Come­back effort goes unre­warded: Austria’s U18 women lose World Cham­pi­onship opener against Italy

Head Coach Mario Bellina put his trust in goaltender Kiara Matt for the World Championship opener against the Squadra Azzurra at the Tüskecsarnok. Austria survived their first penalty kill and were unable to make the most of their first power play shortly afterwards. Late in the first period, Red-White-Red took another penalty. This time, the Italians capitalised, with Maddalena Bedont scoring the 1:0 from a Matilde Fantin assist 25 seconds before the first buzzer (20.).

Just under a minute after the halfway point of the game, Italy extended their lead to 2:0 through Manuela Heidenberger (32.). After another power play that yielded no goal for the ÖEHV side, Austria finally arrived at the World Championship: Emma Lintner scored the important 1:2 goal before the end of the middle period to bring the U18 back into the game (36.). Italy quickly restored their two-goal lead at the start of the final period, with Manuela Heidenberger again making it 3:1 after a minute and a half (42.).

Austria then came through a difficult phase with three consecutive penalty kills, but the Italians added another goal: Eleonora Pinti made it 4:1 (49.). Austria fought back and launched a comeback: just 45 seconds later, Vanessa Picka cut the deficit to 2:4 and gave her team renewed hope (50.). Austria then had another power play, and this time the special teams unit delivered: Emma Lintner scored her second goal to make it 3:4 (54.).

On the next power play, Head Coach Mario Bellina went all in with just under four minutes remaining and pulled goaltender Kiara Matt. The Italians showed nerves and soon afterwards took two further penalties, but Austria were unable to find the equaliser. The team coached by Massimo Fedrizzi held on to their narrow lead and celebrated a close 4:3 victory.

Head Coach Mario Bellinaanalysed the defeat and hopes for an improvement against Germany: "The team looked very nervous at the start and, accordingly, things did not go in the right direction early on. We gave the Italians the chances and, above all, the goals far too easily. We also took too many penalties. In the end, we had power-play time en masse, but unfortunately we were not quite able to turn the game around, although the opportunities were certainly there. We now have to make sure against Germany on Monday that we do not repeat the mistakes we made today. We have to focus more on our own game, dictate the play and not wait at the start to see what the opponent does!"

Prestige clash against Germany awaits on Monday

Austria’s U18 women are back in action at the World Championship in Budapest on Monday, facing Germany in the perennial prestige clash from 12:30.

2025 IIHF ICE HOCKEY U18 WOMEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION IA

05 January 2025 - 11 January 2025, Budapest (HUN)

Participants: Germany, Italy, Hungary, Austria, France, Norway

Austria vs. Italy 3:4 (0:1,1:1,2:2)
Sun., 05 January 2025, 12:30, Tüskecsarnok
Austria goalscorers:Emma Lintner (36., 54./PP1), Vanessa Picka (50.)
Italy goalscorers:Maddalena Bedont (20./PP1), Manuela Heidenberger (32., 42.), Eleonora Pinti (49.)

Other matches:

Germany vs. Austria

Mon., 06 January 2025, 12:30, Tüskecsarnok

Norway vs. Austria

Wed., 08 January 2025, 12:30, Tüskecsarnok

Austria vs. France

Fri, 10 January 2025, 16:00, Tüskecsarnok

Hungary vs. Austria

Sat, 11 January 2025, 19:30, Tüskecsarnok

All information on the official IIHF website