3:2 after over­time! Austria victo­rious against Italy again

Austria started the second test against Italy with Magdalena Luggin in goal and took the lead in a flying start. After the first fine attack, Lena Maria Artner fired the puck home for 1:0 after exactly 26 seconds.

The red-white-red team coached by Mario Bellina was then unable to take advantage of a power play, and Italy equalised: Samantha Gius finished off a breakaway following a counter-attack to make it 1:1 (8). Once again, the two teams engaged in an evenly balanced contest at a good pace, with chances at both ends.

As in the first test on Friday, Austria then had to kill a penalty for too many players on the ice, but the penalty kill again worked very well. Shortly before the end of the period, the ÖEHV side had a power play, but could not use the opportunity in the final minute to regain the lead.

At the start of the second period, Austria built on the remaining seconds of the power play by playing offensively and looking for shots, but Italy defended their own zone very well. The forwards repeatedly created good opportunities, but lacked the necessary clinical edge in front of goal. Another power-play opportunity also went unused.

Shortly before the end of the second period, Austria pressed hard in the offensive zone and Tamara Grascher, completely unmarked in the slot, scored the deserved 2:1 lead (38). Austria's superiority over the second 20 minutes was also reflected in the shots on goal, with the tally standing at 10:5 in favour of the red-white-red team.

In the opening minutes of the final period, the Austrians tried to control the game. With five and a half minutes remaining, things became dangerous again as Italy went on the power play and quickly set up in the offensive zone. Magdalena Luggin preserved the narrow lead with some good saves.

In the end, Head Coach Massimo Fedrizzi pulled his goaltender and Anna Caumo scored the 2:2 equaliser eight seconds before the buzzer. The second test against Italy also went into three-on-three overtime, in which Antonia Matzka had the winning goal on her stick for Austria from close range.

In the final minute and a half, the ÖEHV side had a 4:3 power play. 57 seconds before the end of overtime, Tamara Grascher fired at the Italian goal and the puck trickled into the net for the 3:2 win. Austria thus celebrated another narrow success in the second test against Italy. Two-goal scorer Tamara Grascher was named player of the afternoon.

Bellina: "Valuable test games in Klagenfurt"

Assistant coach Mario Bellina drew a positive conclusion after the second win in the second test: "Today, we saw a much more active team performance, which was implemented very well by the entire team in terms of skating. We were able to create some very good chances offensively, there was plenty of movement and we got lots of pucks to the net!"

After the two test games, the team now knows what it still needs to work on before the World Championship: "We still need to work a little on our finishing; we simply need to take our chances more efficiently and make sure we score three or four goals in a game like this. Both power-play units played really good power plays, moving the puck quickly and getting to the net, exactly as we should play with the player advantage. In the defensive zone, we lost sight of opponents at times, so we need to be a little more alert. Overall, we controlled the defence well; we just need to anticipate better on deflections or when the puck takes a bounce, so that we do not give the opposition opportunities too easily."

Bellina is satisfied with the two tests in view of the World Championship: "All in all, they were two valuable test games. We already had a kind of tournament rhythm, where you have to play again the very next day. It will be exactly the same in China: one game on each of two days, followed by a day off. Today, the players went into the game much more easily and freely; on Friday there were still some nerves, as well as the 'summer legs' from summer training. It is not that easy to have four training sessions and then immediately play a game. Today was a big step forward, and that makes me very confident!"

One more test against Denmark before the World Championship begins

The team will now have one more training session in Klagenfurt on Sunday before receiving a programme from the off-ice coach for the following week. The ÖEHV delegation will travel to China on Saturday, 12 August 2023. Anna Meixner and Selma Luggin will join the team there. Before the start of the World Championship in China, Austria will face Denmark in another test on 17 August 2023.

Austria's World Championship adventure begins on Sunday, 20 August 2023, against Norway at the Dayun Hall in the Shenzhen Universiade Sports Centre. The arena, which hosted the NHL pre-season game between the Calgary Flames and the Boston Bruins in September 2018, has a total capacity of 18.000 fans.

The first three World Championship games against Norway (20 August), Denmark (21 August) and the Netherlands (23 August) can be watched live via the ÖEHV's OTT platform, LIVE.eishockey.at.

Games four and five against China (24 August) and Slovakia (26 August) will be broadcast live on ORF SPORT +. After narrowly missing out on promotion last year, Austria want to take their chances this year, especially as two nations will be promoted to the Top Division. The Austrian delegation already knows Norway, the Netherlands and Slovakia well from last year's tournament.

At the World Championship in Angers (FRA), Austria secured a narrow 2:1 shootout win over the Netherlands, followed by a 4:3 overtime win against Norway. The game against Slovakia was narrowly lost 1:2. China are something of an unknown quantity, while Denmark were relegated from the Top Division at their home tournament of all places in 2022.

Second warm-up game:

Austria vs. Italy 3:2 after overtime (1:1,1:0,0:1,1:0)
Sat., 5 August 2023, 12:30, Sepp-Puschnig-Halle
Austria scorers: Lena Maria Artner (1st minute), Tamara Grascher (38th minute, 65th minute/PP1)
Italy scorers: Samantha Gius (8th minute), Anna Caumo (60th minute)

Women's national team World Championship preparation:

2–6 August 2023, Klagenfurt

First warm-up game

Austria vs. Italy 3:2 after a shootout (0:1,2:1,0:0,0:0,1:0)
Fri., 4 August 2023, 19:15, Sepp-Puschnig-Halle
Austria scorers: Annika Fazokas (27th minute/PS), Laura Lüftenegger (38th minute/PP1), Katharina Killius (decisive shootout goal)
Italy scorers: Manuela Heidenberger (18th minute), Matilde Fantin (26th minute)

2023 IIHF Ice Hockey Women's World Championship Division IA

20 August 2023 – 26 August 2023, Shenzhen (CHN)

Schedule
Dates and times refer to Austrian local time, with the local time shown in brackets.

Austria vs. Norway
Sun., 20 August 2023, 10:30 (16:30)
Live on LIVE.eishockey.at

Denmark vs. Austria
Mon, 21 August 2023, 07:00 (13:00)
Live on LIVE.eishockey.at

Netherlands vs. Austria
Wed, 23 August 2023, 10:30 (16:30)
Live on LIVE.eishockey.at

Austria vs. China
Thu, 24 August 2023, 14:00 (20:00)
Live on ORF SPORT +

Slovakia vs. Austria
Sat, 26 August 2023, 07:00 (13:00)
Live on ORF SPORT +