Austria's U18 team lose World Cham­pi­onship opener to Poland 1:3

Austria began the World Championship tournament at Bled Ice Rink shorthanded after one minute and conceded the 0:1 in the third minute, when Jakub Hofman beat netminder Benedikt Oschgan with a well-placed shot. 

Head Coach Philipp Pinter's team quickly recovered from the early deficit and created offensive momentum in a lively game. Poland netminder Igor Tyczyński increasingly took centre stage as the first period progressed, preserving his team's narrow lead. Austria had the upper hand, with the shots-on-goal statistics after the opening 20 minutes clearly favouring the red-white-red by 15:7.

In the second period, the ÖEHV selection had the chance to equalise on their first power play, but almost conceded a shorthander: Nikodem Wroblewski suddenly found himself alone in front of netminder Oschgan but was denied. The Poles were efficient on their power plays and made the most of their next one. Maksymilian Dawid made it 2:0 in the 29th minute.

Florian Lanzinger scores for Austria

Just under four minutes later, Austria finally got on the scoreboard: Alexander Rupnik hit the post on a 5:4 power play, with Florian Lanzinger putting the rebound over the line to make it 1:2. Head Coach Andrei Gusov's team responded quickly and scored again on a power play. Maksymilian Dawid was again on target, netting the puck from close range to make it 3:1 for Poland. 

In the final period, the Austrians tried to pull one back. Despite 13:2 shots on goal in the final 20 minutes, the red-white-red were unable to score again, and Austria had to accept a 1:3 defeat in their World Championship opener in Slovenia. 

Goalscorer Florian Lanzinger was named Austria's best player after the final siren.

Head Coach Philipp Pinter analysed the start of the World Championship after the game: "Naturally, we are disappointed; it was not the start we had hoped for. There was a little nervousness at the beginning. We conceded three power-play goals. You cannot fault the boys' commitment, determination and work rate; they fought until the end. We had plenty of shots on goal, we had much more of the game and more possession. But the little things, such as blocking shots, decide games like this. We did not make that final move towards goal, and the Poles did that much better. Estonia are up next on Tuesday, and we have to secure our first win. We now have to take it day by day, step by step!"

The game against Estonia follows on Tuesday, before Austria face hosts Slovenia on Thursday. Italy await on Saturday and South Korea on Sunday to conclude the tournament.

2023 IIHF U18 World Championship Division I, Group B:

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'/PP1), Maksymilian Dawid (29'/PP1, 36'/PP1)
Austria scorer: Florian Lanzinger (33'/PP1)

Other games:

Austria vs. Estonia
Tue, 11 April 2023, 12:30, Bled Ice Rink
>> to the livestream

Slovenia vs. Austria
Thu, 13 April 2023, 19:30, Bled Ice Rink
>> Watch the live stream

Austria vs. Italy
Sat, 15 April 2023, 19:30, Bled Ice Rink
>> Watch the live stream

Austria vs. South Korea
Sun, 16 April 2023, 16:00, Bled Ice Rink
>> Watch the live stream

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