ÖEHV Pres­i­dent Klaus Hart­mann: "An unprece­dented ice hockey euphoria"

No matter which sport one is talking about, the respective national team is the flagship, the figurehead. No other team can unite an entire nation behind it in a comparable way, send it into raptures and promote itself far beyond its own borders.

Our women demonstrated this impressively in Klagenfurt, where they won the hearts of the fans and set a new Austrian attendance record in women's ice hockey against the Netherlands, with 2.385 fans at the Heidi Horten Arena.

Our junior national teams promoted themselves and Austrian ice hockey, making numerous headlines in recent months. Austria will be represented in the second-highest World Championship division in every age category again next season, with the men's U18 even celebrating a bronze medal. In addition, the U16 narrowly missed out on a medal in the 3x3 tournament at the Winter Youth Olympic Games in Gangwon, South Korea.

The men took this flame ignited by all national teams – the men's national team's home games in World Championship preparation, including the highlight against Canada in Vienna in front of 7.000 enthusiastic fans, were largely sold out – with them to Prague, sparking an ice hockey euphoria in Austria that had never been seen before.

Whether it was the performance against Switzerland, the comeback against Canada or the historic victory over Finland, our men graced the front pages of the domestic press and featured in every sports and news format across radio, television, print and online media. Abroad and across various social media channels, the Austrian national team was the number 1 topic of conversation.

Praise poured in from all corners of the world, along with congratulations on the performances from our friends at other sports federations and recognition from superstars such as Jaromir Jagr. Austrian ice hockey is being noticed, as are the circumstances under which these performances were achieved.

18 players from this successful World Championship squad come from the domestic win2day ICE Hockey League. The saves made by David Kickert and David Madlener not only secured the team its best World Championship finish since 2003, but went viral around the world, including Kickert's save with his bare hand. It is hard to imagine that these two goaltenders sometimes serve merely as backups at their respective clubs.

They have impressively demonstrated what they, and all domestic players, are capable of when they are given trust and the recognition they deserve. This is also a clear mandate for us as ÖEHV to continue strengthening domestic players.

The successes will hopefully also provide momentum for discussions and plans concerning infrastructure. Austria still lags well behind in this area, despite flagship projects such as the women's ice hockey federal performance centre currently being built in Villach.

For the most part, our existing sports venues are in considerable need of modernisation and refurbishment. If nothing happens in the near future, the gap in this regard to the leading nations, as well as to those nations in the Top Division that are within reach, will be difficult or impossible to close.

The successes will definitely provide momentum for discussions with potential sponsors. Advertising value has increased steadily in recent years, and the latest successes have given it another significant boost.

The strength of the support within Austria's sporting scene is also demonstrated by the following figures: an average of 15.658 spectators per game for our Cracks' appearances at Prague's O2 Arena, a Top 4 ranking in the fans' popularity rankings and, not to be forgotten, the tireless support for all our national teams from UFTA!

The people responsible for the United Fans of Team Austria, as well as all their members, deserve great thanks. For years, they have travelled to every match played by our national teams at home and abroad and proudly flown their UFTA flag.

Their commitment at the World Championship in Prague even resulted in an invitation to the Austrian Embassy, along with a return invitation to Ambassador Dr Bettina Kirnbauer, who ultimately cheered on Austria from among the UFTA fan community.

10th place was the final result. Another group deserves gold for this, without whom none of the above would be possible: the countless volunteers in our sport! They are the ones who ensure that, despite sometimes difficult circumstances, the optimum is achieved and top performances such as those at the 2024 World Championship are possible.

History was made with the women's home World Championship and the World Championship in Prague. For us as ÖEHV, this is a clear mandate to ensure that many more chapters are added at every level in the future.

Our motto for Austrian ice hockey: Alone you are fast, but together you go far!

Dr Klaus Hartmann
ÖEHV President