Austria's U18 national team heads into the World Cham­pi­onship with a friendly win over Germany

Last year's World Championship was not for the faint-hearted: following the surprise opening defeat to Poland, Austria embarked on an emotional winning run, recording victories over Estonia, hosts Slovenia, Italy and, finally, South Korea, all after 60 minutes. The games against Slovenia, Italy and South Korea in particular could not have been more dramatic, with thrilling twists and turns.

Now it is a matter of confirming the momentum of this youth age group in the next-highest division. The World Championship will be played at Iscenter Nord. The ice rink in Frederikshavn, Denmark, is home to the Frederikshavn White Hawks and holds around 2.500 fans.

Austria had most recently prepared under the guidance of Head Coach Philipp Pinter in St. Pölten and at the Steffl Arena in Vienna, where the first roster cuts also took place, for their World Championship appearance. It remains a difficult situation for Pinter and his team: "It is not only tough for the players, but also for us coaches. Everyone has given their all, deserved an opportunity and would have liked to be at the World Championship. That is the less enjoyable part of coaching!"

Before the U18 World Championship 2024 gets under way on Sunday, Austria faced opening World Championship opponents Germany in a warm-up on Friday, winning 5:3 after a strong performance. Austria had already led 5:1, but conceded two goals while shorthanded at the end. A 3:3 overtime and a penalty shoot-out were then simulated. Head Coach Philipp Pinter and his coaching staff still have 26 players on board and must send three players home after the test against their neighbours: "Everything is still open, it is a tough battle for places! Of course, we already have an idea of how we want to send our team into the fray on Sunday, but we still want to take a closer look at players in the warm-up against Germany!"

The Villach native is convinced by his team: "We have a deep roster and do not really have a superstar. I hope we can once again impress through the collective."

Pinter and his assistants Patrick Harand, Mathias Lange and goalie coach Patrick Machreich have pursued a detailed plan with the squad in recent days: "The focus in recent days has been on keeping the intensity very high and preparing the boys for international ice hockey, where everything happens very quickly and the pace is incredibly high. We have also worked a great deal on the special teams, with the power play and penalty kill a major focus!" In addition, Stefan Ulmer is also part of the team as Team Manager and helps from the stands as an "Eye in the Sky".

The finishing touches will now be made in Frederikshavn over the final days, with Pinter using several video sessions to show his team its own strengths and prepare it for each opponent: "Fundamentally, we focus on our game and naturally find out what the opponent does, then prepare the boys accordingly. Nevertheless, the main focus is on our game: implementing our game plan, having a quick transition game, working well against the puck, and being very solid, structured and disciplined defensively. That means not only staying out of the penalty box, but also working with tactical discipline!"

The Head Coach is highly satisfied with the preparation so far: "The character in the team is once again very good, there seems to be an incredibly good atmosphere in the squad, the boys are already pulling together and I hope we have a good test against Germany."

Pinter sees the relegated side as the favourites in the group: "Germany are overwhelming favourites to win the tournament and earn promotion!" After the World Championship opener against Germany on Sunday, awaits on Monday Japan, Austria will face Hungary on Wednesday, before taking on hosts Denmark on Thursday. The U18 side will conclude against Ukraine. 

Pinter sees the group behind Germany as evenly matched: "We will show ourselves on the international stage and see how far we have come. We want to take it game by game; all opponents are really good. On a great day, you can beat any opponent, but on a bad day, you can also lose to any opponent!"

The head coach knows the other teams and is aware of their strengths: "Denmark are technically very good and skate well. We played them in February; they are a talented team. Germany are very compact and solid, with big players who have a physical presence. Ukraine are also physically strong and technically skilled; they have a few real ‘buffalos’ in their ranks. Japan will be similar to the U20 team: very quick, they never give up on a puck, and once you have beaten them once, you have to beat them a second and third time. We have to play well physically and hard, and simply wear them down. Hungary also play a very physical game. We lost to them in November, but we were not as well set up then as we are now. We expect another difficult opponent there too."

The ÖEHV side enters the World Championship tournament as a promoted team: "We are in Division IA for the first time in many years, and it is a very tight, very strong division. We want to cause the other nations problems; we want to go step by step. The aim is, of course, to stay in the division, but who knows what else this team can achieve!"

Head Coach Pinter puts friendly win into perspective

The friendly against Germany was analysed by Head Coach Philipp Pinter as follows: "It was a very good start, and we scored two shorthanded goals towards the end. It was very pleasing to see how the team performed; the players were very hungry from the start. The forechecking worked very well and we were able to put the Germans under pressure. Defensively, we played very compactly, aggressively and tenaciously. The boys were tactically very disciplined, gave the Germans very little space and conceded very little overall. It was a very solid team performance; all four lines worked hard, played well and kept going. The goaltending was also very good. We played two periods with Mika Haim, who looked very good. Patrick Grascher also made some good saves in the final period. It was a friendly win, nothing more and nothing less. We know how to prepare the team for Sunday now; the Germans will show a different side in the World Championship opener. We must continue to work with our feet on the ground, respectfully and hard, and understand that we have to play with discipline and compactly if we want to beat the Germans. Not much has changed in terms of the roles after this match; Germany will be favourites on Sunday!"

World Championship friendly:

Austria vs. Germany 5:3 (1:0,2:1,2:2)
Fri, 12 April 2024, 16:30, Frederikshavn (DEN)
Austria scorers: Paul Oberhauser (16'), Felix Haiböck (28', 48'), Leon Kolarik (32', 45')

2024 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 World Championship Division IA

14. 2024 April - 20 April 2024, Frederikshavn (DEN)
    Participants: Germany, Austria, Japan, Hungary, Denmark, Ukraine

Austria vs. Germany
Sun, 14 April 2024, 13:00, Frederikshavn (DEN) >> Livestream

Japan vs. Austria
Mon, 15 April 2024, 16:30, Frederikshavn (DEN) >> Livestream

Austria vs. Hungary
Wed, 17 April 2024, 13:00, Frederikshavn (DEN) >> Livestream

Denmark vs. Austria
Thu, 18 April 2024, 20:00, Frederikshavn (DEN) >> Livestream

Ukraine vs. Austria
Sat, 20 April 2024, 13:00, Frederikshavn (DEN) >> Livestream

All information on the official IIHF website

U18 World Championship preparation squad: