It’s ice time again!

Austria’s domestic leagues have long since resumed operations, Austria has once again fielded a national para ice hockey team after several years, the women’s national team is in the midst of preparations for Olympic qualification, the men will face one top-tier nation and two World Championship Division I opponents in November, and Edmonton will once again host the second most important competition in men’s ice hockey over the turn of the year.

24 January 20222 min readSource: Eishockey.at

Photo credit: Martin Kogler, GM Women’s Ice Hockey, Nicolas Stockhammer, Vice-President, Roger Bader, Men’s Sporting Director, Julia Willenshofer, national team player - Copyright: GEPA pictures/Edgar Eisner

Mobile phones, keyboards and minds themselves have been working overtime for weeks. The task is to plan, prepare, find opponents, create the best possible conditions and prepare players physically and mentally for the challenges ahead at an early stage.

At the beginning of October, the women’s national team opened the new season with friendly matches against Italy and Kazakhstan; a week later, a national para ice hockey team took to the ice again for the first time after several years’ absence.

The men will finally follow in November, competing in a high-quality Four Nations Tournament in Jesenice (SLO) featuring top-tier nation Belarus and their two World Championship Division I opponents in the spring, France and Slovenia.

At the same time, the women’s national team will compete in Füssen for qualification for the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing. Their opponents will be hosts Germany, Denmark and Italy. On 7 November, they will also play a friendly against Norway at the ERSTE BANK Arena in Vienna – tickets are already available via Ö-Ticket.

Over the turn of the year, Austria’s U20 team will face the challenge of the World Championship in Edmonton, the second most important competition in men’s ice hockey after the top-tier World Championship. During the November break, they will also compete in a Four Nations Tournament in preparation for the U20 World Championship. They will move to Canada as early as mid-December, where further friendly matches are also planned.

During the February break, Klagenfurt will once again host the Austria Cup. The opponents will be Norway and France. In April, the four-week preparation period for the World Championship Division I in Ljubljana (SLO) will finally begin, where Austria will face Romania, Slovenia, Hungary, South Korea and France from 2 to 8 May 2022.

IIHF November Break – 8 – 14.11.2021
Four Nations Tournament in Slovenia against Belarus, France and Slovenia

IIHF February Break – 7 – 13.02.2022
Austria Cup in Klagenfurt with matches against Norway and France

World Championship preparation, April 2022

Camp 1: Vienna training camp
Camp 2: Linz & Znojmo / 2 matches vs. CZE
Camp 3: Graz or Vienna / 2 matches vs. POL
Camp 4: Innsbruck & Bruneck / 2 matches vs. ITA

World Championship Division I – 02 – 08 May 2022, Ljubljana (SLO)
Opponents: Romania, Slovenia, Hungary, South Korea, France

Olympic qualification 11 – 14.11.2021 in Füssen/GER
Opponents: Germany, Denmark and Italy

Programme after Olympic qualification - 2 scenarios

In the event of successful qualification
Preparation with 2-4 international matches, participation in Beijing
In the event of non-participation in the Olympic Games
4-nation tournament in Villach from 11 to 13 February 2022

World Championship preparation