Deutsch­land Cup: Austria lose to Germany despite strong perfor­mance

Staying close to their opponents, aggressive forechecking, high tempo and fighting spirit from the opening face-off – that was how Head Coach Roger Bader’s team presented themselves in their second Deutschland Cup game against the hosts. The chants of around 4.200 Germany fans fell silent in the 10 minute when Benjamin Baumgartner fired the puck straight under the crossbar from a tight angle.

Tenacious and driven forward, the Austrians continued to force their neighbours into mistakes time and again. At the other end, Florian Vorauer was on hand to deal with all seven shots that went directly on his net in the first period.

After the first break, both teams created chances, but Austria increasingly took control and were rewarded in the 28th minute. Benjamin Baumgartner was on target once again to make it 2:0. At this stage, Austria pushed for 3:0, but then conceded a goal against the run of play to bring Germany back within one.

Mistakes in their own zone ultimately cost Austria a better result or even victory at the start of the final period. Within three minutes, Germany turned the game around and suddenly led 4:2. Hope was rekindled when Benjamin Baumgartner reduced the deficit to 3:4 with his third power-play goal in the 53rd minute. Roger Bader took Florian Vorauer off the ice in the closing stages, and Daniel Pfaffengut eventually capitalised on Germany winning the puck to make it 5:3 from the German perspective.

Denmark will be Austria’s opponents in the final game of the tournament on Sunday at 11:00. Against the Scandinavians, Austria have a positive record of 29 wins and one draw against ten defeats in 40 games.

Head Coach Roger Bader: “The improvement in performance was there. I was very pleased with today’s display. Within two days, we were able to improve both tactically and in terms of our fighting spirit. It was a performance that makes me proud. Unfortunately, we had those three weak minutes in which we turned over pucks in our own zone, and that is punished brutally at this level. If I look at the other 55 minutes, that is the way Austria can be successful and how we should play. I am proud of the team. We want to build on today’s performance tomorrow. In terms of players who took part in the World Championship, Denmark have the strongest squad at this tournament.”

Benjamin Baumgartner: “I think we were on level terms or even better for the first 40 minutes. We played very well, played very simply and always tried to get into the opposition zone. At the start of the third period, we did not come out well and fell back into old patterns, like against Slovakia. We thought we had more time and could curl back, but that does not work at international level. We were punished for it. You cannot give the opposition that. Our opponents are very good, so we have to adapt quickly. We were well prepared for today’s game. We can be very satisfied with the performance. We can build on it and, if we play like that against Denmark, we have a chance.”

Deutschland Cup 2023

Austria vs. Slovakia 1:7 (0:4, 1:2, 0:1)
Thu, 9 November 2023, 12:30
Austria goalscorer: Nico Feldner (25') 
Slovakia goalscorers: Samuel Takáč (8./PP1), Jozef Baláž (13., 15.), Oliver Okuliar (15., 34.), Lukáš Cingel (34./PP1), Martin Faško-Rudáš (42.)

Germany vs. Austria 5:3 (0:1,1:1,4:1)
Sat, 11 November 2023, 18:00, Landshut
Germany goalscorers: Marc Michaelis (32., 44.), Filip Varejcka (45.), Yasin Ehliz (47.), Daniel Pfaffengut (60./EN)
Austria goalscorers: Benjamin Baumgartner (10', 28', 53/PP1)

Denmark vs. Austria
Sun., 12 November 2023, 11:00, live on LIVE.eishockey.at

Head-to-head AUT vs. DEN