Austria suffer World Cham­pi­onship defeat to hosts Czechia

Austria head coach Roger Bader entrusted goaltender David Madlener with starting against Czechia, while Thomas Höneckl was listed as the backup. Both teams made a lively start in front of the sensational backdrop of 17.413 fans at the Prague Arena. Czechia launched quick attacks and created good chances. Austria’s red-white-red defence was compact in front of Madlener, who made some excellent saves early on. 

The hosts were dominant in the first period, while Austria could only create counter-attacks in relief. Ondřej Beránek had the best chance for the home side, deflecting a pass from close range, but Madlener made the save. Just under three and a half minutes before the end of the first period, Austria enjoyed a strong shift and pinned the Czechs in their own zone. 

In the final minute, Ondřej Kaše broke through alone on goal. Clemens Unterweger lifted the Czech player’s stick and the officiating team awarded a penalty shot, which Ondřej Kaše converted 28 seconds before the first buzzer to make it 1:0 to Czechia (20.). Emotions boiled over at the buzzer, with Benjamin Baumgartner and Dominik Kubalík coming to blows.

Strong spell in the second period unfortunately yields no goal for Austria

Just moments into the second period, the ÖEHV side had their first power play and applied plenty of pressure, but could not find a goal. Dominic Zwerger then set up Marco Rossi, who had the best chance from the slot. With every shift, the red-white-red team grew in confidence and produced some very good passages of play in the offensive zone.

Benjamin Baumgartner had the next good opportunity, but netminder Petr Mrázek saved his shot while turning. Unfortunately, Austria could not score during this spell. 

On a four-on-three power play, Dominik Kubalík scored with a one-timer to make it 2:0 (36.). 64 seconds later, with Czechia still on the power play, Jakub Flek collected the puck, broke away and gave David Madlener no chance to make it 3:0 (37.).

A minute and a half into the final period, David Tomášek fired from the slot and scored to make it 4:0 for the hosts (42.). That proved to be the decisive moment in the game. The team coached by Radim Rulík had broken the deadlock and continued to play attractive, quick combinations, while Austria stood firm defensively and conceded no further goals. 

The atmosphere at the sold-out Prague Arena was tremendous with Czechia holding a commanding lead. In the end, Czechia won 4:0, with goaltender David Madlener named Austria’s Best Player.

Head coach Roger Bader analysed the defeat to Czechia after the final buzzer: "We still had trouble stopping them in the first period. But it was the same against Canada and Finland, because they come at you with incredible quality. You could also see that they did not underestimate us, because they shot every puck deep and went past us with a lot of speed. They did not try any dribbles in the neutral zone, but generated a lot of pressure. We paid our dues there, or rather had to get used to that pace. But we had some very good moments in the second period; the first ten minutes were really good. We should have scored the equaliser then, but unfortunately we did not manage it and then came that double blow. The shots-on-goal statistics, 12:7, were in our favour. I was also pleased with the final period; we defended well and showed good character. But of course Czechia deserved the win, with almost 18.000 fans driving them on. The Czech goaltender played very well, we had our opportunities, but unfortunately only one power play. It is not as though we can always expect to score goals by the half-dozen against the top nations!"

Captain Thomas Raffl particularly praised his team’s defensive performance: "Czechia are playing a home World Championship. We knew they would come out firing. When you look back at a 0:4 result, there was a penalty-shot goal. They scored only one five-on-five goal, which means the organisation in our own zone was there again defensively, but unfortunately we did not score a goal!"

After a day of rest, Norway await on Sunday

After a day of rest, Austria return to action against Norway on Sunday, 19 May, from 16:20. The match will again be shown live on ORF SPORT +.

2024 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship

Czechia vs. Austria 4:0 (1:0,2:0,1:0)
Fri, 17 May 2024, 20:20, Prague Arena, 17.413, live on ORF SPORT +
Czechia goalscorers: Ondřej Kaše (20./PS), Dominik Kubalík (36./PP1), Jakub Flek (37./PP1), David Tomášek (42.)

Austria lined up with:

Goaltenders: 31 Madlener David; 29 Höneckl Thomas (backup)
Line 1: 91 Heinrich Dominique - 78 Thimo Nickl; 5 Raffl Thomas - 70 Nissner Benjamin - 96 Huber Mario
Line 2: 92 Unterweger Clemens - 32 Wolf Bernd; 16 Zwerger Dominic - 23 Rossi Marco - 3 Schneider Peter
Line 3: 24 Strong Steven - 12 Maier David; 17 Ganahl Manuel - 98 Baumgartner Benjamin - 21 Haudum Lukas
Line 4: 18 Stapelfeldt Paul - 20 Brunner Nico; 52 Huber Paul - 9 Wukovits Ali - 19 Rohrer Vinzenz

Remaining fixtures:

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 1

Already played:

Finland vs. Austria 2:3 (2:0,0:1,0:2)
Thu, 16 May 2024, 16:20, Prague Arena, 15.387
Finland scorers: Saku Mäenalanen (3 min), Oliver Kapanen (9 min)
Austria scorers: Mario Huber (24 min), Thimo Nickl (50 min), Benjamin Baumgartner (60 min)

Canada vs. Austria 7:6 AET (3:1,3:0,0:5,1:0)
Tue, 14 May 2024, 20:20, Prague Arena, 14.704
Canada scorers: Dylan Cozens (7 min), Kaiden Guhle (10 min), Bowen Byram (14 min), Jared McCann (23 min), Connor Bedard (30 min), Pierre-Luc Dubois (38 min). John Taveres (61 min)
Austria scorers: Benjamin Nissner (11 min), Benjamin Baumgartner (44 min), Peter Schneider (45 min, 56 min), Dominic Zwerger (51 min), Marco Rossi (60 min)

Austria vs. Switzerland 5:6 (2:1,2:3,1:2)
Sun, 12 May 2024, 20:20, Prague Arena, 13.512
Austria goalscorers: Clemens Unterweger (5'), Paul Huber (15'), Lukas Haudum (22'/PP1, 35'/PP1), Benjamin Baumgartner (53')
Switzerland goalscorers: Roman Josi (16'/PP2, 30'/PP2), Nico Hischier (23', 41'/PP1, 60'/PP1), Ken Jäger (30'/PP1)

Austria vs. Denmark 1:5 (1:2,0:1,0:2)
Sat, 11 May 2024, 16:20, Prague Arena, 15.719
Austria goalscorer: Manuel Ganahl (20')
Denmark goalscorers: Markus Lauridsen (14'), Frederik Storm (17'/SH1), Joachim Blichfeld (39', 59'/PP1), Felix Scheel (54')