Austria enter the second week of preparations with twelve new players

Following the two warm-up games against Latvia in the first week of preparations for the 2026 World Championship, a total of twelve new players will join the national team on Sunday for the second week and the game against Italy in Feldkirch. Head Coach Roger Bader is also expanding the squad from 21 to 25 skaters and has already included David Kickert, Atte Tolvanen and Florian Vorauer as the presumed goaltending trio for the World Championship. The game against Italy next Thursday at 19:00 will be broadcast live on ORF SPORT +.

11 April 20264 min read

"The early exits of EC Red Bull Salzburg and EC-KAC mean that a number of World Championship candidates are available to us at an early stage. We can therefore expand the squad to five lines as early as the second week of World Championship preparations," explains Head Coach Roger Bader, who stresses that nobody has a guaranteed place at the World Championship: "Everyone has to prove themselves and show that they belong in the World Championship team, regardless of whether they have already played at a World Championship or not."

The Swiss coach expects the younger players in particular to step up and fight for their place. The national team is expected to convene in this formation for the third week of preparations as well, when they host Czechia in Vienna. Depending on how the win2day ICE Hockey League final between Moser Medical Graz99ers and HC Falkensteiner Pustertal unfolds, the remaining World Championship candidates from the 99ers will join the national team no earlier than the fourth week.

"There will probably not be any major changes from Feldkirch to Vienna," reiterates Roger Bader. Against Italy, the Head Coach expects "us to play a good game and the players to fight to qualify for the second phase, which begins with Camp #4."

World Championship preparation squad, Camp #2

	Surname	First name	Pos	Height	Weight	Date of birth	L/R	Club	GP	G	A	PIM

30	KICKERT	David	GK	188,0	81,0	16.03.94	L	EC Red Bull Salzburg (AUT)	121	0	0	2
31	TOLVANEN	Atte	GK	182,0	84,0	23.11.94	L	EC Red Bull Salzburg (AUT)	5	0	0	0
1	VORAUER	Florian	GK	187,0	79,0	09.12.99	L	EC KAC (AUT)	30	0	0	0

5	HACKL	Dominic	D	186,0	86,0	08.11.96	L	EV Vienna Capitals (AUT)	44	0	3	14
10	KLASSEK	Thomas	D	182,0	83,0	18.02.2005	L	RPI Engineers (USA)	8	0	0	2
12	MAIER	David	D	187,0	85,0	12.01.00	R	EC KAC (AUT)	82	2	10	61
8	NICKL	Thimo	D	188,0	80,0	04.12.01	R	EC KAC (AUT)	50	1	4	25
4	SCHNETZER	Ramon	D	178,0	83,0	12.08.96	L	Pioneers Vorarlberg Eishockeyclub (AUT)	71	3	7	24
9	SÖLLINGER	Patrick	D	186,0	93,0	05.08.04	L	Steinbach Black Wings Linz (AUT)	19	1	0	16
13	STEFFLER	Devin	D	185,0	80,0	14.07.00	R	Hockey-Club TIWAG Innsbruck - Die Haie (AUT)	2	0	0	0
25	UNTERWEGER	Clemens	D	183,0	85,0	01.04.92	L	EC KAC (AUT)	91	6	24	32
27	WIMMER	Philipp	D	193,0	93,0	13.12.01	L	EC Red Bull Salzburg (AUT)	40	0	1	35
32	WOLF	Bernd	D	178,0	84,0	23.02.97	L	EHC Kloten (SUI)	119	6	19	62

