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Austria’s U20 lose World Cham­pi­onship warm-up against Hungary after a penalty shoot-out

In their final warm-up game ahead of the U20 World Championship Division IA, which begins on Sunday, the team coached by Head Coach Philipp Pinter came back from a 0:2 deficit against World Championship hosts Hungary through goals from Maximilian Wurzer and Jakob Lippitsch. Overtime did not produce a winner, and the goaltenders took centre stage in the penalty shoot-out, with each of them stopping 16 penalties. It was not until the 17th attempt that goaltender Benedikt Oschgan was beaten. The final World Championship squad will now be selected on Friday, with the tournament getting under way against Japan on Sunday.

2 min read

20230105 Ian Scherzer 01_c_Tobias Steiner

“That was a very, very good final test before the World Championship. As expected, Hungary fielded a very solid, compact team with strong skating. Nevertheless, we tried to take control,” said Head Coach Philipp Pinter about the opening phase. His team enjoyed more possession and created chances, but occasionally lacked that little bit of luck in front of goal.

The Hungarians did not have the same problem, taking a 1:0 lead from a counter-attack and a fortunate rebound. That was also the score at the first intermission. The young Austrians continued to put Hungary under pressure. Several shots were skilfully blocked by the Hungarians, who then rather unexpectedly scored their second goal.

Head Coach Philipp Pinter’s team continued to work relentlessly after the 0:2 and were eventually rewarded. Maximilian Wurzer pulled one back to make it 1:2 before the buzzer. The final period was more evenly balanced. Hungary created several chances as the Austrians tried to increase the pressure and consequently opened up a little at the back.

Goaltender Benedikt Oschgan made several good saves, before Jakob Lippitsch finally scored the deserved equaliser for 2:2. After overtime failed to produce a winner, the penalty shoot-out also turned into a real “overtime” affair.

A total of 16 attempts on each side went without a goal, before Hungary’s 17th attempt finally decided the contest in favour of the hosts.

Head Coach Philipp Pinter: “We played an aggressive forecheck and very often hemmed the opponents into their own zone. It was a very solid team performance in terms of battling, and we also looked very compact defensively. We still have some difficult decisions ahead of us. We will sleep on it for another night and then put our heads together again within the coaching staff.”

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP PREPARATION U20 NATIONAL TEAM

Warm-up game
Hungary vs. Austria 3:2 n.P. (1:0, 1:1, 0:1, 0:0, 0:1)
Thu, 07 December 2023, 16:30, Budapest
Austria goalscorers: Maximilian Wurzer, Jakob Lippitsch

U20 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION IA, BUDAPEST (HUN)

Japan vs. Austria
Sun, 10 December 2023, 19:30, live on LIVE.eishockey.at

Austria vs. Hungary
Mon, 11 December 2023, 19:30, live on LIVE.eishockey.at

Austria vs. Denmark
Wed, 13 December 2023, 19:30, live on LIVE.eishockey.at

France vs. Austria
Thu, 14 December 2023, 16:00, live on LIVE.eishockey.at

Austria vs. Kazakhstan
Sat, 16 December 2023, 19:30, live on LIVE.eishockey.at

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