Good moments outweigh the bad

The USA, Sweden, Russia and the Czech Republic were the expected overwhelming opponents for Austria's U20 national team at the IIHF U20 World Championship in Edmonton/Canada. To conclude the preliminary round on New Year's Eve, Austria suffered a 0:7 defeat against the Czech Republic in the direct battle for a quarter-final place.

After the first 20 minutes, the ÖEHV selection was still holding its own admirably at 0:0 and had also created several good scoring chances. However, as the game progressed, the Czechs' quality became increasingly evident, and they were ultimately able to celebrate a deserved victory and qualification for the quarter-finals. "We were certainly better in the game in the first period. After conceding the second goal, there was disappointment, and we also showed mental weakness for ten minutes. We can be proud of our performance in the first period," said Head Coach Roger Bader.

With four defeats, Austria's U20 national team finished bottom of Group B – as did Switzerland in Group A. Due to the Covid-19-related cancellations of all other U20 World Championships, there will be no relegated team from the Top Division this year. In the 2021/22 season, Austria will once again be among the world's ten best nations at the championship in Canada (venues: Edmonton and Red Deer).

Goaltender Sebastian Wraneschitz, defenceman Luis Lindner and captain and forward Marco Rossi were selected as the three best players of Austria's U20 national team at this tournament. "It was a difficult tournament because a lot was new to us. Next year will certainly go better for our team because some players can take this experience with them. We have good talents in the team, and there is a lot of potential for next year," said the captain.

Eleven players from this year's U20 national team will still be eligible to compete at the next World Championship, including Austria's only goalscorer Senna Peeters and goaltender Wraneschitz. "We had good moments in all four games. However, all of our group opponents are in the top 6 of the world rankings. Overall, we gave a good account of ourselves. If it were a normal World Championship, we would now be facing Switzerland in the relegation. We would have a chance of staying in the top division," Bader added.

2021 IIHF U20 World Championship Top Division

25 December 2020 - 5 January 2021
Venue
Edmonton/Canada

Participants
Group A: Canada, Finland, Switzerland, Slovakia, Germany
Group B: Russia, Sweden, USA, Czech Republic, Austria

Schedule (Edmonton local time, CET +8 hours)
25.12.2020, 12:00: Switzerland - Slovakia (0:0,0:0,0:1)
25.12.2020, 16:00: Germany - Finland 3:5 (0:2,2:3,1:0)
25.12.2020, 19:30: Russia - USA 5:3 (1:1,3:0,1:2)

26.12.2020, 12:00: Sweden - Czech Republic 7:1 (1:1,3:0,3:0)
26.12.2020, 16:00: Germany - Canada 2:16 (1:4,0:7,1:5)
26.12.2020, 19:30: USA - Austria 11:0 (1:0,6:0,4:0)
Goals: Helleson (16), Zegras (25, 32), Farinacci (26), Brisson (29/PP, 44), Boldy (35, 39/PP, 46), Berard (43), Colangelo (50)
Penalty minutes: 4 and 4, plus a game misconduct penalty (Wimmer)

27.12.2020, 12:00: Finland - Switzerland 4:1 (1:1,1:0,2:0)
27.12.2020, 16:00: Slovakia - Canada 1:3 (0:1,0:0,1:2)
27.12.2020, 19:30: Czech Republic - Russia 2:0 (0:0,1:0,1:0)

28.12.2020, 16:00: Austria - Sweden 0:4 (0:1,0:2,0:1)
Goals: Gunler (18/PP, 31), Niederbach (25/PP), Raymond (53)
Penalty minutes: 8 and 0
28.12.2020, 19:30: Slovakia - Germany 3:4 after overtime (1:1,2:2,0:0)

29.12.2020, 12:00: USA - Czech Republic 7:0 (0:0,3:0,4:0)
29.12.2020, 16:00: Canada - Switzerland 10:0 (1:0,4:0,5:0)
29.12.2020, 19:30: Austria - Russia 1:7 (0:4,1:0,0:3)
Goals: Peeters (28) and Amirov (5/penalty shot), Podkolzin (7, 14), Khusnutdinov (17), Kynazev (42/PP), Afanasiev (58), Gritsyuk (59)
Penalty minutes: 4 and 4, plus a misconduct penalty (Safonov)

30.12.2020, 12:00: Finland - Slovakia 6:0 (1:0,2:0,3:0)
30.12.2020, 16:00: Switzerland - Germany 4:5 (0:3,0:1,4:1)
30.12.2020, 19:30: Russia - Sweden 4:3 after overtime (2:1,0:1,1:1)

31.12.2020, 12:00: Czech Republic – Austria 7:0 (0:0,4:0,3:0)
Goals: Kubicek (27), Lang (33, 39), Prikryl (40), Novak (42), Jiricek (57), Mysak (60)
Penalty minutes: 2 and 0
31.12.2020, 16:00: Canada - Finland
31.12.2020, 19:30: Sweden - USA

02.01.2021: Quarter-finals
04.01.2021: Semi-finals
05.01.2021: Final matches

Format
Due to the cancellation of all other U20 World Championship tournaments for the 2020/21 season, there will be neither promotion nor relegation this year. Therefore, there will also be no relegation games for the fifth-placed teams in Edmonton. All participants will also play in the IIHF Top Division of the U20 in Canada in the 2021/22 season.

More information at...