Four Nations Tour­na­ment: Austria’s U16 suffer final-day defeat to Slovakia

Head Coach Peter Schweda started goalie David Rödig in net against Slovakia. The Slovaks, who celebrated a 5:2 win over Switzerland and suffered a narrow 3:4 defeat to hosts Germany, made the better start and were efficient in front of goal: Dominik Herbst (9 min.), Matúš Válek (13 min.) and Christopher Tayler Podkonický (17 min.) fired them into a comfortable three-goal lead in the opening period. Austria played well but were unable to register a tangible reward in the form of a goal.

Matúš Válek made it 4:0 early in the second period, seemingly sealing the result in Slovakia’s favour (24 min.), before Dušan Olekšák increased the lead to 5:0 shortly afterwards (26 min.). 

Shortly after the halfway mark, the ÖEHV selection got on the scoreboard as Emil Wagner beat Slovakia netminder Jakub Husár to make it 1:5 (31 min.). Around three minutes later, Luca Fischer reduced the deficit to 2:5 (34 min.). When Slovakia took a penalty, giving Austria a power play, there was briefly hope of a comeback similar to the one against Germany. Christopher Tayler Podkonický ended those hopes with his second goal shortly before the end of the period (39 min.). 

In the final period, Patrik Rychlík made it 7:2 for Slovakia (49 min.). Austria took several penalties, and Matúš Válek converted a power play for his third goal to make it 8:2 for Slovakia (55 min.). Tomáš Vladimír Púpava completed the scoring at 9:2 (59 min.). Austria finished the tournament in third place after Germany beat Switzerland 4:1 in the final game to win the tournament ahead of Slovakia.

Head Coach Peter Schweda analysed the match after the final whistle: "The scoreline is far too high. It does not reflect the game at all. We played very well again; despite trailing 0:3 after the first period, the boys kept pushing and had plenty of chances in the second period. Unfortunately, we conceded unnecessary goals again. In the final period, we took every risk; we told ourselves that we had nothing left to lose. The Slovaks were clinical with their chances. Overall, we delivered a good performance, which, as mentioned, is clearly not reflected in the result!"

Four Nations Tournament, Füssen (GER)

Austria vs. Slovakia 2:9 (0:3,2:3,0:3)
Sat., 24 August 2024, 11:00
Austria scorers: Emil Wagner (31 min.), Luca Fischer (34 min.)

Previously played:

Switzerland vs. Austria 6:5 AET (0:5,4:0,1:0,1:0)

Fri., 23 August 2024, 19:30

Austria scorers: Paul Schuster (8 min.), Emil Wagner (13 min.), Luca Fischer (14 min.), Ilian Ressi (15 min./SH1), Paul Sintschnig (20 min.)

Germany vs. Austria 4:6 (3:0,1:1,0:5)

Thu., 22 August 2024, 16:00

Austria scorers: Josias Grossberger (37 min./PP1), Emil Wagner (47 min.), Paul Sintschnig (47 min., 56 min.), Samuel Jamnig (52 min.), Paul Schuster (60 min.)