Strong! Austria’s U20 cele­brate clear win over top-divi­sion team Denmark in Stavanger

For the final match against Denmark, who will compete at the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship in St. Paul, Minneapolis, USA, over the Christmas period, Head Coach Philipp Pinter put Luca Haitzmann in goal. Austria matched their Scandinavian peers stride for stride and took an early 1:0 lead through Benedikt Krainer (7.).

Austria then killed off their first penalty before producing a fireworks display shortly before the end of the period: a double strike within 20 seconds gave the red-white-red side a three-goal lead at the perfect time. Jakob Schnabl first made it 2:0 (19.), before Lukas Zach-Kiesling extended the lead to 3:0 (20.).

The second period began after just under a minute and a half as the first had ended: with another Austrian goal. Once again, it was Benedikt Krainer, who took the score to 4:0 with his second goal (22.). Austria continued to press and Paul Oberhauser made it 5:0 20 seconds before the halfway point of the game (30.).

Denmark got on the scoreboard in the 36th minute, with Oliver Larsen making it 1:5. Just 32 seconds later, the five-goal lead was restored as Benedikt Krainer completed his hat-trick to make it 6:1 (36.). In the final period, Adrian Gesson missed a penalty shot five minutes in. Tobias Koller then made it 7:1 shortly afterwards (50.). Oliver Green pulled one back for Denmark to make it 2:7 (52.).

In the end, Austria celebrated a convincing win over Denmark after the 2:6 defeat against Latvia and the narrow 3:4 loss to Norway.

Austria’s U20 team will continue at the start of December with its World Championship preparation camp at the HTC Eishalle in Ferlach: a warm-up game against World Championship opponents Slovenia will follow there on 3 December. A day later, on 4 December, the ÖEHV selection will face Norway, also a World Championship opponent. Things get serious on 7 December, when the World Championship begins in Bled with the game against hosts Slovenia.

Head Coach Philipp Pinter: "This week was again very good, very important and very instructive. I think the team has already performed very well. Our aim was to improve from game to game, and we achieved that. We coaches were pleased with the performance in all three games. Against Latvia, it took us a little while to get used to the pace. Norway was a hard-fought game that could have gone either way. There too, as against Latvia, we had the statistical edge. Against Denmark, the team applied real pressure from the first minute to the last, all four lines were present and working hard. That gave us great pleasure and was also a statement by our team. Tactically, we are already very advanced, including in our structure. With the World Championship in mind, it is now about the details and small things we will prepare for. Once again, several boys put themselves forward. It was good to see that many players have taken another step forward since the summer. We again had some young players with us who performed superbly, which will also benefit the U18 should they perhaps join the U20 World Championship. When you consider that several players were still missing, we can look ahead towards the World Championship quite positively."

U20 Men’s National Team – Four Nations Tournament (NOR):

Denmark vs. Austria 2:7 (0:3,1:3,1:1)
Sat, 08 November 2025, 12:00, Stavanger
Austria goalscorers: Benedikt Krainer (7., 22., 36.), Jakob Schnabl (19.), Lukas Zach-Kiesling (20.), Paul Oberhauser (30.), Tobias Koller (50.)

Already played:

Austria vs. Norway 3:4 (0:0,2:3,1:1)
Fri, 07 November 2025, 19:00, Stavanger
Austria goalscorers: David Waschnig (36./PP1), Paul Oberhauser (38.), Adrian Gesson (55.)

Latvia vs. Austria 6:2 (2:0,3:1,1:1)
Thu, 06 November 2025, 15:00, Stavanger
Austria goalscorer: Johannes Neumann (30., 57./PP1)

Squad