Ahead of the next World Cham­pi­onship double-header: Five times is a charm!

It will be no easy task, as Denmark’s World Championship team cannot be compared with either of the two sides Austria beat 3:1 at the Deutschland Cup and 3:0 at the Four Nations Tournament in Denmark. 

“We are the underdogs, and that is a good thing,” stresses Head Coach Roger Bader and adds: “Denmark have a good team with many good players competing in the SHL (note: Svenska Hockeyligan), topped off by NHL player Nikolaj Ehlers. We have already beaten them twice, but against different teams that only had half as much to do with the team now playing at the World Championship. Nevertheless, we will take that motivation into tomorrow’s game.”

Another improvement will be required to secure a first win at this World Championship, says Roger Bader: “In general, we want to improve from game to game. We already managed that well yesterday against Sweden. Now we have to improve again, look at what makes Denmark special and provide the right answers. To be successful, we need to be well organised defensively in all three zones, attack the player aggressively and put him under pressure, and our penalty kill has to be strong, because Denmark have already scored four power-play goals. We also need to execute our counter-attacks in a way that allows us to score.”

Denmark opened their World Championship with a 3:1 win over Hungary and prevailed 4:3 in overtime against France last Sunday. Austria and Denmark have faced each other 39 times in total, with Austria holding a positive record of 29 wins, one draw and nine defeats. The ninth and most recent of those defeats came on 5 May 2019, when Austria lost 1:3 to the Scandinavians in Vienna. Austria won each of the following four encounters, scoring three goals on each occasion.

USA in midweek

There is little time for Austria’s players to catch their breath. They will face the USA as early as Wednesday at 15:20, after the Americans impressed with their opening 4:1 win over Finland and a 7:1 victory against Hungary. 

“The USA have a really strong team. We must not get the wrong impression simply because we went to overtime against them last year. Their results so far have also shown how strong they are,” analyses Head Coach Roger Bader, whose focus is currently solely on the Denmark game.

David Reinbacher update

An initial diagnosis has revealed no tear or partial tear of the knee ligament. It is likely to be strained. At present, it cannot yet be said whether David Reinbacher will play again at this World Championship or whether a defenceman will be called up as a replacement.

86TH IIHF ICE HOCKEY WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

12 May 2023 - 28 May 2023, Tampere (FIN) and Riga (LAT)
Group A, Tampere: Finland, USA, Sweden, Germany, Denmark, France, Austria, Hungary
Group B, Riga: Canada, Czechia, Switzerland, Slovakia, Latvia, Norway, Kazakhstan, Slovenia

Remaining schedule:
The date and time refer to our local time zone, with the local time given in brackets.

Denmark vs. Austria
Tue, 16 May 2023, 15:20 (16:20 local time)
LIVE on ORF1 (highlights at 23:15 on ORF SPORT +)

USA vs Austria
Wed, 17 May 2023, 15:20 (16:20)
LIVE on ORF1 (highlights at 22:00 on ORF SPORT +)

Austria vs Germany
Fri, 19 May 2023, 19:20 (20:20)
LIVE on ORF SPORT +

Austria vs Finland
Sat, 20 May 2023, 15:20 (16:20)
LIVE on ORF1 (highlights at 22:15 on ORF SPORT +)

Austria vs Hungary
Mon, 22 May 2023, 19:20 (20:20)
LIVE on ORF SPORT +

Already played:

France vs Austria 2:1 after overtime (1:0,0:0,0:1,1:0)
Sat, 13 May 2023, 11:20 (12:20 local time)
France goalscorers: Tim Bozon (20./PP1), Sacha Treille (61./PP1)
Austria goalscorer: Thomas Raffl (47./PP1)

Sweden vs Austria 5:0 (1:0,2:0,2:0)
Sun, 14 May 2023, 19:20 (20:20)
Sweden goalscorers: Par Lindholm (4.), Marcus Sörensen (27.), Patrik Nemeth (39.), Leo Carlsson (52.), Dennis Everberg (54.)

The current IIHF World Championship standings

All information and the full schedule can be found at www.iihf.com