Narrow defeat in second World Cham­pi­onship warm-up against Czechia

“I have to single out Kickert; he played an outstanding game,” said Head Coach Roger Bader in praise of the goaltender after the final whistle. 

The 29-year-old was in World Championship form, producing several spectacular saves. Kickert was in the spotlight on several occasions in the opening minutes, keeping a clean sheet for Austria. The players in front of him played boldly going forward throughout and were well organised in their own zone.

In the eighth minute, Lukas Haudum carried the puck into the offensive zone and passed to Henrik Neubauer, who set up the onrushing Steven Strong perfectly in the middle to make it 1:0. Five minutes later, the teams were sent to the dressing rooms early because a hole in the ice had to be repaired. The remaining seven minutes were made up immediately after the extended break, with the game then continuing with the second period.

Czechia launched wave after wave of attacks on the Austrian net. In the 28th minute, the puck “stumbled” to Filip Chlapik, who scored into the near corner to make it 1:1. Shortly before the end of the middle period, Austria had to kill a three-minute penalty, including exactly one minute two men down, and did so superbly.

Austria successfully blocked nearly 40 shots before David Tomasek was set up perfectly alone in front of David Kickert in the 52nd minute and only had to get his stick to the puck to make it 2:1. In the final 90 seconds, Bader pulled his goaltender for a sixth skater, but the score remained unchanged. Austria lost 1:2 despite a strong battling performance and an outstanding David Kickert in goal.

Head Coach Roger Bader: “We improved compared to the game two days ago. Significantly so, in fact. We did the things we had set out to improve better. In particular, we defended better in the defensive zone and were more aggressive as long as we still had the energy. We also made better decisions about when to forecheck and when to set up in the neutral-zone trap, and implemented that well at times. When we managed to play vertically with the puck, we were also able to create some attacks. Those were the three things we had set out to improve. Overall, the team battled superbly. Of course, Czechia were superior and had many scoring chances. We do not need to be ashamed of that; it is normal against a team with this level of individual quality.”

Warm-up game:

Czechia vs. Austria 2:1 (0:1,1:0,1:0)
Sat., 29 April 2023, 16:00, Brno (CZE)
Czechia scorers: Filip Chlapík (28th/PP1), David Tomášek (52nd)
Austria scorer: Steven Strong (8th)

Senior national team dates and World Championship preparation schedule

Team camp 1
2–6 April 2023, Villach

Team camp 2
9–14 April 2023, Innsbruck

Team camp 3
17–22 April 2023, Deggendorf (GER)

Team camp 4
25–29 April 2023, Vienna

Team camp 5
2–6 May 2023, Kapfenberg

Friendly matches
(subject to change)

Austria vs. Slovenia 3:5 (1:2, 2:1, 0:2)
Thu, 6 April 2023, 17:30, Villach
Austria scorers: Emilio Romig (20th/PP1), Nico Feldner (25th/PP1, 28th)

Italy vs. Austria 2:0 (0:0, 1:0, 1:0)
Wed, 12 April 2023, 20:00, Bruneck (ITA)

Austria vs. Italy 3:2 after penalties (2:0, 0:1, 0:1, 0:0, 1:0)
Fri, 14 April 2023, 17:30, Innsbruck
Austria scorers: Felix Maxa (12th), Simeon Schwinger (18th), Dominic Zwerger (decisive penalty)

Germany vs. Austria 2:0 (2:0, 0:0, 0:0)
Thu, 20 April 2023, 19:30, Deggendorf (GER)

Germany vs. Austria 2:3 after penalties (1:2,0:1,1:0,0:0,0:1)
Sat, 22 April 2023, 17:00, Landshut (GER)
Austria scorers: Lukas Haudum (7th/PP1), Henrik Neubauer (29th/PP1), Lukas Haudum (65th/decisive penalty) – Lukas Haudum, Henrik Neubauer and Dominic Zwerger all scored for Austria in the penalty shoot-out. Goaltender Bernhard Starkbaum saved every German attempt.

Austria vs. Czechia 0:6 (0:3, 0:3, 0:0)
Thu, 27 April 2023, 18:30, Vienna

Austria vs. Slovakia
Thu, 4 May 2023, 18:30, Kapfenberg
Live on ORF Sport+

Slovakia vs. Austria
Sat, 6 May 2023, 16:00, Trencin (SVK)
Live on ORF Sport+