U18 World Cham­pi­onship Divi­sion IA: Austria suffer a 3:6 defeat against Ukraine

Head Coach Florian Mühlstein put his faith in goaltender Leandro Djuric for the third World Championship game. Djuric had to pick the puck out of his net on Austria's first penalty kill, as Daniil Skorokhod gave Ukraine a 1:0 lead after two and a half minutes (3rd minute). After almost five minutes, the red-white-red had a two-man advantage for a full two minutes, but were unable to make their numerical superiority count with an equaliser. 

The game then developed into an evenly matched contest as the first period progressed. With four and a half minutes remaining before the first siren, Austria had another power-play opportunity. David Waschnig equalised at 1:1 two seconds before the Ukrainian penalty expired (18th minute).

The Ukrainians also got off to the better start in the second period and quickly regained the lead: after 68 seconds, Arsienii Voroteliak made it 2:1 (22nd minute). From then on, the team coached by Head Coach Olexander Bobkin set the tone. Austria survived one penalty kill, but shortly afterwards Ukraine extended their lead to 3:1 through Artem Ratushniak (26th minute). 

The ÖEHV selection fought their way back into the game at 2:3 through a power-play goal by Jakob Schnabl (28th minute). Just 42 seconds later, Ukraine restored their two-goal advantage through Illia Shybinskyi (28th minute). Austria put themselves under pressure with two further penalty kills, but came through that phase unscathed. 

The Ukrainians pulled away with a quick double strike towards the end of the period: first Danylo Olifirchuk made it 5:2 (38th minute), before Daniil Kuraiev extended it to 6:2 just 28 seconds later (38th minute), ending goaltender Leandro Djuric's day as Luca Haitzmann took over in net. Ukraine outshot Austria 24:7 in the middle period. 

In the final period, the Austrian players initially failed to convert two power plays into their third goal. Leon Buzek got it shortly afterwards, with the forward reducing the deficit to 3:6 for Austria (49th minute). In the remaining time, Austria's U18 were unable to turn the game around and, after the 3:5 defeat against Denmark and the 4:1 win over Slovenia, suffered their second World Championship defeat.

Head Coach Florian Mühlstein was frustrated by the performance in the second period: "In the first period, we accepted the battle against a physical opponent and played simply. We were defensively solid and went into the break at 1:1. In the second period, we did not play hard, lost our defensive side, took too many penalties, did not do the basics and then fell behind. Unfortunately, we need far more chances to score than our opponents do. In the third period, the boys showed heart again, our game improved and we were able to reduce the deficit to 3:6. Nevertheless, the second period cost us the chance of victory. We drew the first period 1:1 and won the third period 1:0, which is encouraging for the game against Kazakhstan. Now we have to analyse, prepare and then go again!"

Kazakhstan await the ÖEHV selection on Thursday

Austria's U18 men are back in action at the World Championship in Hungary on Thursday, when they face Kazakhstan at 16:00. Kazakhstan lost 2:3 to Slovenia in a penalty shoot-out in their opener before beating hosts Hungary 4:0 in their second game.

2025 IIHF ICE HOCKEY U18 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION I, GROUP A

20 - 26 April 2025, Szekesfehervar (HUN)
Participants: Denmark, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Slovenia, Ukraine, Austria

Ukraine vs. Austria 6:3 (1:1,5:1,0:1)
Wed, 23 April 2025, 12:30, Szekesfehervar
Ukraine goalscorers: Daniil Skorokhod (3rd minute/PP1), Arsienii Voroteliak (22nd minute), Artem Ratushniak (26th minute), Illia Shybinskyi (28th minute), Danylo Olifirchuk (38th minute), Daniil Kuraiev (38th minute)
Austria goalscorers: David Waschnig (18th minute/PP1), Jakob Schnabl (28th minute/PP1), Leon Buzek (49th minute)

Further matches:

Austria vs. Kazakhstan
Thu, 24 April 2025, 16:00, Livestream on IIHF.TV

Austria vs. Hungary
Sat, 26 April 2025, 16:00Livestream on IIHF.TV

Already played:

Austria vs. Slovenia 4:1 (3:0,0:1,1:0)
Mon, 21 April 2025, 16:00, Szekesfehervar
Austria goalscorers: Leon Kolarik (8 minutes), Leon Buzek (14 minutes), Paul Oberhauser (16 minutes), Manuel Wadel (60 minutes/EN)
Slovenia goalscorer: Jaka Rakovič (33 minutes)

Denmark vs. Austria 5:3 (3:1,2:1,0:1)
Sun, 20 April 2025, 12:30
Denmark goalscorers: Mads Klyvo (3 minutes, 6 minutes), Oliver Larsen (17 minutes, 37 minutes), Lasse Baerentsen (35 minutes)
Austria goalscorers: Luc van Ee (8 minutes), Kevin Mandl (36 minutes), Leon Kolarik (60 minutes/PP1)

Official website of the U18 World Championship Division IA with all results and the current standings