U16 acquit them­selves well at 5 Nations Tour­na­ment

Image information: Copyright: GEPA pictures/Manfred Binder

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23 players born in 2006 from domestic youth academies, including players based in Switzerland and Finland, were brought together for the 5 Nations Tournament in mid-April.

They suffered a bitter 1:2 defeat to Norway in their opener, having particularly slept through the early stages and already trailed 0:2 after 3:18 minutes. A total of nine penalties made life even more difficult for them, and they were slow to find their rhythm. Johannes Neumann scored in the 38th minute to make the final score 1:2.

Against Norway, they were alert on the ice from the very first minute. With the first period ending 0:0, Austria’s youngsters pulled away to 2:0 in the middle period thanks to quick transition play. The Scandinavians made things exciting again with a goal to pull one back just under three minutes from the end, but Mühlstein’s men held on for the 2:1 victory. Goalscorers for Austria: Johannes Neumann and Benedikt Krainer.

They took to the rink against Switzerland as underdogs, but were able to make their mark in the first period. As the match progressed, the Swiss took control and made it 2:0 in the middle period. Indiscipline prevented a better result – final score: 0:7.

They were on level terms with Italy in their final tournament game. After 20 minutes, they went to the dressing room at 1:1. Back on the ice, the Austrian players capitalised on a power play to take a 2:1 lead. Five minutes later, the Italians converted their own man advantage to equalise, before adding another to make it 3:2 in the 37th minute. At the start of the final period, Austria were handed a double minor, during which the hosts extended their lead to 4:2. Florian Mühlstein threw everything at it towards the end and pulled the goaltender. But instead of being rewarded, they also conceded an empty-net goal for the 2:5 final score.

Austria’s goals were scored by Lukas Widowitz and Stephan Hetsch.