Men's U20 World Cham­pi­onship: After the 2:0 win over Hungary, promo­tion is now just one step away

"A very, very hard-earned win," was Head Coach Philipp Pinter visibly relieved after the 2:0 victory. Hungary made life difficult for his players, created good chances, but time and again were denied by outstanding Austrian netminder Benedikt Oschgan. Austria were somewhat nervous in the first period, but stuck consistently to their game plan.

The patience paid off. Austria gradually took control in the middle period. A few minutes into the final period, Felix Haiböck provided the deserved breakthrough, scoring for 1:0. In the final two minutes of the game, Hungary pulled their goaltender, with Vasily Zelenov sealing the decisive 2:0 into the empty net 13 seconds before the buzzer.

Head Coach Philipp Pinter: "We were visibly nervous, but we did not change anything about our game and played with great discipline. We knew that Hungary are very well coached and that we had to remain patient. At the start, Hungary gave away very little and play went back and forth a lot. We found that somewhat difficult to deal with. In the end, we made good decisions, especially with the puck, and scored the goals at the right time. Benedikt Oschgan was outstanding once again, and our penalty kill was absolutely top today. There is no need to talk about the collective, the passion and how the team presented itself. That was another step in the right direction. Now we will wait and see what happens today, then recovery and preparation for Sunday are on the agenda."

2025 IIHF Ice Hockey U20 World Championship Division IA

9 December 2024 - 15 December 2024, Bled (SLO)
Participants: Norway, France, Denmark, Austria, Hungary, Slovenia

Austria vs. Hungary 2:0 (0:0,0:0,2:0)
Fri, 13 December 2024, 12:30, Ledena dvorana Bled
Austria goalscorers: Felix Haiböck (43'), Vasily Zelenov (60'/EN)

Final game:

Denmark vs. Austria
Sun, 15 December 2024, 12:30, Ledena dvorana Bled
Live on krone.at

Already played:

Slovenia vs. Austria 2:3 (0:2,1:1,1:0)
Thu, 12 December 2024, 16:00, Ledena dvorana Bled
Slovenia goalscorers: Filip Sitar (34th), Mark Sever (56th/PP1)
Austria goalscorers: Florian Lanzinger (7th/PP1), Felix Haiböck (14th, 32th)

Norway vs. Austria 1:3 (0:2,1:0,0:1)
Tue, 10 December 2024, 16:00, Ledena dvorana Bled
Norway goalscorer: Niklas Aaram-Olsen (31st)
Austria goalscorers: Gregor Biber (3rd/PP1), Adrian Gesson (19th), Alexander Rupnik (46th)

Austria vs. France 4:2 (0:0,4:0,0:2)
Mon, 09 December 2024, 12:30, Ledena dvorana Bled
Austria goalscorers: Ian Scherzer (22nd), Paul Sintschnig (25th), Thomas Klassek (32nd), David Waschnig (38th)
France goalscorers: Teo Toubhans-Besnier (45th/PS), Paul Le Lem (46th/PP1)

>> Current IIHF standings - All information on the official IIHF website: https://www.iihf.com/en/events/2025/wm20ia