Austria host Italy: anticipation builds for first home game
The ÖEHV team began their preparations for the 2026 World Championship with a win last week. The national team gathered in Feldkirch on Sunday to begin the second week, where they will host Italy on Thursday at 19:00, live on ORF SPORT +. And it is not only the Vorarlberg players in the team who are eagerly anticipating the first home game. The rest of the schedule: next week, Austria will face Czechia in Vienna, followed by a clash with Germany in Zell am See, before Slovenia visit Klagenfurt on 9 May.
5 min read
For the first time, and therefore at an unusually early stage of World Championship preparations, Head Coach Roger Bader has the likely goaltending trio of Kickert, Tolvanen and Vorauer at his disposal. Following the early exits of EC Red Bull Salzburg and EC-KAC from the win2day ICE Hockey League, the squad is generally packed with World Championship-experienced players. Yet even they must prove themselves week after week in order to earn the trip to Zurich at the end, Roger Bader: "Everyone has to show that they belong in the World Championship team, regardless of whether they have already played at a World Championship or not."
Playing on home ice should provide an additional boost. It all begins this Thursday against Italy, who will return to the top-division World Championship for the first time this year after three years in Division IA and were able to gain valuable experience at the Olympic Games. The game in Feldkirch will be the first in 14 years! Austria played their final warm-up games against Switzerland ahead of the Division IA World Championship on 11 and 12 April 2012. And Vorarlberg is eager for this comeback. Ticket sales have been excellent from the outset, with the club and regional association fully committed to the cause. Only a few tickets are currently still available.
Dominic Zwerger, Ramon Schnetzer, Simeon Schwinger and Elias Wallenta are four Vorarlberg players in the squad. For Zwerger, the game against Italy will actually be his first senior appearance in Feldkirch, and he will be honoured before the game for his 100th international cap, which he made against the hosts at the Deutschland Cup. Naturally, the four protagonists are eagerly looking forward to being able to count on the support of family and friends. The remaining players are also looking forward to the home fans and their first test on Austrian ice.
Italy provide opposition facing the same circumstances as Austria: both nations are preparing for the top-division World Championship, testing and assessing players, and still awaiting the finalists of the win2day ICE Hockey League.
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP PREPARATION 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 | Eishockeyclub 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 |
Average | 183,7 | 84,6 | 26,0 | 1192 | 109 | 190 | 485 | |||||
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WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP PREPARATION
16.04, 19:00: Austria vs. Italy, Feldkirch
23.04, 19:00: Austria vs. Czechia, Vienna
24.04, 17:30: Czechia vs. Austria, Jihlava (CZE)
30.04, 19:00: Austria vs. Germany, Zell am See
02.05, 17:00: Germany vs. Austria, Garmisch-Partenkirchen (GER)
09.05, 16:20: Austria vs. Slovenia, Klagenfurt
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 scorers: Maximilian Rebernig (9'), Benjamin Nissner (21'), Luca Erne (29'), Lucas Thaler (39'/PP)
Latvia scorers: 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 scorer: Oskars Lapinski (51st minute)
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 matches - (Ticketcorner.ch)
Link to World Championship packages including Austria matches - (Ticketcorner.ch)
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