Austria lose their opening friendly against Slovenia in Villach 3:5!

“We could have scored more than these three goals today. We played well and had many good offensive moments. We lost the game because we gave away easy goals. At 3:2, we had the game under control,” reflected Head Coach Roger Bader in his initial assessment, while expressing his overall satisfaction with the week.

It was not an easy week. There was another absentee almost every day, and the team that took to the ice had not had a single training session together in this line-up.

The early stages belonged to the visitors, who hit the post at the five-minute mark and took a 1:0 lead after just over six minutes. Austria then grew into the game, with Dominic Zwerger creating their first major chance to equalise on the power play. However, rather than making it 1:1, they found themselves 0:2 behind in the 15th minute. From then on, the red-white-red players pressed for a goal back, which came on the power play through Emilio Romig, who scored his first goal in his third international appearance.

Austria had the game under control and pressed for the equaliser in the middle period. They again made use of a power play, with Nico Feldner on hand in the 25th minute before adding the go-ahead goal just a few minutes later.

Slovenia capitalised on Austrian errors and repeatedly launched counter-attacks. The visitors equalised in the 31st minute. The final period was evenly poised. After Emilio Romig received a 2+2-minute penalty, Austria again found themselves shorthanded and 3:4 behind. Towards the end of the game, Head Coach Roger Bader pulled David Madlener while on the power play. Slovenia fortuitously gained possession of the puck and scored into the empty net to make it 5:3.

Friendly:

Austria vs. Slovenia 3:5 (1:2,2:1,0:2)
Thu, 6 April 2023, 17:30, Villach
Austria scorers: Emilio Romig (20./PP1), Nico Feldner (25./PP1, 28.)
Slovenia scorers: Blaž Tomaževič (7.), Jan Drozg (15.), Ken Ograjenšek (31.), Robert Sabolič (52./PP1), Žiga Pance (59./SH1/EN)

Remaining World Championship schedule:

Team Camp 2
9 - 14 April 2023, Innsbruck

Team Camp 3
17 - 22 April 2023, Deggendorf (GER)

Team Camp 4
25 - 29 April 2023, Vienna

Team Camp 5
2–6 May 2023, Kapfenberg

Friendly matches:

Italy vs Austria
Wed, 12 April 2023, 20:00, Bruneck (ITA)
Live on LIVE.eishockey.at

Austria vs Italy
Fri, 14 April 2023, 17:30, Innsbruck
Live on LIVE.eishockey.at

Germany vs Austria
Thu, 20 April 2023, 19:30, Deggendorf (GER)
Live on ORF Sport+

Germany vs Austria
Sat, 22 April 2023, 17:00, Landshut (GER)
Live on LIVE.eishockey.at

Austria vs Czechia
Thu, 27 April 2023, 18:30, Vienna
Live on ORF Sport+

Czechia vs. Austria
Sat, 29 April 2023, 16:00, Brno (CZE)
Live on ORF Sport+

Austria vs. Slovakia
Thu, 4 May 2023, 18:30, Kapfenberg
Live on ORF Sport+

Slovakia vs. Austria
Sat, 6 May 2023, 16:00, Trencin (SVK)
Live on ORF Sport+

86th IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship

12 May 2023 - 28 May 2023, Tampere (FIN) and Riga (LAT)

Group A, Tampere: Finland, USA, Sweden, Germany, Denmark, France, Austria, Hungary
Group B, Riga: Canada, Czechia, Switzerland, Slovakia, Latvia, Norway, Kazakhstan, Slovenia

Schedule
Dates and times refer to our local time zone, with the local time shown in brackets.

France vs. Austria
Sat, 13 May 2023, 11:20 (12:20)

Sweden vs. Austria
Sun, 14 May 2023, 19:20 (20:20)

Denmark vs Austria
Tue, 16 May 2023, 15:20 (16:20)

USA vs Austria
Wed, 17 May 2023, 15:20 (16:20)

Austria vs Germany
Fri, 19 May 2023, 19:20 (20:20)

Austria vs Finland
Sat, 20 May 2023, 15:20 (16:20)

Austria vs Hungary
Mon, 22 May 2023, 19:20 (20:20)

All information and the full schedule can be found at www.iihf.com