Deutschland Cup: Austria lose 1:6 to Slovakia

The ÖEHV men's national team suffered a heavy defeat in their second game at the Deutschland Cup 2026 in Düsseldorf: Austria lost 1:6 to Slovakia at the PSD BANK DOME. Slovakia were also clearly superior in shots on goal, by 35:16, and even by 14:2 in the second period.

Austria had lost 0:3 to hosts Germany in Thursday's opener. Slovakia lost 2:3 to Latvia in overtime in their first game. Slovakia were eighth in the world rankings before the tournament, four places ahead of Austria. Austria won the last World Championship meeting in Stockholm in May 2025, 3:2 after a penalty shoot-out.

Head coach Roger Bader made three changes from the opener: Nicolas Wieser, Patrick Söllinger and Maximilian Rebernig came into the squad in place of David Kickert, Luis Lindner and Tim Harnisch. Florian Vorauer, who had been the backup on Thursday, started in goal, with Wieser as his backup. Bader also reshuffled the lines, with Ali Wukovits moving onto the first line alongside Benjamin Nissner and Lucas Thaler, among other changes.

0:0 after 20 minutes

Slovakia made the slightly better start, but after a few minutes Austria grew into the game and created their first chances on the power play, with Lukas Haudum denied by Slovak goalkeeper Patrik Jurcak. The game subsequently became disjointed, with Vorauer preserving the shutout through several important saves. Austria's best chance fell to Wukovits 33 seconds before the first break: following a surge down the right by Thaler, he was denied by Jurcak. The teams therefore went into the dressing rooms goalless.

The start to the second period went badly: just seven seconds into the period, Samuel Bucek beat two Austrian defencemen and beat Vorauer to make it 0:1. Only 70 seconds later, Slovakia struck again: following a quick passing move, Oleksiy Myklukha fired a swift shot into the top corner at the near post to make it 0:2.

Vinzenz Rohrer added to the setback: following a video review, he received a five-minute penalty and game misconduct in the 26th minute for a cross-check to the neck. Slovakia took full advantage of the lengthy power play, scoring twice: Vorauer initially saved a shot from distance, but Marek Valach converted the rebound in the 27th minute to make it 0:3. After a brief 4-on-4 phase, Sebastian Cederle made it 0:4 in the 30th minute with a deflected shot.

Wukovits scores ÖEHV's only goal

However, Austria did not give up and tried to fight their way back into the game through a more physical approach. Just under two minutes before the second break, Wukovits somewhat fortunately reduced the deficit to 1:4: after Thaler's attempt while falling, the puck bounced off his skate and into the net.

In the final period, Austria pushed for another goal: Thaler had a clear shooting opportunity in the 43rd minute, while Leon Wallner was denied by Jurcak from a great chance in the 49th minute. A minute later, Wukovits set up Thaler following a Slovak turnover, but again Austria were unable to find a way through.

Slovakia sealed the result on the counter-attack: Myklukha converted a 2-on-1 break in the 51st minute to make it 5:1. Austria continued to be frustrated by the outstanding Jurcak, who made 15 saves from 16 shots. In the 57th minute, Bucek completed the scoring at 6:1 on the power play following a fine passing move. Wukovits was named Austria's best player.

Latvia await tomorrow

Austria will face Latvia, ninth in the world rankings, in their final Deutschland Cup game on Sunday (11:00 am). ORF ON will stream the full game live from 10:55 am, while ORF SPORT + will join the live coverage from 11:55 am. Latvia beat Slovakia 3:2 in overtime in their opener and will still face hosts Germany on Saturday evening.

Post-game reactions will follow shortly.

Match report

Deutschland Cup 2026
Slovakia – Austria 6:1 (0:0, 4:1, 2:0)
PSD BANK DOME, Düsseldorf, Germany, attendance: 4.130

Goals:

• BUCEK (Myklukha) (20:07)
• MYKLUKHA (Regenda, Chromiak) (21:17)
• VALACH (Studenic, Chromiak) (26:00/PP)
• CEDERLE (Chromiak, Valach) (29:44/PP)
• WUKOVITS (Thaler, Nickl) (38:07)
• MYKLUKHA (Bucek, Regenda) (50:01)
• BUCEK (Myklukha, Regenda) (56:37/PP)

Penalty minutes: 8 and 29 respectively

Austria: Vorauer (Wieser); Unterweger – Würschl, Hackl – Maier, Wimmer – Nickl, Stapelfeldt – Söllinger; Wukovits – Nissner – Thaler, Huber – Haudum – Neubauer, Rebernig – Baumgartner – Rohrer, Schwinger – Achermann – Wallner

The remaining ÖEHV matches

• Sunday, 8 November, 11:00: Latvia – Austria (ORF ON from 10:55, ORF SPORT + from 11:55)