Austria’s U18 cele­brate convincing 7:1 victory over Estonia

Austria’s second World Championship appearance against Estonia at the Bled Ice Hall developed into a fast-paced game in the opening minutes, with neither team feeling their way into the contest. The action flowed from end to end. 

Head Coach Philipp Pinter placed his trust in Patrick Müller as the starting goaltender this time. The red-white-red team made the better start and took a power-play lead in the ninth minute through 1:0: Oliver Lam drove purposefully towards the net and scored with a backhand finish. 

Buoyed by the lead, the ÖEHV selection pressed on: Johannes Neumann played the puck to Florian Lanzinger, who made it 2:0 in the eleventh minute with a fierce wrist shot into the top left corner. Just under three minutes before the end of the period, Patrick Müller repaid the faith placed in him: following an Estonian counter-attack and a quick cross-ice pass to Artjom Abeljanov, Müller made a sensational glove save to preserve his team’s shut-out. 

The Austrians played as one after going 2:0 up, were clearly superior and scored a third goal. In the 19th minute, Paul Noll converted a rebound from close range for 3:0 after Estonia’s goaltender Georg Vladimirov spilled a shot from Josef Flick. At the first intermission, the statistics showed 17:2 shots on goal in Austria’s favour.

Austria dominant for 60 minutes

Little changed in the second period, with Austria continuing to dominate proceedings. After successfully killing a penalty, Leon Lamereiner made it 4:0 from close range in the 25th minute following a pass from Maximilian Schwarz. Austria continued to attack and at times were able to establish themselves in the offensive zone for minutes on end, but Estonia’s netminder Vladimirov made several good saves. 

Two and a half minutes before the end of the period, Austria once again besieged Estonia’s net following a face-off, and this time the final drive towards goal, which Head Coach Philipp Pinter had criticised after the game against Poland, worked perfectly: after a shot by Gregor Biber, Johannes Neumann followed up with determination and forced the puck over the line for 5:0.

Austria’s hunger for goals was still not satisfied in the final period. Oliver Lam tipped the puck into the net for 6:0 in the 42nd minute, his second goal of the afternoon. Estonia were able to reduce the deficit in the 44th minute: following a counter-attack, Maksim Burkov beat goaltender Müller with a well-placed shot.

Austria took a little pace out of the game but added a seventh goal: in the 50th minute, Maximilian Schwarz deflected a shot from Josef Flick beyond the goaltender for 7:1. Shortly afterwards, a goal by Johannes Neumann was disallowed by the officiating team for a high stick.

The Austrian players then saw out the game comfortably and, following the 1:3 opening defeat against Poland on Easter Monday, had arrived at the World Championship tournament with a convincing victory. Two-goal scorer Oliver Lam was named Austria’s best player. Following a rest day on Wednesday, Austria’s U18 continue on Thursday from 19:30 in the big clash against hosts Slovenia.

Head Coach Philipp Pinter analysed the first World Championship victory after the final siren and was very pleased with his team’s performance: 

"Today, our team showed a completely different side; they implemented exactly what we had set out to do. The Estonians played similarly to Poland, but today we simply carried out what we had planned. The lads got significantly more shots on goal and also went to where it hurts. That was our major focus after yesterday’s game. The lads were constantly in front of the opposition net, were more aggressive on rebounds, more aggressive on second pucks, more aggressive on the forecheck and played the body far more. The players gave the opposition incredibly little time, especially in their build-up play. We played with great concentration; it was a very important victory!"

Pinter expects a fierce, passionate game against hosts Slovenia: "Slovenia are another excellent team awaiting us. Little will change in terms of how we play; we have to stay together within the system, play with great passion, create plenty of traffic in front of the net, and get bodies and pucks to the net!"

2023 IIHF U18 World Championship Division I, Group B:

Austria vs Estonia 7:1 (3:0,2:0,2:1)
Tue, 11 April 2023, 12:30, Bled Ice Hall
Austria goalscorers: Oliver Lam (9./PP1, 42.), Florian Lanzinger (11.), Paul Noll (19.), Leon Lamereiner (25.), Johannes Neumann (38.), Maximilian Schwarz (50.)
Estonia goalscorer: Maksim Burkov (44.)

Other games:

Slovenia vs. Austria
Thu, 13 April 2023, 19:30, Bled Ice Rink
>> watch the livestream

Austria vs. Italy
Sat, 15 April 2023, 19:30, Bled Ice Rink
>> watch the livestream

Austria vs. South Korea
Sun, 16 April 2023, 16:00, Bled Ice Rink
>> watch the livestream

Already played:

Poland vs. Austria 3:1 (1:0,2:1,0:0)
Mon, 10 April 2023, 12:30, Bled Ice Rink
Poland scorers: Jakub Hofman (3-minute mark/PP1), Maksymilian Dawid (29-minute mark/PP1, 36-minute mark/PP1)
Austria scorer: Florian Lanzinger (33-minute mark/PP1)

Current IIHF standings

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