Olympic qual­i­fi­ca­tion: Austria open against hosts Slovakia

“Of all four teams, we have the most challenging schedule, given the short recovery time between the first and second games. We have to accept that,” assesses Head Coach Roger Bader the tough schedule. There are just 17 hours between the games against Slovakia and Kazakhstan.

But that should not occupy the team for long. The goal is the 2026 Olympic Games, 6–22 February 2026 in Milan and Cortina d´Ampezzo (ITA). To this end, the team will prepare in Graz from 19–24 August and play two friendly matches against Slovenia – 22 August, 18:00 in Ljubljana or Bled (SLO), and 24 August, 16:00 in Graz.

“We want to take part in the Olympic Games again after twelve years. We want to make the best possible use of the friendly matches against Slovenia in order to be ready for the task ahead,” said Roger Bader, who is hoping for reinforcements from overseas: “Marco Rossi, Marco Kasper and David Reinbacher want to be part of the Olympic qualification. We are now in contact with their respective NHL organisations to obtain their release.”

The Olympic qualification will be played at the Ondrej Nepela Arena in Bratislava, which has a capacity of more than 10.000 spectators and also hosted games at the 2019 World Championship.

2024 Olympic Men´s Ice Hockey Final Qualification, Group D

29.08.2024–01.09.2024, Bratislava

Schedule

29.08.2024, 14:00: Kazakhstan vs. Hungary
29.08.2024, 18:00: Slovakia vs. Austria

30.08.2024, 14:00: Kazakhstan vs. Austria
30.08.2024, 18:00: Hungary vs. Slovakia

01.09.2024, 14:00: Austria vs. Hungary
01.09.2024, 18:00: Slovakia vs. Kazakhstan

Preparation

Slovenia vs Austria
Thu, 22 August 2024, 18:00, Ljubljana or Bled (SLO)

Austria vs Slovenia
Sat, 24 August 2024, 16:00, Graz