28	HUBER	Mario	F	188,0	85,0	08.08.96	R	EC Red Bull Salzburg (AUT)	66	10	14	20
18	KOSCHEK	Felix	F	185,0	80,0	23.10.05	L	EV Vienna Capitals (AUT)	2	0	1	0
20	NEUBAUER	Henrik	F	183,0	90,0	15.04.97	R	Steinbach Black Wings Linz (AUT)	29	1	4	0
26	NEUMANN	Johannes	F	175,0	82,0	10.05.06	L	Rögle BK (SWE)	2	1	0	0
7	NISSNER	Benjamin	F	181,0	80,0	30.11.97	L	EC Red Bull Salzburg (AUT)	55	10	14	24
24	REBERNIG	Maximilian	F	192,0	97,0	03.09.00	L	Ice Hockey Club EC iDM Wärmepumpen VSV (AUT)	19	1	1	10
21	SCHERZER	Ian	F	181,0	89,0	03.07.05	L	RPI Engineers (USA)	9	1	2	2
3	SCHNEIDER	Peter	F	183,0	91,0	04.04.91	R	EC Red Bull Salzburg (AUT)	92	25	36	42
23	SCHWINGER	Simeon	F	182,0	75,0	07.10.97	L	EC KAC (AUT)	41	2	1	20
15	THALER	Lucas	F	180,0	76,0	21.01.02	R	EC Red Bull Salzburg (AUT)	51	9	9	39
19	VAN EE	Finn	F	180,0	83,0	12.01.03	L	EC KAC (AUT)	4	0	0	0
22	WALLENTA	Elias	F	182,0	85,0	04.01.99	L	Eishockeyclub EC iDM Wärmepumpen VSV (AUT)	10	0	1	2
11	WALLNER	Leon	F	185,0	88,0	01.07.02	R	EV Vienna Capitals (AUT)	25	4	3	2
2	WASCHNIG	David	F	180,0	79,0	24.04.07	L	EC KAC (AUT)	4	0	0	0
16	ZWERGER	Dominic	F	183,0	93,0	16.07.96	L	HC Ambrì-Piotta (SUI)	101	26	36	51

			Avg.	183,7	84,6	26,0			1192	109	190	485

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World Championship preparations

16.04 April, 19:00, Feldkirch: Austria vs. Italy
23.04 April, 19:00, Vienna: Austria vs. Czechia
24.04 April, 17:30, Jihlava (CZE): Czechia vs. Austria
30.04 April, 19:00, Zell am See: Austria vs. Germany
02.05 May, 17:00, Garmisch-Partenkirchen (GER): Germany vs. Austria
09.05 May, 16:20, Klagenfurt: Austria vs. Slovenia
ÖEHV ticket shop

Already played
Latvia vs. Austria 3:4 (0:1, 3:3, 0:0)
Wed, 8 April 2026, 18:30, Riga (LAT)
Austria goalscorers: Maximilian Rebernig (9'), Benjamin Nissner (21'), Luca Erne (29'), Lucas Thaler (39'/PP)
Latvia goalscorers: Karlis Ozolins (30'), Glebs Prohorenkovs (33'/PP), Deniss Smirnovs (36')
Game Sheet

Latvia vs. Austria 3:4 (0:1, 3:3, 0:0)
Thu, 9 April 2026, 18:30, Riga (LAT)
Latvia goalscorer: Oskars Lapinski (51')
Game Sheet

2026 IIHF ICE HOCKEY WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

15 May 2026 - 31 May 2026, Zurich and Fribourg (SUI)
Defending champions: USA
Group A, Zurich: USA, Switzerland, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Austria, Hungary, Great Britain
Group B, Fribourg: Canada, Sweden, Czechia, Denmark, Slovakia, Norway, Slovenia, Italy

Schedule
Great Britain vs. Austria
Sat, 16 May 2026, 12:20, Swiss Life Arena

Austria vs. Hungary
Sun, 17 May 2026, 16:20, Swiss Life Arena

Latvia vs. Austria
Tue, 19 May 2026, 16:20, Swiss Life Arena

Austria vs. Switzerland
Wed, 20 May 2026, 16:20, Swiss Life Arena

Austria vs. Germany
Sat., 23 May 2026, 20:20, Swiss Life Arena

Finland vs. Austria
Sun., 24 May 2026, 20:20, Swiss Life Arena

USA vs. Austria
Tue., 26 May 2026, 16:20, Swiss Life Arena

Information on World Championship ticket sales at 2026.iihfworlds.com!
Link to World Championship tickets for Zurich and Fribourg (Ticketcorner.ch)
Link to individual Austria games - (Ticketcorner.ch)
Link to World Championship packages including Austria games - (Ticketcorner.ch)

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