Dominique Hein­rich to captain Austria at the Deutsch­land Cup

"It is always a great honour to represent Austria. As captain, it is something even more special. I am really looking forward to playing with the lads," explains Dominique Heinrich on his new role. The last game against Slovakia came in Olympic qualifying in August 2021. In Bratislava, our neighbours narrowly prevailed 2:1.

The opening game of the Deutschland Cup will be the 39th international meeting between Austria and Slovakia. At the 2013 World Championship in Helsinki, Austria recorded their most recent win over their neighbours, prevailing 2:1 after a shoot-out. Thomas Vanek scored the winner at the time, while Bernhard Starkbaum saved three penalties.

"This is the first stage of preparation for the World Championship in Tampere (FIN). We want to come away from this tournament with a positive record. That means winning at least two games. I think it is a very ambitious target, but also a realistic one," said the new captain.

Austria head into the tournament with a young squad featuring several experienced players such as Heinrich, Bernd Wolf, Lukas Haudum and goalkeeper David Kickert. The situation is similar for Slovakia, as Head Coach Roger Bader explains: "Slovakia are a very good nation just behind the top nations. They, too, have a mixed team featuring players who took part in the Olympic Games in February, as well as several prospect players."

The team completed three training sessions, all of which were extremely intense, Dominique Heinrich: "That is necessary in order to gel in such a short time and perform well in the games. They were very productive days, with meetings about the system and the aforementioned on-ice sessions. We are ready for the opening game."

Deutschland Cup 2022

10 - 13 November 2022, Krefeld/GER

Schedule

Austria vs. Slovakia
Thu, 10 November 2022, 16:15, live on ORF Sport+

Germany vs. Denmark
Thu, 10 November 2022, 19:45

Slovakia vs. Denmark
Sat, 12 November 2022, 14:30

Germany vs. Austria
Sat, 12 November 2022, 17:30, live on ORF Sport+

Austria vs. Denmark
Sun., 13 November 2022, 11:00, live on ORF Sport+

Germany vs. Slovakia
Sun., 13 November 2022, 14:30

Tickets are available at www.deb-online.de/tickets

Ticket prices
Day ticket from € 20.-
Weekend ticket from € 36.-
Three-day ticket from € 49.-
Family ticket (2 adults + 2 children) € 100.-

Head-to-head AUT vs. SVK