Austria defeat world cham­pions Czechia in over­time at the ice hockey festival in Linz!

Three years ago, at the 2022 World Championship in Tampere, Austria celebrated their first-ever victory over Czechia. Last year, our neighbours won gold at their home World Championship and, just two days ago, still beat the red-white-red players 4:0 in Znojmo (CZE). However, they studied that game closely, were even more aggressive in their own zone and made few, if any, mistakes.

Throughout the full 60 minutes, Austria proved to be an awkward and evenly matched opponent, going hard into battles and even having a chance to take the lead after an impressive solo effort by Lukas Haudum in the 10th minute. At the back, they could rely on David Kickert, who denied several Czechia chances.

In the 28th minute, however, Kickert was powerless while shorthanded. Czechia took a 1:0 lead and carried it into the second interval. After the restart, Paul Huber levelled the score following a pass from Felix Koschek, who was making his national team debut, despite having needed stitches to his left foot in the dressing room shortly beforehand.

The arena, packed with 3.800 fans, was rocking. Chants of “Austria” echoed around the arena and did not fall silent even after Czechia regained the lead in the 46th minute, as Lukas Haudum equalised just 31 seconds later. Czechia went ahead once more (48th) before Benjamin Baumgartner made it 3:3 on the power play.

In overtime, Dominic Zwerger became the match-winner and subsequently spoke of the confidence gained for the upcoming challenges: “We played a very good game over 60 minutes. Czechia kept taking the lead and we kept coming back and showing character. Great credit to the whole team for today’s performance. We looked at the mistakes we made in Czechia, corrected them well, and today we scored the goals we did not score in Czechia. We come out of this week with our heads held high and are ready for next week.”

Paul Huber: “I think we delivered a tremendous team performance. Compared to the last friendly games, the goals went in this time. The team showed how good we can be. Now we move on to Germany and, if we can produce that kind of performance again, we can beat them too. A goal is always good for your confidence.”

Head Coach Roger Bader: “Fundamentally, it was a very good performance, and I would honestly say that even if we had lost in overtime. We were able to keep up with the skating pace, got involved in the battles and improved. We already defended well on Thursday, but today we created scoring chances. It was definitely a good step, and of course it is a nice side effect that the players were rewarded with a win.”

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP PREPARATION

Austria vs. Czechia 4:3 after overtime (0:0,0:1,3:2,1:0)
Sat, 19 April 2025, 17:30, Linz
Austria scorers: Paul Huber (43nd), Lukas Haudum (46th), Benjamin Baumgartner (55th/PP1), Dominic Zwerger (61st)
Czechia scorers: Jiří Černoch (28th/PP1), Adam Kubík (46th), Jaromír Pytlík (48th)

Further games:

Austria vs. Germany
Thu, 24 April 2025, 19:00, Zell am See, live on ORF SPORT + & Krone TV

Germany vs. Austria
Sat, 26 April 2025, 17:00, Rosenheim (GER), live on ORF SPORT +

Austria vs. Canada
Sun, 4 May 2025, 19:00, Vienna STEFFL Arena, live on ORF SPORT + & Krone TV

Already played:

Czechia vs. Austria 4:0 (1:0,1:0,2:0)
Thu, 17 April 2025, 19:00, Znojmo (CZE)
Czechia goalscorers: Jiří Černoch (19'), Filip Přikryl (27'), Daniel Kurovský (57'), Kristian Reichel (59')

Hungary vs. Austria 5:1 (0:1,2:0,3:0)
Fri, 11 April 2025, 18:00, Ajka (HUN)
Hungary goalscorers: Márk Schlekmann (34'/PP1), István Terbócs (39', 48'), Dominik Horváth (46'/PP1), Gergő Ambrus (49'/SH1)
Austria goalscorer: Paul Huber (8')

Hungary vs. Austria 4:2 (1:0,1:1,2:1)
Thu, 10 April 2025, 19:00, Fehervar (HUN)
Hungary goalscorers: Vilmos Galló (7'/PP1), István Terbócs (33'), Balázs Varga (44'/PP2), Roland Kiss (50')
Austria goalscorers:Ramon Schnetzer (34'), Paul Huber (46')

Austria vs. Latvia 1:4 (0:0,0:2,1:2)
Sat, 5 April 2025, 16:20, Vienna Hall 3 STEFFL Arena
Austria scorers:Dominic Zwerger (53')
Latvia scorers:Georgijs Golovkovs (22'), Anri Ravinskis (39', 41'), Rihards Bukarts (48'/PP1)

Austria vs. Latvia 2:3 after overtime (1:0,0:2,1:0,0:1)
Fri, 4 April 2025, 16:20, Vienna Hall 3 STEFFL Arena
Austria scorers: Benjamin Lanzinger (19'), Dominic Zwerger (55')
Latvia scorers: Nauris Sējējs (28'), Kristaps Skrastiņš (29'), Miks Tumānovs (62')

2025 IIHF ICE HOCKEY WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

9 - 25 May 2025, Stockholm, Sweden & Herning, Denmark

Austria vs. Finland
Fri, 09 May 2025, Globe Arena, 16:20,live on ORF 1

Sweden vs. Austria
Sat, 10 May 2025, Globe Arena, 16:20,live on ORF 1

Austria vs. Slovakia
Mon, 12 May 2025, Globe Arena, 16:20,live on ORF 1

Canada vs. Austria
Thu, 15 May 2025, Globe Arena, 20:20live on ORF 1

Austria vs. France
Fri, 16 May 2025, Globe Arena, 16:20live on ORF 1

Slovenia vs. Austria
Sun, 18 May 2025, Globe Arena, 16:20live on ORF 1

Latvia vs. Austria
Tue, 20 May 2025, Globe Arena, 12:20live on ORF 1