First win in World Cham­pi­onship prepa­ra­tions: Austria beat Germany in a shootout

Austria head coach Roger Bader put his faith in goalie David Madlener for the second World Championship warm-up game against Germany within two days. 

The ÖEHV selection, with David Maier, Steven Strong, Clemens Unterweger, Manuel Ganahl, Lukas Haudum, Paul Huber and Lucas Thaler all coming into the side, started the game with quick attacks and had their first major chance on their very first shift following a one-two between Lukas Haudum and Lucas Thaler. Austria were then unable to make an early power play count. 

Germany took the lead out of nowhere when Wojciech Stachowiak brought the puck towards goal from behind the goal line and it suddenly crossed the line (7.). The red-white-red players tried to quickly put the unfortunate concession behind them and create danger again in attack. As the first period progressed, the game developed into an intense, evenly matched contest.

Shortly after the restart, Austria celebrated what appeared to be an equaliser on the power play, but the referees disallowed Manuel Ganahl's goal for goaltender interference. David Madlener then made a superb glove save in a 1:1 situation against Dominik Kahun, who suddenly found himself alone in front of the Austrian net. 

World runners-up Germany raised the tempo and applied pressure, but head coach Roger Bader's team were defensively sound alongside goalie Madlener. Shortly before the midway point of the game, Austria had a strong shift and pinned the visitors in their defensive zone. The red-white-red players produced strong penalty killing on the next penalty kill. The game had increased in intensity, with neither team giving an inch. 

Following a shot off the post by Germany's Kahun, Senna Peeters had the equaliser on his stick from close range shortly afterwards, but was denied by DEB goalie Mathias Niederberger.

Red-White-Red continued to create good attacking situations at the start of the final period, launching quick attacks. Only a goal was missing. But Germany also had good chances, and the game went back and forth. Goalie David Madlener kept the deficit narrow. Following a German error, Lukas Haudum had a great chance to equalise. 

Just under ten minutes from the end, Austria forced Germany into their own defensive zone and put the DEB team under enormous pressure. The fans in Zell am See responded with standing ovations and an impressive atmosphere. The crowd roared Austria forward. 

Late equaliser and shootout victory

With four and a half minutes remaining, Dominic Zwerger forcefully worked the puck over the line with his backhand for the celebrated 1:1 equaliser (56.). Neither team was able to score the winner. The game went to overtime, where Austria had a 4:3 power-play opportunity but could not convert it into victory. After five exciting scoreless minutes, the decision came in the shootout. There, Emilio Romig and Lukas Haudum scored to secure the first win of the current World Championship preparations.

The final World Championship warm-up game follows in Vienna on Sunday, 5 May, from 19:00. In the absolute highlight, reigning world champions Canada will be the visitors. The game will once again be shown live on ORF SPORT +.

Head coach Roger Bader analysed the game after the final buzzer: "The whole game was good, with the final period our strongest. Shootouts always involve an element of luck; we had been unlucky twice in Latvia. Today, we finally got our reward. I am very pleased for David Madlener that he played a good game today and was then also able to win the shootout. That is good for his confidence! The fourth training camp was very good, we played two very good games against Germany and have certainly taken another step forward!"

Ian Scherzer, Austria's best player: "I tried to simply work hard, get better every day and take everything I experience with me as experience. The atmosphere was incredible today, the fans gave us the final push. The team has really grown together in recent weeks, and the lads also do a good job of making it easy for younger players to settle in and believe that they can play good ice hockey at this level!"

Dominic Zwerger, scorer of the 1:1 equaliser: "That was a special win; we had not won for a long time. It was a wonderful victory in front of a wonderful crowd with a great atmosphere. Now we are getting off to a good start in the final week of preparation. The team battled, we blocked shots, everyone played for one another. In the end, that paid off. The win could have gone either way, but we were the luckier side!"

MEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP PREPARATION

Austria vs. Germany 2:1 after penalties (0:1,0:0,1:0,0:0,1:0)
Sat, 27 April 2024, 16:15, Zell am See, KE KELIT Arena, 2.600, live on ORF SPORT +
Austria scorers: Dominic Zwerger (56th minute), Emilio Romig (65th minute/decisive penalty) 
Germany scorer: Wojciech Stachowiak (7th minute)

Austria line-up: 

Goalies:

31 Madlener David; 29 Höneckl Thomas

Line 1:

25 Unterweger Clemens - 12 Maier David; 17 Ganahl Manuel - 21 Haudum Lukas - 15 Thaler Lucas

Line 2:

19 Heinrich Dominique - 14 Zündel Kilian; 16 Zwerger Dominic - 3 Scherzer Ian - 4 Peeters Senna

Line 3:

24 Strong Steven - 32 Wolf Bernd; 27 Huber Paul - 10 Maxa Felix - 6 Feldner Nico

Line 4:

23 Schnetzer Ramon - 26 Stapelfeldt Paul; 9 Romig Emilio - 22 Kainz Lukas - 11 Neubauer Henrik

Next match:

Austria vs. Canada
Sun, 5 May 2024, 19:00, Vienna, live on ORF SPORT +

Tickets for the final World Championship warm-up match against Canada are available HERE.

Already played:

Latvia vs Austria 3:2 after penalties (0:1, 1:0, 1:1)
Thu, 4 April 2024, 18:00 CEST, Riga (LAT)
Austria scorers: Leon Wallner (16th min.), Julian Metzler (43rd min.)
Latvia scorers: Feliks Egils Gavars (26th min.), Dans Locmelis (46th min.)

Latvia vs Austria 3:2 after penalties (1:0, 1:2, 0:0, 0:0)
Fri, 5 April 2024, 18:00 CEST, Riga (LAT)
Austria scorers: Nico Feldner (31st min.), Ian Scherzer (36th min.)
Latvia scorers: Martins Lavins (11th min.), Haralds Egle (34th min.)

Slovenia vs Austria 5:2 (3:0,1:1,1:1)
Thu, 11 April 2024, 19:00, Ljubljana (SLO)
Slovenia scorers: Ken Ograjenšek (2nd min.), Nik Simšič (8th min.), Anže Kuralt (12th min.), Jan Drozg (34th min.), Žan Jezovšek (58th min.)
Austria scorers: Nico Brunner (39th min./PP1), Senna Peeters (47th min.)

Austria vs Slovenia 0:6 (0:0,0:4,0:2)
Fri, 12 April 2024, 18:00, Villach
Slovenia scorers: Matic Podlipnik (21st/PP1), Anže Kuralt (32nd/PP1, 34th/PP1, 37th), Jan Drozg (44th), Ken Ograjenšek (52nd)

Czechia vs. Austria 5:1 (2:0,1:1,2:0)
Thu, 18 April 2024, 17:10, Budweis (CZE)
Czechia scorers: Adam Kubík (3rd/PP1), Andrej Šustr (18th), Jakub Galvas (25th), Jiří Černoch (51st), Michael Špaček (53rd)
Austria scorer: Benjamin Baumgartner (29th)

Austria vs. Czechia 2:3 (1:1,0:2,1:0)
Sat, 20 April 2024, 18:00, Linz
Austria scorers: Nico Feldner (14th), Leon Wallner (58th)
Czechia scorers: Daniel Gazda (18th), Jakub Rychlovský (25th/PP1, 30th)

Germany vs. Austria 4:2 (2:1,0:1,2:0)
Thu, 25 April 2024, 19:00, Garmisch-Partenkirchen (GER)
Germany scorers: Marc Michaelis (8th, 11th), Daniel Fischbuch (50th), Parker Tuomie (52nd/PP1)
Austria scorers: Benjamin Baumgartner (16th), Lukas Kainz (38th)

2024 IIHF ICE HOCKEY WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

10 - 26 May 2024
Hosts: Czechia
Group A – Prague: Canada, Finland, Switzerland, Czechia, Denmark, Norway, Austria, Great Britain
Group B – Ostrava: USA, Germany, Sweden, Slovakia, Latvia, France, Kazakhstan, Poland

Schedule

Austria vs. Denmark
Sat, 11 May 2024, 16:20, live on ORF 1

Austria vs. Switzerland
Sun, 12 May 2024, 20:20, live on ORF SPORT +

Canada vs. Austria
Tue, 14 May 2024, 20:20, live on ORF SPORT +

Finland vs. Austria
Thu, 16 May 2024, 16:20, live on ORF SPORT +

Czechia vs. Austria
Fri, 17 May 2024, 20:20, live on ORF SPORT +

Norway vs. Austria
Sun, 19 May 2024, 16:20, live on ORF SPORT +

Austria vs. Great Britain
Tue, 21 May 2024, 12:20, live on ORF SPORT +