U18 Women: Austria narrowly lose to hosts Germany in Füssen

The ÖEHV selection, preparing for the World Championship in early January in Egna, Italy, kept their second game against a team from the Top Division open for a long time, with Karla Kronberger in goal. It was not until late in the final period that Anna Rose scored the decisive goal for Germany’s 1:0 win (50th minute).

Head Coach Mario Bellina: "It was very evenly matched for a long time, even though Germany had the better scoring chances. The 1:0 then came from a rebound opportunity. We made a few changes to the lines compared to yesterday and tried to do some things better than against Switzerland. That worked quite well in parts. I was very satisfied with both goaltenders at this tournament. Our system works quite well defensively, while in attack we coaches need to give them ideas on how to score goals. We need to push the offensive unit; we need to work the puck into the net. I am confident that we will steer things in the right direction. We now have another two warm-up games and sufficient material from the previous test matches. We need to keep working, stay positive and look ahead."

Austria’s U18 women will travel to Budapest for another warm-up match against Hungary on 29 December at the end of the year – available to watch on LIVE.eishockey.at. The final World Championship countdown begins in Telfs and Sterzing on 2 January 2024, before the team face France in their opening World Championship game on 06 January. 

Opening defeat against Switzerland

The opening tournament game in Füssen ended in a 1:3 defeat to Switzerland – hosts of the U18 World Championship in Zug in early January: “We have to see it as a training game. We can take a lot of good clips from it and show the players where there is still work to be done,” said Head Coach Mario Bellina, with his focus on the World Championship.  

After the first period, in which the young Austrians had still kept up well, they trailed 0:1. The equaliser for 1:1 came somewhat against the run of play. This appeared to be a wake-up call for the Swiss, who stepped up a gear and virtually pinned Austria inside their own zone.

“You could clearly see the difference between the Top Division and Division IA there,” emphasised Bellina. Nevertheless, the Head Coach was not dissatisfied with his team’s performance: “The commitment was right, the players fought. A few are not yet in the form we would like to see from them, but there is still time before the World Championship. The games here are definitely serving their purpose.” 

Two of the three goals conceded came from set plays directly after the face-off. This is something they want to get under control before the World Championship.

THREE NATIONS TOURNAMENT FÜSSEN (GER)

Germany vs. Austria 1:0 (0:0,0:0,1:0)
Sat, 16 December 2023, 11:00

Switzerland vs. Austria 3:1 (1:0,0:1,2:0)
Fri, 15 December 2023, 11:00
Austria goalscorer: Zoey Hobitsch (32nd minute)

World Championship schedule:

2024 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 Women's World Championship Divison IA
06 January 2024 – 12 January 2024, Neumarkt/Egna (ITA)

Participants: Japan, Italy, France, Hungary, Austria, Denmark

Austria vs. France
Sat, 06 January 2024, 12:30

Italy vs. Austria
Sun, 07 January 2024, 16:00

Japan vs. Austria
Tue, 09 January 2024, 16:00

Hungary vs. Austria
Wed, 10 January 2024, 12:30

Austria vs. Denmark
Fri, 12 January 2024, 12:30

All information and the full schedule are available on the official IIHF website