U20 Pres­i­dent Cup: Bitter over­time defeat against Latvia

With disciplined and aggressive forechecking, Austria put Latvia under pressure in the first period and created numerous chances. They were rewarded for their efforts for the first time in the 17th minute. Paul Noll scored to make it 1:0, before setting up Vasily Zelenov for 2:0 just under two-and-a-half minutes later.

The momentum shifted somewhat in the second period. Undisciplined play in particular allowed the hosts to take greater control of the game. Austria eventually conceded while shorthanded to allow Latvia back into the game. Another penalty kill in the final period then led to a deserved equaliser. Latvia applied plenty of pressure again in overtime and ultimately secured 3rd place in the President Cup.

Head Coach Philipp Pinter: "In the end, Latvia deserved the win. We allowed the momentum to be taken away from us through penalties. Overall, it was a good and important tournament. The atmosphere within the team was very good, and the group also came together well in terms of character. It was important to us that they played in a structured manner against these strong opponents and improved from game to game, and I believe we achieved that. We were once again able to get an idea of what the squad could look like in November and at the World Championship in December. I particularly have to highlight the U18 players, who integrated well and were able to add quality to the team. All the players worked superbly throughout the week and played a good tournament."

PRESIDENT CUP RIGA (LAT)

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

Austria fixtures

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

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

Third-place play-off:

Latvia White vs. Austria 3:2 after overtime (0:2,1:0,1:0,1:0)
Sun, 18 August 2024, 14:30 (15:30 local time)
Austria goalscorers: Paul Noll (17th), Vasily Zelenov (19th)

SQUAD