Second World Cham­pi­onship warm-up in Graz: Austria beat Poland 1:0

Image info: Austria (pictured: Thomas Vallant) edged Poland 1:0 - Photo: GEPA pictures/Mario Bühner

Austria played their second warm-up match against Poland at the end of Team Camp II as part of their World Championship preparations and ahead of the well-earned Easter break. The visitors, coached by Slovak Róbert Kaláber, are in turn preparing for their home World Championship at the IIHF Ice Hockey Championship Division I, Group B (26 April to 1 May 2022) in Tychy. 

Head Coach Roger Bader gave the three players Manuel Ganahl, Lukas Haudum and Clemens Unterweger a breather, leaving them out of the current squad for the second meeting with Poland. 

Austria started the game with goaltender Bernhard Starkbaum, while Poland once again relied on David Zabolotny between the pipes, as they had in the first encounter. Kevin Macierzynski took over the captaincy of the ÖEHV selection in place of Manuel Ganahl. Unlike on Thursday, Austria did not score an early goal, with Poland keeping the game more open and holding the score at 0:0 for a long time. Austria initially struggled with Poland’s physical style of play and tried to execute their game plan through skill. Only as the game progressed did they embrace the battles more effectively, enabling Austria to adapt better to the visitors’ awkward style of play.

Dornbirn forward Philipp Pöschmann broke the deadlock shortly before the midway point of the game, scoring to give Austria a 1:0 lead after a pass from Benjamin Baumgartner (30 min.). It was also the first national-team goal for the 25-year-old Vienna native. Goaltender Bernhard Starkbaum delivered a strong performance over 60 minutes and recorded a shutout in his first game of the current World Championship preparations.

Head Coach Roger Bader analysed the second match against Poland after the final siren: "The game was somewhat similar to the first one. Poland are an awkward opponent; they play extremely physically, right until the end, and they do not let up. We had already struggled with this style of play in the first game, being checked in virtually every situation, but as the game went on we were able to accept it and draw the right conclusions. Today was exactly the same: in the first period, we were not prepared to embrace this physical play; we only wanted to solve it through skill. We then corrected that by becoming more physical in the battles ourselves. It was also important that, against an awkward opponent like Poland – and this has not just been the case since this week; this team is always difficult to play against – we ultimately still won the game and saw it through. It is a positive experience for many players who, when playing for their clubs, certainly would no longer have been on the ice in games like this. In the final five minutes, I played everyone so that they could all gain these experiences!"

The Swiss coach was very pleased with the entire camp in Graz: "The week as a whole was good – in fact, it was very good. We had to integrate twelve new players, which is not easy and takes a few days, but we succeeded. We wanted to continue developing. We knew that Poland would be a very different opponent to the Czech Republic. Now we will make selection decisions and, based on this week, decide who will remain involved in Innsbruck from next week onwards!"

World Championship preparations continue next week, with Team Camp III starting in Innsbruck on Wednesday, 20 April 2022. For the first time, the players from champions EC Red Bull Salzburg will be involved. On Saturday, 23 April, there will be a warm-up game against Italy in Bruneck from 17:30, followed by the return match in Innsbruck a day later – on Sunday, 24 April 2022 – from 14:30.

Tickets for the match against Italy in Innsbruck are available HERE!

Camp II, Graz, 11 to 16 April 2022

Austria vs. Poland 1:0 (0:0,1:0,0:0)
Sat., 16 April 2022, 16:00, Graz Merkur Eisstadion
Austria scorer: Philipp Pöschmann (30 min.)

Austria vs. Poland 4:1 (1:0,0:0,3:1)
Thu., 14 April 2022, 19:00, Graz Merkur Eisstadion
Austria scorers: David Maier (7 min.), Simeon Schwinger (49 min.), Oliver Achermann (PP/57 min.), Sam Antonitsch (58 min.)
Poland scorers:Filip Starzynski (47th minute)

Camp III, Innsbruck, from 20 to 25 April 2022
23 April 2022, 17:30, ITA - AUT in Bruneck, ITA
24 April 2022, 14:30, AUT – ITA in Innsbruck, live on ORF Sport+

Four Nations Tournament, Ostrava, from 28 April to 1 May
28 April 2022, 19:00, AUT - SWE, Vienna
30 April 2022, 12:00, AUT - FIN in Ostrava
1 May 2022, 16:00, CZE - AUT in Ostrava

Camp IV, Schwenningen
8 May 2022, 17:00, GER - AUT in Schwenningen

Already completed:

Camp I, Linz, from 2 to 8 April 2022

Austria vs. Czechia 1:4 (1:1,0:1,0:2)
Fri, 08 April 2022, 17:30, LINZ AG Eisarena, 1.850
Austria goalscorer:Erik Kirchschläger (12th minute)

Czechia vs. Austria 5:1 (3:0, 2:0, 0:1)
Wed, 06 April 2022, 17.30, Znojmo
Austria goalscorer:Nico Feldner (48th minute)

Sweden vs. Austria
Sat, 14 May 2022, 11:20

Austria vs. USA
Sun, 15 May 2022, 15:20

Czechia vs. Austria
Tue, 17 May 2022, 15:20

Norway vs. Austria
Wed, 18 May 2022, 15:20

Latvia vs. Austria
Fri, 20 May 2022, 19:20

Austria vs. Finland
Sat, 21 May 2022, 15:20

Austria vs. Great Britain
Mon, 23 May 2022, 19:20