Austria lose to world cham­pions Canada at sold-out ice hockey festival in Vienna

Austria's Head Coach Roger Bader put his faith in goalkeeper David Kickert for the final World Championship warm-up match against Canada. The visitors took an early 1:0 lead when Ridly Greig suddenly found himself unmarked in front of goalkeeper David Kickert and scored for Canada (at 3).

Austria then settled well into the game offensively, with Ali Wukovits testing Canada goalkeeper Nico Daws with a good shot. The Canadians were dominant in the opening minutes and, following a swift combination started by 18-year-old debutant Connor Bedard, Owen Power made it 2:0 with a close-range effort into the far corner (at 6).

As the first period progressed, Red-White-Red produced some very good passages in the offensive zone and created good chances. Mario Huber scored the much-celebrated goal to make it 1:2 during this phase, with the forward curling the puck from the slot into the near corner (at 15). Shortly afterwards, Peter Schneider had the chance to equalise following a rebound. Austria continued to play with pressure and confidence, and 2:2 was in the air, but the ÖEHV players were unable to find it.

Head Coach Roger Bader's team began the middle period where they had left off in the first: with impressive attacking moves. The Austrian fans in the arena responded with spontaneous applause. Unfortunately, the equaliser did not come in those opening minutes. The world champions then raised the tempo, and Olen Zellweger capitalised on their first spell of pressure with a precise shot from the slot to make it 3:1 (at 28).

At the halfway point, Canada Head Coach André Tourigny changed goalkeepers, with Joel Hofer now between the pipes. Austria then successfully killed off their first penalty. During their second penalty kill, the Austrians had to concede 1:4, as Dylan Cozens scored from close range (at 37). Head Coach Roger Bader used his challenge and had the goal reviewed for offside, but the referees allowed the goal after video review.

Austria had to kill an early penalty in the final period but did not concede another goal. The Canadians remained strong even after the powerplay, with the defence and goalkeeper David Kickert called upon to deal with several good chances from the Maple Leafs. The ÖEHV selection then had the opportunity to score again on their first powerplay, but goalkeeper Hofer could not be beaten.

Shortly after the powerplay expired, Peter Schneider had the best chance to score a second goal following a quick pass. Marco Rossi was also denied by the Canadian netminder shortly afterwards. Damon Severson sealed the 5:1 final score shortly before the end (at 59). Mario Huber was named Austria's Best Player after the game, as the team received a rousing World Championship send-off from the crowd.

Raffl and Rossi satisfied with World Championship warm-up

For Captain Thomas Raffl the final World Championship warm-up was exactly the right game to get into World Championship form: "You cannot have a better test than against a nation like Canada. We must not forget that Canada have even more to offer physically, while on the other hand we have come together as a new team. We have only been on the ice for four days now, and the longer the game went on, the better we clicked. We created chances too and probably deserved one or two more goals. In the end, the result against Canada is fair!"

There are still two days off before travelling to Prague: "Of course, it feels good to have a game under our belts. We need these two days now; it will be a tough tournament. We travel to Prague on Wednesday and will fully prepare ourselves for the World Championship there!"

ÖEHV forward Marco Rossi was satisfied with the match against the world champions: "We showed what we can do. There were some very positive phases that we can build on. But of course, there were also phases in which the Canadians put us under pressure. We need to improve there, so that we know what the solutions are in such periods of pressure. Overall, though, we can head to the World Championship with confidence. It is always good to play such a top opponent in preparation. It is naturally not always easy against Canada, but it is important to have such a game and be in rhythm. We hope to start with a win against Denmark. The adjustment to the larger ice surface went very well!"

The final squad with which Head Coach Roger Bader intends to begin the World Championship will be announced on Monday. The ÖEHV delegation will then travel to Prague on Wednesday, where their World Championship campaign begins against Denmark on Saturday, 11 May at 16:20. The match will be shown live on ORF 1.

