Final World Cham­pi­onship count­down begins with two warm-up games against Italy

From Wednesday, the red-white-red team called up by Head Coach Alexander Bröms will be assembled in the Carinthian capital to begin final preparations for the 2023 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship Division IA in China.

On Friday, 4 August 2023 and Saturday, 5 August 2023, Austria will face Italy in two warm-up games as part of the camp, before travelling to China on 12 August. Anna Meixner and Selma Luggin will then join the team after preparing with their clubs in Sweden. A total of five on-ice sessions are scheduled – four before the two warm-up games and one on Sunday after the fixtures.

Italy most recently finished third behind South Korea and Poland at the 2023 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship Division IB in South Korea in April. Austria won their last game against their neighbours convincingly, 6:1, at the Olympic qualification tournament in Füssen, Germany, in November 2021.

However, the victory had a bitter aftertaste, as Olympic qualifying for Beijing had already been missed before the final game after Denmark earned a point against Germany. The goals were scored by Anna Meixner (13), Janine Weber (17), Annikas Fazokas (35), Antonia Matzka (52, 58) and Anja Trummer (60), with Austria overturning a 0:1 deficit to secure a resounding 6:1 victory.

Assistant Coach Mario Bellina outlines the plan for the training camp in Klagenfurt: “The main objective is to get the women out of summer hockey as quickly as possible and try to get them back into competition mode straight away, so that they are ready for the two warm-up games against Italy. The focus in training will definitely be on going over the playbook again, so that the players can consolidate what we want to play at the World Championship!”

Italy are the ideal test opponent during the camp: “Our expectation for the two games against Italy is that the players will try to implement what we do in training as well as possible. We have to take into account that it is August, so not everything will work straight away. It is not so easy to be back where you were in April, when there is a World Championship or preparations, after just two or three training sessions. Things look a little different in August. As a coaching staff, we need to be a little patient too. We will make the best possible use of the time in Klagenfurt and then in China so that we can have a good World Championship tournament!”

Defender Antonia Matzka – already one of the team’s absolute leaders at the age of 24 – confirms the main objectives of the two tests against the selection coached by Massimo Fedrizzi: “It is not so much about the final result in these games, but about implementing the systems taught by the coaching staff, seeing what works well and receiving feedback. These warm-up games allow the coaches to see what we still need to work on. It is important that we get into game mode. Training is one thing, a game is another. A game is played at a different intensity. It is important that we find that feeling.”

Admission to both warm-up games at the Sepp-Puschnig-Halle in Klagenfurt is free.

World Championship begins on 20 August against Norway

Austria’s World Championship campaign begins against Norway on Sunday, 20 August 2023, at the Dayun Hall in the Shenzhen Universiade Sports Centre. The arena, which hosted the NHL pre-season game between the Calgary Flames and the Boston Bruins in September 2018, has a total capacity of 18.000 fans.

The first three World Championship games against Norway (20 August), Denmark (21 August) and the Netherlands (23 August) can be watched live via the ÖEHV’s OTT platform, LIVE.eishockey.at. Games four and five against China (24 August) and Slovakia (26 August) will be broadcast live on ORF SPORT +.

After narrowly missing out on promotion last year, Austria want to take their chances this year, especially as two nations will be promoted to the Top Division.

The Austrian delegation already knows Norway, the Netherlands and Slovakia well from last year’s tournament. At the World Championship in Angers (FRA), they recorded a narrow 2:1 shoot-out win over the Netherlands, followed by a 4:3 overtime victory against Norway. The game against Slovakia was narrowly lost 1:2.

China are something of an unknown quantity, while Denmark were relegated from the Top Division at their home tournament in 2022.

Women’s National Team World Championship preparations

2–6 August 2023, Klagenfurt

Warm-up games

Austria vs. Italy
Fri, 4 August 2023, 19:15, Sepp-Puschnig-Halle
Live on LIVE.eishockey.at

Austria vs. Italy
Sat, 5 August 2023, 12:30, Sepp-Puschnig-Halle
Live on LIVE.eishockey.at

2023 IIHF Ice Hockey Women's World Championship Division IA

20 August 2023 - 26 August 2023, Shenzhen (CHN)

Schedule
The dates and times refer to our local time zone; the local time is shown in brackets.

Austria vs. Norway
Sun, 20 August 2023, 10:30 (16:30 local time)
Live on LIVE.eishockey.at

Denmark vs. Austria
Mon, 21 August 2023, 07:00 (13:00 local time)
Live on LIVE.eishockey.at

Netherlands vs. Austria
Wed, 23 August 2023, 10:30 (16:30)
Live on LIVE.eishockey.at

Austria vs. China
Thu, 24 August 2023, 14:00 (20:00)
Live on ORF SPORT +

Slovakia vs. Austria
Sat, 26 August 2023, 07:00 (13:00)
Live on ORF SPORT +