Four Nations Tour­na­ment: Austria's U16 defeat Germany after a sensa­tional come­back

New U16 head coach Peter Schweda put his faith in goaltender Gabriel Lemberger for the opening game. Austria made a poor start to the first period, playing too passively and allowing their opponents too much space. Following a quick double strike inside almost two minutes from Tim Hartmann (9.) and Daniel Hilbert (11.), Germany swiftly took a 2:0 lead in the first period. Mark Samoilenko extended Germany's lead to 3:0 before the first siren.

One minute after the halfway point of the game, Maxim Dietz (31.) made it 4:0 for the team coached by Robin Beckers. The ÖEHV side then showed their efficiency on the power play. Josias Grossberger beat DEB netminder Alrik Ehlers on the first power-play opportunity to make it 1:4 (37.).

Austria came back into the game in the final period – and how: first, Emil Wagner (47.) reduced the deficit to 2:4, before Paul Sintschnig scored to make it 3:4 just nine seconds later (47.). Suddenly, the game was close again and Austria continued to press. Samuel Jamning scored the much-celebrated equaliser to make it 4:4 (52.), with Austria having erased a 0:4 deficit. 

Following Austria's sensational comeback, Germany were on the ropes. The ÖEHV side kept up the pressure and even took a 5:4 lead through Paul Sintschnig, who scored his second goal of the game (56.). Paul Schuster fired home Austria's sixth consecutive goal and sealed the sensational 6:4 victory for Austria, after trailing 0:4, with 21 seconds remaining (60.).

Head Coach Peter Schweda analysed the victory after the game: "We made an inferior start, the players were playing with the handbrake on, we were too passive in the first period and did not get into the battles quickly enough. The first period did not reflect this week's training performances. We were much better from the second period onwards; from then on, we were the better team. We conceded to make it 0:4; a shot that would have gone wide deflected off a German player's trousers into the goal. We then made it 1:4 on the power play. We won the final period 5:0; I have never seen anything like that at this level. We are very pleased with how the game ended, especially with the second and third periods!"

Switzerland await on Friday from 19:30. Austria then face Slovakia in their final game on Saturday.

Four Nations Tournament Füssen (GER)

Germany vs. Austria 4:6 (3:0,1:1,0:5)
Thu., 22 August 2024, 16:00
Austria goalscorers: Josias Grossberger (37./PP1), Emil Wagner (47.), Paul Sintschnig (47., 56.), Samuel Jamnig (52.), Paul Schuster (60.)

Further games:

Switzerland vs. Austria

Fri., 23 August 2024, 19:30

Austria vs. Slovakia
Sat., 24 August 2024, 11:00