Austria lose 0:3 to Germany in Cup opener

In their opening game of the Deutschland Cup 2026, Roger Bader's team lacked efficiency in front of 5.101 spectators in Düsseldorf. Following two major penalties in the middle period, Stefan Loibl gave the hosts, playing under new national team coach André Rankel for the first time, the lead on the power play (33.). Colin Ugbekile doubled the lead shortly before the second interval (40.). Wojciech Stachowiak sealed the result in the final period, also on the power play (48.). The travelling fans vocally supported the ÖEHV team until the final buzzer.

The game began evenly: after both teams had initially felt each other out, Lucas Thaler fired over the net (6.), while at the other end David Kickert saved against Alexander Blank (8.). Austria had the best chances in a hard-fought first period: Henrik Neubauer was denied by Jonas Neffin (16.), while Dominic Hackl could only hit the crossbar from the blue line (18.).

Major penalties put Austria on the back foot

The ÖEHV team carried that momentum into the period after the break: after just 35 seconds, Lukas Haudum set up Vinzenz Rohrer with a fine pass, but Neffin made the save (21.). Austria were only knocked out of their rhythm by two major penalties against Thaler (28.) and Benjamin Baumgartner (31.). Austria came through the first penalty kill strongly, but at the end of the second, Loibl converted a cross-ice pass from Tobias Rieder to make it 1:0 (33.). Shortly before the interval, Ugbekile, again assisted by Rieder, extended the lead to 2:0 (40.).

Austria did not give up and came out of the dressing room with purpose: Ali Wukovits was just prevented from shooting when one-on-one with Neffin after a pass from Simeon Schwinger (42.). But another penalty again led to a goal against: shorthanded after Benjamin Nissner was penalised for tripping, Stachowiak tucked away a sharp pass from Blank to make it 3:0 (48.). Their own power play went unused, and Baumgartner's final dangerous shot was also stopped by Neffin (58.). Austria are back in action on Saturday at 15:00 against Slovakia, who lost 2:3 to Latvia in overtime in their opening game of the tournament.

Roger Bader, ÖEHV head coach: "I think Germany deserved to win, but the margin of victory was one or two goals too high. It was an even game for long stretches, but we did not score and you cannot win that way."

Benjamin Nissner, ÖEHV forward: "Of course, we had imagined it differently, but it was not bad. And I think we at least deserved a goal. Our focus now turns to Saturday."

Match report

Deutschland Cup 2026
Germany – Austria 3:0 (0:0, 2:0, 1:0)
PSD Bank Dome, Düsseldorf, GER, attendance: 5.101
Goals:

• LOIBL (Rieder, T. Heigl) (32:24)
• UGBEKILE (Rieder, Calce) (39:03)
• STACHOWIAK (Blank, Ehliz) (47:40)

Austria: Kickert; Unterweger – Nickl, Hackl – Maier, Wimmer – Würschl, Stapelfeldt – Lindner; Huber – Nissner – Thaler, Haudum – Baumgartner – Rohrer, Schwinger – Wukovits – Neubauer, Harnisch – Achermann – Wallner

The remaining ÖEHV matches

• Saturday, 7 November, 15:00: Slovakia – Austria
• Sunday, 8 November, 11:00: Latvia v Austria (live on ORF ON from 10:55, live on ORF SPORT + from 11:55)