Austria lose sold-out World Cham­pi­onship warm-up against Canada at Vienna ice hockey festival

For the final World Championship warm-up against Canada, Austria head coach Roger Bader put his faith in goaltender Atte Tolvanen. David Kickert was named as the backup in the line-up. After a lively start from both teams, Canada made the most of their first sustained spell of pressure through Ryan O’Reilly to take a 1:0 lead after just under three minutes. 

The Canadians initially had the upper hand, setting a high tempo and keeping Austria occupied in their defensive zone. Brian Lebler forced Canada goaltender Dylan Garand into an error behind the net with aggressive forechecking, passed the puck to defenceman David Maier, who scored the 1:1 equaliser with a backhander (8th minute). With every shift, Austria adapted better to the Maple Leafs, putting the players coached by Dean Evason under good pressure in the neutral zone. 

Paul Huber had the best chance to make it 2:1 from a rebound following a cross-ice pass by Lukas Haudum, but was denied by Canada netminder Dylan Garand.

At the start of the second period, Canada raised the tempo again, while Red-White-Red showed good competitiveness in the battles. After almost five minutes, Lukas Kainz had the chance to take the lead following a quick attack, but Garand saved his shot. Austria matched the intensity of the game and all four lines worked well together. The ÖEHV selection had another good opportunity: Vinzenz Rohrer forced goaltender Garand into an excellent glove save with a quick release from the left face-off circle. 

A quick double put Canada two goals ahead: first, Macklin Celebrini gave ÖEHV netminder Atte Tolvanen no chance from close range on the first power play (33rd minute). Just 48 seconds later, Ty Ronning fired home to make it 3:1 (34th minute). Four minutes before the end of the period, Marco Kasper tested the Canadian goaltender after a determined surge down the left. Canada were far more efficient in front of goal: Will Cuylle made it 4:1 from close range following a fine combination (39th minute).

The final period began with the save of the night: Atte Tolvanen spectacularly denied Celebrini with his stick to prevent the 1:5. Shortly afterwards, Tolvanen came up with another superb save. Austria killed off a power play, while Canada controlled the game. Despite trailing by three goals, the fans created a fantastic atmosphere and enthusiastically supported the team in their final World Championship warm-up. 

On the first power play, Paul Huber had Austria’s second goal on his stick from close range after a fine cross-ice pass by Peter Schneider, but could not beat Garand. Shortly afterwards, Dominic Zwerger was also unable to get past the impressive Canadian netminder. Tyson Foerster completed the scoring for Canada to make it 5:1 (59th minute). Austria bid farewell to their home fans with a good performance before heading to Sweden.

Head Coach Roger Bader analysed the match after the final siren: "I am very satisfied with the team, 90 per cent of the game was good, the result is far too high. Paradoxically, we were the better team in the second period, including in terms of chances. But they capitalise on every opportunity you give them through a turnover with a goal, that is simply the quality of the players they have. A closer result would have been deserved. But I am very happy; we had the same result as a year ago, but we were able to compete much better. We had far more offence and also did a lot of forechecking. At least the turnovers that are punished immediately have something positive about them, in that we can look at them with next week in mind!"

ÖEHV forward Marco Kasper knows what still needs to be worked on in the coming days after the test against Canada: "We played well, especially in the first two periods. In the second period, we opened up too much in our own zone and gave them the goals too easily. We will improve that; we still have a few days of preparation now. Overall, it already looked very good. If we continue skating hard, we will make life difficult for our opponents. 1:5 is of course clear, but if you look at the first two periods, we had good chances too. We need to work on converting our chances, tighten up at the back, then the games will be closer!"

Travel day to Stockholm on Tuesday

The ÖEHV delegation travels to Stockholm on Tuesday, where the World Championship opener against Finland awaits on Friday at 16:20 in the Avicii Arena, live on ORF 1.

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP PREPARATION

Austria vs. Canada 1:5 (1:1,0:3,0:1)
Sun, 04 May 2025, 19:00, Vienna STEFFL Arena, 7.022 (sold out)
Austria goalscorer: David Maier (8th minute)
Canada goalscorers: Ryan O’Reilly (3rd minute), Macklin Celebrini (33rd minute/PP1), Ty Ronning (34th minute), Will Cuylle (39th minute), Tyson Foerster (59th minute)

Austria lined up with:

Goaltenders: 35 Tolvanen Atte; 30 Kickert David  (Backup)

Line 1: 92 Unterweger Clemens - 32 Wolf Bernd; 16 Zwerger Dominic - 96 Kasper Marco - 3 Peter Schneider

Line 2: 91 Heinrich Dominique - 78 Nickl Thimo; 5 Raffl Thomas - 24 Baumgartner Benjamin - 19 Rohrer Vinzenz

Line 3: 45 Biber Gregor - 12 Maier David; 52 Huber Paul - 21 Haudum Lukas - 7 Lebler Brian

Line 4: 18 Stapelfeldt Paul - 4 Schnetzer Ramon; 95 Kainz Lukas - 26 Achermann Oliver - 48 Thaler Lucas

Already played:

Germany vs Austria 5:0 (0:0, 2:0, 3:0)
Sat, 26 April 2025, 17:00, Rosenheim (GER)
Germany goalscorers: Maximilian Kastner (26'), Nicolas Krämmer (32'), Philipp Krauss (43'), Alexander Ehl (44'), Joshua Samanski (53')

Austria vs Germany 2:3 (0:0,1:2,1:1)
Thu, 24 April 2025, 19:00, Zell am See
Austria goalscorers: Paul Huber (40'), Clemens Unterweger (56'/PP1)
Germany goalscorers: Fabio Wagner (28'), Marc Michaelis (29'/PP1), Wojciech Stachowiak (57')

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

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

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

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

Austria vs. Latvia 1:4 (0:0,0:2,1:2)
Sat, 5 April 2025, 16:20, Vienna Hall 3 STEFFL Arena
Austria goalscorer:Dominic Zwerger (53 min)
Latvia goalscorers:Georgijs Golovkovs (22 min), Anri Ravinskis (39 min, 41 min), Rihards Bukarts (48 min/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 goalscorers: Benjamin Lanzinger (19 min), Dominic Zwerger (55 min)
Latvia goalscorers: 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, Avicii Arena, 16:20, live ORF 1

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

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

Canada vs. Austria
Thu, 15 May 2025, Avicii Arena, 20:20, live ORF SPORT +

Austria vs. France
Fri, 16 May 2025, Avicii Arena, 16:20, live ORF SPORT + and ORF 1

Slovenia vs. Austria
Sun, 18 May 2025, Avicii Arena, 16:20, live ORF SPORT + and ORF 1

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