U20 Pres­i­dent Cup: Austria lose to hosts Latvia Red

Latvia led 2:0 after just under 33 minutes through goals from Aleksandrs Zaprivoda and Rauls Ozollapa against the U20 national team coached by Head Coach Philipp Pinter, before Alexander Rupnik pulled one back to make it 1:2 just under two minutes before the end of the second period, assisted by Vasily Zelenov (39').

The ÖEHV selection showed a marked improvement on the previous day and also created good scoring opportunities. In an exciting and evenly contested final period, Red-White-Red pushed for an equaliser towards the end. Austria pulled goaltender Patrick Müller, but Latvia capitalised perfectly on the empty-net situation when Marks Olivers Mežiņš scored into the empty net on a counter-attack to seal the 3:1 final score. 

Austria will face Latvia White in the third-place game on Sunday to conclude the tournament. Latvia White lost 0:3 to Tuto Hockey from Finland on Saturday.

Head Coach Philipp Pinter was satisfied with the performance despite the narrow defeat: "That was a major improvement on yesterday's game; the opponent was significantly better today. We settled into the game quite quickly from the start, we were more present, competed better in the battles and consequently created more scoring chances. Above all, our build-up play was much quicker and more precise today. At times, we had more of the game. Latvia had a slight advantage in the first period, we were a touch better than Latvia in the second period, and the third period was relatively even. We pushed for an equaliser at the end, then pulled the goaltender and conceded the 1:3 on the counter-attack. It was important for us to see that the commitment was even better. Tactically, the implementation of the key points we had set out was also better overall, and that was another good step in the right direction. The young U18 national team players also performed well against the physically imposing Latvians. That left us wanting more!"

PRESIDENT CUP RIGA (LAT)

15–18 August, Riga (LAT)
Website: https://lhf.lv/en#noportal

Austria schedule

Austria vs. Castleton Spartans (USA) 4:0 (1:0,3:0,0:0)
Fri, 16 August 2024, 15:00 (16:00 local time)
Austria scorers: Vasily Zelenov (4', 39'), Felix Haiböck (24'), Raffael Aigner (38')

Latvia Red vs. Austria 3:1 (1:0,1:1,1:0)
Sat, 17 August 2024, 15:00 (16:00 local time)
Austria scorer: Alexander Rupnik (39')

Third-place game:

Latvia White vs. Austria
Sun, 18 August 2024, 14:30 (15:30 local time)

SQUAD