Strong Austrians lose to Czechia

Image information: Peter Schneider was named Player of the Day after the game against Czechia - Photo: GEPA pictures/David Bitzan

No rest for Austria's ice hockey stars on Labour Day. In their final Euro Hockey Tour game, Red-White-Red faced hosts Czechia, who had already been their opponents in two World Championship warm-up games during the current campaign. On 6 April, Austria suffered a 1:5 defeat in Znojmo, with Nico Feldner scoring the consolation goal. Two days later, Austria lost 1:4 to the Czechs in Linz. Following their strong and spirited performances in the 0:1 defeat to Sweden in Vienna on Thursday and the 2:4 defeat to Olympic champions Finland on Saturday, the team led by Head Coach Roger Bader had been warned about the Czechs, who had celebrated a resounding 9:3 victory over Sweden.

As announced before the tournament, the head coach once again made changes to the line-up against the Czechs. First-choice netminder Bernhard Starkbaum started in goal again, while Manuel Ganahl played on the first line with Benjamin Nissner and Peter Schneider. The second line consisted of Dominic Zwerger, Benjamin Baumgartner and Brian Lebler. Ali Wukovits, Oliver Achermann and Paul Huber took to the ice on the third forward line. Only the fourth line, featuring Kevin Macierzynski, Alexander Rauchenwald and Simeon Schwinger, remained unchanged from the Finland game the previous day.

On defence, Dominic Hackl was paired with David Maier and Nico Brunner with Philipp Wimmer, while Erik Kirchschläger again defended alongside Gerd Kragl. Kilian Zündel was unavailable due to illness, with Bernd Wolf serving as the seventh defenceman.

The game, which already had a World Championship feel due to the atmosphere in Ostrava, got off to the worst possible start with a bizarre goal conceded. Austria were on the power play when David Sklenička flicked the puck towards the Austrian goal from just in front of his own goal line. The puck bounced in front of netminder Starkbaum and surprisingly went in to make it 1:0 to Czechia (5.). Austria had to recover from that shock but regrouped quickly and then held their own against the dominant hosts. The ÖEHV side's best chance fell to Brian Lebler after a determined drive in which he was also impeded slightly by two Czechs. However, the Red-White-Red players also tested Czechia goalkeeper Štěpán Lukeš with several good shots.

Right at the start of the second period, the Austrians moved the puck well in the offensive zone and drew a two-minute penalty, but the equaliser did not come on the power play. After the restart, Red-White-Red played with confidence, produced some good attacking moves and repeatedly troubled the favourites in their own defensive zone. An Austrian goal was in the air during this phase, but it came at the other end. Czechia made perfect use of a power-play opportunity. David Jiříček unleashed a powerful slapshot and beat Starkbaum at the near post.

Austria showed character and responded immediately: Bernd Wolf shot from the blue line and Benjamin Nissner deflected it in just 38 seconds later to make it 1:2 for Austria (32.). It did not take long for the two-goal deficit to be restored: Czechia were again on the power play and Jiří Černoch scored following a scramble to make it 3:1 (34.). The hosts remained dominant afterwards but were unable to capitalise on another power play.

In the final period, the Austrians kept the game open for a long time, although Czechia were dominant. Just under eight minutes from the end, defenceman Vojtěch Budík beat the Austrian defence with a wonderful solo effort and scored to make it 4:1 (52.). Peter Schneider was named Austria's Player of the Day. Austria finished the Euro Hockey Tour in fourth place after the 0:1 defeat to Sweden, the 2:4 defeat to Finland and the 1:4 defeat to Czechia, while Czechia won the tournament with seven points ahead of Sweden (6) and Finland (5).

Head Coach Roger Bader analysed the conclusion of the Euro Hockey Tour: "Overall, I am very pleased with the performance. The first 30 minutes and, in fact, the final period were excellent. Not only did we defend well, but we also created numerous scoring chances against a strong opponent. It is not a given that we managed to do that. Unfortunately, we took too many penalties in the second ten minutes of the middle period, which cost us dearly. But overall, I have to say that I am proud of the team, especially as we were only able to finish the game with 18 players!"

Next week, the national team will convene for their final preparation camp in Schwenningen (GER), where the Red-White-Red side will take on neighbouring Germany in the ever-young rivalry on Sunday, 8 May 2022 at 17:00 in their final World Championship warm-up game, also live on ORF Sport+.

Euro Hockey Tour Ostrava from 28 April to 1 May

Czechia vs. Austria 4:1 (1:0,2:1,1:0)
Sun, 01 May 2022, 16:00, Ostravar Aréna
Czechia scorers: David Sklenička (5.), David Jiříček (31./PP1), Jiří Černoch (34./PP1), Vojtěch Budík (52.)
Austria scorer: Benjamin Nissner (32.)

Previously played:

Austria vs. Finland 2:4 (0:2,2:1,0:1)
Sat, 30 April 2022, 12:00, Ostravar Aréna
Austria scorers: Dominic Zwerger (29'), Brian Lebler (34')
Finland scorers: Jere Innala (14'/PP1, 22'), Harri Pesonen (16'), Niko Ojamäki (50')

Austria vs. Sweden 0:1 (0:0,0:0,0:1)
Thu, 28 April 2022, 19:00, STEFFL Arena Vienna
Sweden scorer: Linus Karlsson (46'/PP1)

Results of the other Euro Hockey Tour games:

Finland vs. Czechia 2:1 after a penalty shootout (1:0,0:1,0:0,1:0)
Thu, 28 April 2022

Czechia vs. Sweden 9:3 (3:1,4:2,2:0)
Sat, 30 April 2022

Sweden vs. Finland 2:0 (1:0,1:0,0:0)
Sun, 1 May 2022

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Camp IV, Schwenningen

8 May 2022, 17:00, GER - AUT in Schwenningen, live on ORF Sport+

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 scorer: Erik Kirchschläger (12')

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

Camp II, Graz, from 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 goalscorer: Philipp Pöschmann (30th minute)

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

Camp III, Innsbruck, from 20 to 25 April 2022

Italy vs. Austria 2:1 (0:1/1:0/1:0)
23 April 2022, 17:30, Bruneck
Austria goalscorer: Ali Wukovits (20th minute)

Austria vs. Italy 5:0 (2:0/1:0/2:0)
24 April 2022, 14:30, Innsbruck
Austria goalscorers: Nico Feldner (2nd minute), Benjamin Nissner (18th minute), Benjamin Baumgartner (36th minute), Dominic Zwerger (54th minute), Thomas Raffl (59th minute)

Sweden vs. Austria
Sat, 14 May 2022, 11:20, live on ORF Sport+

Austria vs. USA
Sun, 15 May 2022, 15:20, live on ORF Sport+

Czechia vs. Austria
Tue, 17 May 2022, 15:20, live on ORF Sport+

Norway vs. Austria
Wed, 18 May 2022, 15:20, live on ORF Sport+

Latvia vs. Austria
Fri, 20 May 2022, 19:20, live on ORF Sport+

Austria vs. Finland
Sat, 21 May 2022, 15:20, live on ORF Sport+

Austria vs. Great Britain
Mon, 23 May 2022, 19:20, live on ORF Sport+