U16 national team suffers heavy defeat to Slovakia at Four Nations Tour­na­ment in Switzer­land

Austria began their first tournament game against Slovakia at the EZO Eissportzentrum-Oberthurgau, in front of ÖEHV sporting director Roger Bader, with Philip Hudritsch in goal and initially had to survive two penalty kills. During the second spell shorthanded, the Red-Whites came close to taking the lead: after winning the puck in his own defensive zone, Maurice Wadel went in alone on Slovakia netminder Branko Petrovic but was unable to put the puck in the opposition net.

Slovakia took the lead just under five minutes before the end of the period: Jakub Tapus fired from the left immediately after a face-off and scored for 1:0 (15.). Austria then had another penalty kill, and Max Melicherík made it 2:0 for Slovakia following a quick attack (18.). Shortly afterwards, the Slovaks had the chance to score a third goal from close range, but ÖEHV netminder Philip Hudritsch denied them with a fine save.

The still dominant Slovaks picked up at the start of the second period where they had left off in the first: Max Melicherík gave goaltender Hudritsch no chance from the slot to make it 3:0 (24.). Austria then had two consecutive power plays but were unable to convert either of the 5:4 advantages into their first goal.

At the other end, Slovakia's forwards proved more efficient: Max Melicherík made use of another power play to complete his hat-trick and make it 4:0 (36.). Slovakia put the game beyond doubt with two goals in 23 seconds shortly before the end of the second period: first, Max Melicherík scored from close range for the fourth time that afternoon (39.), before Nikolas Turcek made it 6:0 after a rebound (40.). After conceding the sixth goal, netminder Hudritsch had had enough and Lucas Fritz replaced him in goal.

Austria had another power-play opportunity at the start of the final period but lacked cutting edge in front of goal. Michal Mojzis made it 7:0 on a quick counter-attack two seconds after the penalty had expired (44.). Luca Krizanovic extended Slovakia's lead to 8:0 with a precise shot on the next power play (52.).

Head coach Johannes Leitner's team now face Germany on Thursday evening in the ever-young prestige clash. Austria then take on Switzerland in another prestige clash on Friday afternoon to conclude the tournament.

Head coach Johannes Leitner analysed the opening game: "Our compete level was very good at times, but overall the Slovaks were clearly better in terms of play and skating. There were some very positive aspects, both with the puck and tactically. But overall, it was not enough at this level today. Our mindset is that we will put this game behind us now, with the next game against Germany coming up on Thursday. We want to learn from one or two mistakes and challenge the Germans with a better performance. Especially in the final period, our motto and instruction was to show character and see the game out sensibly, regardless of the score. The team really did that and fought until the final minute as if the score were 0:0!"

U16 Four Nations Tournament (Romanshorn, Switzerland):

Austria vs Slovakia 0:8 (0:2,0:4,0:2)
Wed, 20 August 2025, 15:00

Further games:

Austria vs Germany

Thu, 21 August 2025, 18:30 >> RED+ livestream

Switzerland vs Austria

Fri, 22 August 2025, 15:30 >> RED+ livestream

Squad: