3:5! Austria lose to Norway at the World Cham­pi­onship

Image info: Paul Huber and Austria battled fiercely against Norway at the World Championship and narrowly lost - Photo: GEPA pictures/Daniel Goetzhaber

Following their sensational 2:1 penalty-shot win over Czechia, Austria faced Norway in their second World Championship match within 24 hours, the first genuine crunch game in the battle to stay in the top division. Compared to the historic victory over Czechia, their first win in the 20th meeting, Head Coach Roger Bader once again made several changes to the line-up. 

David Kickert once again started in place of Bernhard Starkbaum, who was listed as the back-up goaltender this time. The first forward line remained unchanged, with Marco Kasper again starting on the left wing and Brian Lebler lining up as right wing alongside centre Lukas Haudum. Captain Thomas Raffl returned from his rest to the second forward line with Benjamin Nissner and Peter Schneider. The third line also remained unchanged: Ali Wukovits played at centre, Manuel Ganahl was on the left and Nico Feldner on the right. Paul Huber, Oliver Achermann and Simeon Schwinger made up the fourth line.

Nico Brunner was moved back to defence, where he played alongside Philipp Wimmer in the fourth defensive pairing. Clemens Unterweger and David Maier formed the first pairing. Dominique Heinrich once again faced the opposition forwards alongside Kilian Zündel, while Dominic Hackl formed a defensive pairing with Bernd Wolf. Erik Kirchschläger was given a rest this time.

Norway had opened their World Championship campaign with a 0:5 defeat to Finland last Friday, battled to a 4:3 penalty-shot win over Great Britain on Sunday after leading 3:0, and lost 2:3 to Latvia on Monday. Their last meeting with Norway came on 7 February 2020 in the Austria Cup in Klagenfurt. Austria won 2:0, avenging the 1:3 defeat they had suffered a few months earlier in Lorenskog, Norway.

Before their 54th meeting overall, Austria's record against Norway stood at 53 games: 18 wins, five draws and 30 defeats. Despite their strong performances in recent days, Austria entered the match as underdogs. Norway are an established top-division nation, with the Scandinavians having competed continuously at the top-level World Championship since 2006.

Quick opener followed by quick equaliser

Austria began the match at the Nokia Arena in front of 6.137 fans full of confidence and converted their first power play to take a 1:0 lead. Six seconds before Norway's penalty expired, Dominique Heinrich fired from the blue line into the right corner (7). Norway Head Coach Petter Thoresen called a coach's challenge for alleged goaltender interference by Thomas Raffl, but the goal stood after video review. Under the rules, the ÖEHV side were awarded another power play.

After an Austrian blackout on the power play, Mats Rosseli Olsen suddenly broke away alone on David Kickert and scored a shorthanded equaliser for 1:1 (8). Austria then regrouped and took control of the game. Another power play went unused, before Austria successfully killed off a penalty. Towards the end of the first period, Thomas Raffl was sent off for slashing.

Norway began the second period on the power play and, exactly one second after the penalty expired, Andreas Martinsen scored the 2:1 after 55 seconds (21). This time, Head Coach Roger Bader called a coach's challenge, but the goal stood and resulted in a two-minute penalty for delaying the game. Austria nevertheless came through this dangerous spell.

Max Krogdahl was then sent off for delaying the game. And Austria struck again on the power play. Lukas Haudum fired a powerful wrist shot through a defender's legs and past goaltender Haukeland to level at 2:2 (27). Manuel Ganahl had perfectly screened the Norwegian netminder. Just under five minutes later, a penalty against Austria was signalled and Norway took a 3:2 lead through Martin Røymark (32). It was unfortunate, as Manuel Ganahl deflected a shot by Michael Haga and the puck went into the net off Røymark's skate.

The final period got off to the worst possible start. Philipp Wimmer was handed a match penalty and sent off for a check to the head. That put Austria shorthanded for five minutes. Just under two minutes before those five minutes expired, Norway's Mats Rosseli Olsen was penalised for tripping. Shortly afterwards, Peter Schneider was sent off for slashing. During this phase, Norway had a 5:3 power play for a few seconds, which Mats Rosseli Olsen converted to make it 4:2. He surprised goaltender David Kickert at the near post (48).

