and was the first European to win the Russian championship with Magnitogorsk in 2000-2001. He won the European Cup with them in the same year and in 2005-2006 won his first Italian championship with Milan.