ÖEHV youth teams cele­brate successes in Slovakia and Hungary

Two strong performances from the Austrian Ice Hockey Federation's youth teams: the U16 men's national team recorded two wins from three games at the Four Nations tournament in Piestany (Slovakia) and finished third, level on points with Slovakia and Switzerland. The U18 women's national team also impressed in Györ (Hungary): with wins over Hungary and Italy, as well as a narrow defeat to tournament winners Germany (1:2), the ÖEHV selection secured second place.

U16 tournament in Slovakia

The U16 men opened with a heavy 1:7 defeat to Switzerland. The team then improved considerably: they recorded a 4:3 win over Slovakia, while against Germany they came back from behind twice and won 3:2 with two late goals. Head coach Johannes Leitner drew a positive conclusion: “It was a very positive camp for our U16 national team. We achieved all three objectives – maintaining daily standards, representing Austria with pride and learning international ice hockey.”

Sporting Director Roger Bader watched all three games live at the venue and stressed the importance of the tournament: “We are facing three nations here that are ahead of us in the youth rankings – these are valuable experiences at a level that is significantly above the domestic league. Winning two games straight away is outstanding. The team showed very aggressive, high-pressure Team Austria ice hockey with great fighting spirit – it was a real pleasure to watch.”

U18 women celebrate two wins

Austria's U18 women's national team also delivered a strong performance as a representative of Division 1B against two top-division nations. They only lost 1:2 to Germany late on, having been level at 1:1 until five minutes from the end and throwing everything at an equaliser with six skaters in the closing stages. The ÖEHV team beat Hungary, who had relegated Finland from the top division the previous year, 3:1. They then comfortably defeated Italy, who had themselves still played in Division 1A the previous year, 9:3.

For head coach Levente Szilagyi, previously, among other things, a multiple EWHL winner with HK Budapest, it was his ÖEHV debut behind the bench – as it was for Assistant Coach Alena Polenska, the long-serving captain of the Czech senior national team. Szilagyi drew a positive conclusion: “The spirit within the team is incredible, and I am very happy to be able to coach this team. There is an incredible amount of potential in this team. Naturally, I was particularly pleased that we were able to beat Hungary.”