Para Ice Hockey World Cham­pi­onship: Austria suffer heavy defeat against Thai­land

Austria again started with goaltender Werner Pouzar in net against Thailand, had an early power play and then had to kill off a penalty. Both teams engaged in an intense battle in the opening minutes, with the hosts taking the lead: Arbe Sae-Lu scored from just behind the blue line to make it 1:0 (6 minutes). Captain Thomas Schilcher then had to commit a professional foul, and Tawatchai Saennai converted the resulting penalty shot to make it 2:0 (9 minutes). 

Just 44 seconds later, Arbe Sae-Lu struck again from a shot to make it 3:0 (10 minutes). Thailand added another and pulled away to 4:0: exactly two minutes later, Tawatchai Saennai fired the puck sharply towards goal from the neutral zone, with goaltender Pouzar allowing it to slide over the line (12 minutes).

In the opening minutes of the second period, the ÖEHV side took four penalties in succession and spent a long time shorthanded. The penalty kill initially worked very well, but the prolonged spell at a numerical disadvantage had then taken too much out of the team: still on the power play, Mathee Yenkuan made it 5:0 with a well-placed shot (22 minutes). Yenkuan then scored to make it 6:0 with a magnificent shot from the slot into the top-right corner (27 minutes). 

Moments later, Yenkuan completed a perfect hat-trick from the left side to make it 7:0 (29 minutes). Mathee Yenkuan could not be stopped, adding his fourth goal within seven minutes and 20 seconds. Following a breakaway, he beat goaltender Pouzar with a long deke and put the puck away to make it 8:0 with 52 seconds remaining in the period (30 minutes). In the final period, Austria had a power play, but Tawatchai Saennai scored a shorthanded goal from close range to make it 9:0 for Thailand (35 minutes). 45 seconds later, it was 10:0, as Saennai lofted a shot from the blue line to take the score into double figures (36 minutes). 

Michael Ladstätter took over in goal for Austria for the final minutes. While shorthanded, Tawatchai Saennai netted his fourth goal: he beat netminder Ladstätter with a fine deke to make it 11:0 (41 minutes). Still shorthanded, Manot Khemma increased the lead to 12:0 (42 minutes), before Mathee Yenkuan even added a third shorthanded goal to make it 13:0 (43 minutes). That was the final score, with captain Thomas Schilcher named Austria’s best player.

Saturday is all about the bronze medal

On Saturday, the ÖEHV side will face Australia, whom Austria beat 15:0 in the preliminary round, in the third-place game for the bronze medal, starting at 08:00 Central European Time (14:00 local time). The match will once again be available to watch via the International Paralympic Committee’s livestream.

Assistant captain Fabian Burtscher summed up the match succinctly after the final buzzer: “We fought well and gave everything we could. In the end, Thailand were quicker and combined well. We could only keep up for a short time; the final result speaks for itself. Now we have to focus on the match against Australia, which starts again at 0:0. But we will keep at it so that we win the game!”

Head Coach Erik Vikström analysed the match: “Thailand were the better team after six or seven minutes. We played well at the start, but then took too many penalties. The match was decided after two periods. Now we will do everything against Australia to bring the bronze medal to Austria!”

Para Ice Hockey World Championship, Pool C

26–30 November 2024, Bangkok, Thailand

Third-place game: 

Austria vs. Australia

Sat., 30 November 2024, 08:00 (local time 14:00), Bangkok - >> to the livestream

Final: 

Thailand vs. Finland

Sat., 30 November 2024, 14:00 (local time 20:00), Bangkok - >> to the livestream

Austria vs. Thailand 0:13 (0:4,0:4,0:5)
Fri, 29 November 2024, 08:00 (14:00 local time), Bangkok
Thailand scorers: Arbe Sae-Lu (6th, 10th), Tawatchai Saennai (9th/PS, 12th, 35th/SH1, 36th, 41th/SH1), Mathee Yenkuan (22th/PP1, 27th, 29th, 30th, 43th/SH1), Manot Khemma (42th/SH1)

Australia vs Finland 0:23 (0:11,0:6,0:6)
Fri, 29 November 2024, 11:30 (17:30 local time), Bangkok

Already played:

Finland vs Thailand 0:2 (0:0,0:2,0:0)
Wed, 27 November 2024, 11:30 (17:30 local time), Bangkok

Austria vs Australia 15:0 (5:0,4:0,6:0)
Wed, 27 November 2024, 08:00 (14:00 local time), Bangkok
Austria scorers: Thomas Schilcher (3rd/SH1), Kai Habeler (5th/SH1, 14th, 21st, 25th, 37th), Michael Sauer (5th, 17th, 41st), Timo Ropp (9th, 37th, 38th, 42nd), Fabian Burtscher (28th/PP1, 40th)

Finland vs Austria 9:1 (4:1,2:0,3:0)
Tue, 26 November 2024, 11:30 (17:30 local time), Bangkok
Finland scorers: Nemo Pajula (9th/PP2), Juhamatti Himanen (11th, 13th, 33rd), Aaron Hanninen (12th, 20th/PP1, 33rd), Tuomo Niskanen (19th), Harri Kangastie (34th)
Austria scorer: Kevin Siess (3rd/PP1)

Thailand vs Australia 25:0 (6:0,9:0,10:0)
Tue, 26 November 2024, 08:00 (14:00 local time), Bangkok