Men's World Championship preparation

Austria vs. Canada 1:5 (1:2,0:2,0:1)
Sun, 5 May 2024, 19:00, Vienna, Steffl Arena, 7.022 (sold out)
Austria goalscorer: Mario Huber (at 15)
Canada goalscorers: Ridly Greig (3'), Owen Power (6'), Olen Zellweger (28'), Dylan Cozens (37'/PP1), Damon Severson (59')

Austria lined up with: 

Goaltenders: 30 Kickert David; 29 Höneckl Thomas (backup)
​​​​​​​Line 1: 91 Heinrich Dominique - 14 Zündel Kilian; 5 Raffl Thomas - 70 Nissner Benjamin - 3 Schneider Peter
Line 2: 92 Unterweger Clemens - 12 Maier David; 21 Haudum Lukas - 23 Rossi Marco - 19 Rohrer Vinzenz
Line 3: 32 Wolf Bernd - 24 Strong Steven; 16 Zwerger Dominic - 98 Baumgartner Benjamin - 96 Huber Mario
Line 4: 18 Stapelfeldt Paul - 20 Brunner Nico; 17 Ganahl Manuel - 9 Wukovits Ali - 48 Thaler Lucas (52 Huber Paul)

Already played:

Latvia vs. Austria 3:2 SO (0:1,1:0,1:1)
Thu, 4 April 2024, 18:00 CEST, Riga (LAT)
Austria goalscorers: Leon Wallner (16'), Julian Metzler (43')
Latvia goalscorers: Feliks Egils Gavars (26'), Dans Locmelis (46')

Latvia vs. Austria 3:2 SO (1:0,1:2,0:0,0:0)
Fri, 5 April 2024, 18:00 CEST, Riga (LAT)
Austria goalscorers: Nico Feldner (31'), Ian Scherzer (36')
Latvia goalscorers: Martins Lavins (11'), Haralds Egle (34')

Slovenia vs. Austria 5:2 (3:0,1:1,1:1)
Thu, 11 April 2024, 19:00, Ljubljana (SLO)
Slovenia goalscorers: Ken Ograjenšek (2nd), Nik Simšič (8th), Anže Kuralt (12th), Jan Drozg (34th), Žan Jezovšek (58th)
Austria goalscorers: Nico Brunner (39th/PP1), Senna Peeters (47th)

Austria vs. Slovenia 0:6 (0:0,0:4,0:2)
Fri, 12 April 2024, 18:00, Villach
Slovenia goalscorers: Matic Podlipnik (21th/PP1), Anže Kuralt (32th/PP1, 34th/PP1, 37th), Jan Drozg (44th), Ken Ograjenšek (52th)

Czechia vs. Austria 5:1 (2:0,1:1,2:0)
Thu, 18 April 2024, 17:10, Budweis (CZE)
Czechia goalscorers: Adam Kubík (3rd/PP1), Andrej Šustr (18th), Jakub Galvas (25th), Jiří Černoch (51st), Michael Špaček (53rd)
Austria goalscorer: Benjamin Baumgartner (29th)

Austria vs. Czechia 2:3 (1:1,0:2,1:0)
Sat, 20 April 2024, 18:00, Linz
Austria goalscorers: Nico Feldner (14th), Leon Wallner (58th)
Czechia goalscorers: Daniel Gazda (18th), Jakub Rychlovský (25th/PP1, 30th)

Germany vs. Austria 4:2 (2:1,0:1,2:0)
Thu, 25 April 2024, 19:00, Garmisch-Partenkirchen (GER)
Germany goalscorers: Marc Michaelis (8th, 11th), Daniel Fischbuch (50th), Parker Tuomie (52nd/PP1)
Austria goalscorers: Benjamin Baumgartner (16), Lukas Kainz (38)

Austria vs. Germany 2:1 SO (0:1,0:0,1:0,0:0,1:0)
Sat., 27 April 2024, 16:15, Zell am See, KE KELIT Arena, 2.600 (sold out)
Austria goalscorers: Dominic Zwerger (56), Emilio Romig (65/decisive penalty) – Lukas Haudum also scored in the shootout.
Germany goalscorer: Wojciech Stachowiak (7.)

2024 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship

10 - 26 May 2024
Hosts: Czechia
Group A – Prague: Canada, Finland, Switzerland, Czechia, Denmark, Norway, Austria, Great Britain
Group B – Ostrava: USA, Germany, Sweden, Slovakia, Latvia, France, Kazakhstan, Poland

Schedule

Austria vs. Denmark
Sat., 11 May 2024, 16:20, live on ORF 1

Austria vs. Switzerland
Sun, 12 May 2024, 20:20, live on ORF SPORT +

Canada vs. Austria
Tue, 14 May 2024, 20:20, live on ORF SPORT +

Finland vs. Austria
Thu, 16 May 2024, 16:20, live on ORF SPORT +

Czechia vs. Austria
Fri, 17 May 2024, 20:20, live on ORF SPORT +

Norway vs. Austria
Sun, 19 May 2024, 16:20, live on ORF SPORT +

Austria vs. Great Britain
Tue, 21 May 2024, 12:20, live on ORF SPORT +