Austria lose World Cham­pi­onship opener in Prague to Denmark 1:5

Austria's Head Coach Roger Bader put his trust in goaltender David Madlener, while David Kickert served as the backup. After a nervous start, Marco Rossi had the first major chance from the slot. Austria then killed off their first penalty well. The opening goal came during four-on-four play, with Markus Lauridsen converting his second rebound after a scramble in front of David Madlener's goal to make it 1:0 to Denmark (14.). 

Austria then had their first power-play opportunity, but Frederik Storm capitalised on a build-up error by Marco Rossi to score shorthanded from close range and give Denmark a 2:0 lead (17.). Red-White-Red had to regroup and pulled one back to make it 1:2 with 25 seconds remaining in the period. Manuel Ganahl fired from the blue line, Vinzenz Rohrer cleverly ducked in front of Denmark's goalkeeper Frederik Dichow and the puck found the net (20.).

Austria also showed good penalty killing in the second period and, together with goaltender David Madlener, kept the deficit narrow. On the next power play, just after the midway point of the game, Marco Rossi had a chance to equalise from point-blank range but was denied by goaltender Frederik Dichow. Shortly before the second intermission, Joachim Blichfeld made it 3:1 to Denmark with a powerful shot (39.). 

The ÖEHV side killed off another penalty at the very start of the final period. Austria were then unlucky: following a quick attack down the left, Paul Huber sent the puck off the post. Marco Rossi then tested the Danish netminder. Denmark had the game under control for long stretches. 

Red-White-Red then had to play another two minutes a man down, but came through the numerical disadvantage unscathed. When Felix Scheel scored to make it 4:1 to Denmark, the game was decided (54.). Joachim Blichfeld put the finishing touch on the result on the final power play, with his second goal the Danish forward made it 5:1 (59.). Goalscorer Manuel Ganahl was named Austria's Best Player.

Head Coach Roger Bader analysed the opening defeat to Denmark after the final siren: "I admit that I expected a little more. Of course, I knew the Danes had a good team, especially the first two lines are very strong, they come from the Swedish league and are all good players. We had good moments, especially our penalty killing worked well. But we kept giving the puck away unnecessarily because we simply wanted to play too elaborately. We wanted to combine, and we did not play enough of the direct game that we normally play against superior opponents, which results in fewer turnovers and therefore fewer penalties. That is why we deserved to lose; Denmark were better!"

Switzerland await on Sunday

There is little time for the team to catch their breath: Red-White-Red are back in action in a major clash against Switzerland on Sunday, 12 May, at 20:20. The match will be shown live on ORF SPORT +.

Ahead of the clash with the Swiss, Head Coach Roger Bader is well aware of his compatriots' strengths: "Switzerland are a good team, they have many good players and have now added two absolute top players in Niederreiter and Josi. Switzerland are favourites and have the stronger team on an individual level. It will be a Herculean task, but that is nothing new; we already knew that beforehand!"

It remains to be seen whether Sunday will see a father-son duel between the Austrian Head Coach and Switzerland forward Thierry Bader.

2024 IIHF ICE HOCKEY WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

Austria vs. Denmark 1:5 (1:2,0:1,0:2)
Sat, 11 May 2024, Prague Arena, 16:20, live on ORF 1
Austria goalscorer: Manuel Ganahl (20th)
Denmark scorers: Markus Lauridsen (14th), Frederik Storm (17th/SH1), Joachim Blichfeld (39th, 59th/PP1), Felix Scheel (54th)

Austria lined up with:

Goaltenders: 31 Madlener David; 30 Kickert David (backup)
Line 1: 91 Heinrich Dominique - 14 Zündel Kilian; 5 Raffl Thomas - 70 Nissner Benjamin - 3 Schneider Peter
Line 2: 92 Unterweger Clemens - 32 Wolf Bernd; 16 Zwerger Dominic - 23 Rossi Marco - 96 Huber Mario
Line 3: 24 Strong Steven - 12 Maier David; 17 Ganahl Manuel - 21 Haudum Lukas - 19 Rohrer Vinzenz
Line 4: 18 Stapelfeldt Paul - 20 Brunner Nico; 52 Huber Paul - 9 Wukovits Ali - 48 Thaler Lucas

Further fixtures:

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 +