Austria battle bravely back into the game

With four and a half minutes remaining, Austria had a power play which goalscorer Peter Schneider used to pull one back from the left side for 3:4 (56). The ÖEHV team battled bravely and pressed hard for an equaliser, which was in the air on several occasions. Head Coach Roger Bader pulled goaltender David Kickert and risked everything in the closing stages. With 13 seconds remaining, Martin Rønnild sealed Norway's 5:3 win with an empty-net goal (60).

Head Coach Roger Baderassessed the match against Norway after the final whistle as follows: "I am pleased with the finish; the final period was strong. We almost equalised before the Norwegians scored the empty-net goal. But we struggled to get into the game, and we played too complicatedly at the start. That led to turnovers which then cost us energy defensively. It took half the game before we really got going. Unfortunately, it was not quite enough in the end. There was certainly a degree of mental fatigue in the fourth game in five days, which is understandable. Nevertheless, I would have liked us to start the game better."

According to Bader, regeneration is now the order of the day for the Austrian team ahead of the Latvia match: "The team will have a completely free day on Thursday, which means we will have no training and no meeting; we will only go on the ice with the players who did not play today."

Captain Thomas Raffl analysed the narrow defeat against Norway after the final siren: "Of course, it is disappointing afterwards. We had envisaged the game differently. I think we started well with the power-play goal straight away. Then, on the very next power play, we unfortunately made a small mistake and conceded a shorthanded goal. In the end, we made one or two mistakes which were punished. Norway are a good nation and we have now had four games in five days. We have to keep our heads up. Thursday is a day off, so it is time to recover and then the next opportunity against Latvia is just around the corner!"

Looking ahead to Friday's game against Latvia, Raffl said: "We have already shown very often at this World Championship that we can play very good ice hockey, and we will need nothing different against the Latvians. We simply need our best performance, a strong team game, and then it can work out in the end!"

Latvia await Austria on Friday

After a day off, Austria will face Latvia on Friday at prime time at 19:20, with ORF Sport+ once again broadcasting live. Head Coach Harijs Vitolins' team began the World Championship last Friday with a 1:4 defeat against the USA, then pushed hosts Finland all the way in Saturday's 1:2 defeat, before securing their first win – 3:2 – against Norway on Monday. Before facing Austria, Latvia must first take on the Czech Republic on Thursday.

13–29 May 2022
Hosts: Finland (Tampere & Helsinki)
Defending champions: Canada

Austria schedule

Norway vs. Austria 5:3 (1:1,2:1,2:1)
Wed, 18 May 2022, 15:20, Nokia Arena Tampere
Norway goalscorers: Mats Rosseli Olsen (8/SH, 48/PP2), Andreas Martinsen (21), Martin Røymark (32), Martin Rønnild (60/EN)
Austria goalscorers: Dominique Heinrich (7/PP1), Lukas Haudum (27/PP1), Peter Schneider (57/PP)

Latvia vs. Austria
Fri, 20 May 2022, 19:20, live on ORF Sport+

Austria vs. Finland
Sat, 21 May 2022, 15:20, live on ORF Sport+

Austria vs. Great Britain
Mon, 23 May 2022, 19:20, live on ORF Sport+

Already played:

Czechia vs. Austria 1:2 after a penalty shoot-out (1:0,0:0,0:1,0:0,0:1)
Tue, 17 May 2022, 15:20, Nokia Arena Tampere
Czechia scorer: Roman Červenka (18th minute)
Austria scorers: Brian Lebler (60th minute), Peter Schneider decisive penalty (65th minute)

Austria vs. USA 2:3 after overtime (1:0,1:1,0:1,0:1)
Sun, 15 May 2022, 15:20, Nokia Arena Tampere
Austria scorers: Benjamin Nissner (15th minute), Paul Huber (35th minute)
USA scorers: Kieffer Bellows (35th minute), Adam Gaudette (49th minute/PP1), Luke Hughes (63th minute)

Sweden vs. Austria 3:1 (2:1,1:0,0:0)
Sat, 14 May 2022, 11:20, Nokia Arena Tampere
Sweden scorers: Joel Kellman (3rd minute), Max Friberg (17th minute), Joakim Nordström (33rd minute)
Austria scorer: Peter Schneider (20th minute)