U20 World Cham­pi­onship: Austria lose to Germany and face rele­ga­tion series against Latvia

Austria started the major showdown against Germany in front of 7.586 ice hockey fans at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, with goaltender Michael Sicher in net.

The opening minutes featured quick attacks, although clear scoring chances were lacking at both ends. The defensive units focused on protecting their own net and not allowing dangerous shots. Following a successful penalty kill, the red-white-red side had a power play but were unable to use the man advantage to take the lead. Two minutes before the end of the period, Philipp Krening converted a rebound from close range to make it 1:0 for Germany.

Ian Scherzer scores Austria's first World Championship goal

Early in the second period, Leon van der Linde made it 2:0 for the DEB team. Jonas Dobnig then had the chance to bring Austria back into the game with a penalty shot after leaving the penalty box, skating in alone on Germany's goaltender Nikita Quapp and being fouled. Just under two minutes later, Thomas Heigl made it 3:0 for Germany.

Head Coach Kirk Furey brought on goaltender Thomas Pfarrmaier in place of Sicher to give the game fresh impetus, and it worked: after 209 minutes and 24 seconds, Ian Scherzer scored Austria's first World Championship goal in Halifax with a powerful wrist shot on the power play. The ÖEHV side now sought to battle their way back into the match. But Roman Kechter made it 4:1 for Germany, once again leaving Austria three goals behind.

Austria showed character in the final period. After exactly 46 minutes, Jonas Dobnig capitalised on a defensive error by the German rearguard to cut the deficit to 2:4. Red-White-Red then pushed for another goal. On a power play five minutes before the end, a goal was in the air, but the Austrians could not get the puck into the German net.

With 3:54 remaining, Head Coach Kirk Furey pulled goaltender Thomas Pfarrmaier. Austria's players besieged the opposition net in the final minutes and Finn van Ee was unfortunate to hit the post. Germany saw out their two-goal lead and advanced to the quarter-finals. Ian Scherzer was named Austria's best player.

Relegation: best-of-three against Latvia

In the new year, Austria will enter the relegation series for top-division survival against Latvia, who finished fifth in Group B, starting on Monday, 02 January 2023 at 15:30. The further dates in the best-of-three series are Wednesday, 04 January 2023 at 17:00 and, if necessary, Thursday, 05 January 2023, also at 17:00.

Kirk Furey, Head Coach Austria: "The defeat naturally hurts a great deal. We believed that we could win this game and showed at the end that it would have been possible. But unfortunately, we were chasing a deficit early in the game, and that was extremely difficult. Now we have to look ahead and focus on the relegation series!"

Vinzenz Rohrer, Austria captain: "The most important thing for us is to deliver our performance over 60 minutes in the relegation series, rather than simply saying that the first period was good or the final period was good. For our first win, we need a consistent performance throughout the entire game. Of course, we wanted to win the game against Germany, and we did everything we could to achieve that. We are disappointed. We simply have to look ahead and play better in the next games!"

Finn van Eee, Austria forward: "We did not start well in the first period, but then quickly found our rhythm. We fought hard until we dropped, and had really good chances at the end. I myself hit the post, and there were a few rebounds that just would not go in. Unfortunately, it was not enough in the end!"

2023 IIHF WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP

26 December 2022 - 06 January 2023, Halifax and Moncton (CAN)

Germany vs. AUSTRIA 4:2 (1:0,3:1,0:1)
Fri, 30 December 2022, 22:30 (Fri, 30 December 2022, 17:30)
Austria scorers: Ian Scherzer (29:24 min./PP1), Jonas Dobnig (46:00 min.)

TICKET PRICES & SCHEDULE

The U20 World Championship on LIVE.eishockey.at

• Single-game ticket: EUR 8,90.-
• U20 World Championship Pass 1 (all games of the Austrian U20 national team – at least five games): EUR 39.-
• U20 World Championship Pass 2 (all of Austria's preliminary-round games + all relegation and final games (14-15 games, with two relegation games – there may also be three games due to the "Best-of-Three"): EUR 49.-

Fixtures and results of the U20 men's national ice hockey team:

Relegation – "Best-of-Three":

AUSTRIA vs. Latvia
Mon, 02 January 2023, 15:30 (Mon, 02 January 2023, 10:30)

Latvia vs. AUSTRIA
Wed, 04 January 2023, 17:00 (Wed, 04 January 2023, 12:00)

AUSTRIA vs. Latvia
Thu, 05 January 2023, 17:00 (Thu, 05 January 2023, 12:00)

Already played:

AUSTRIA vs. Canada 0:11 (0:3,0:4,0:4)
Fri, 30 December 2022, 00:30 (Thu, 29 December 2022, 19:30)

AUSTRIA vs. Czech Republic 0:9 (0:3,0:4,0:2)
28 December 2022, 00:30, Halifax

Sweden vs. AUSTRIA 11:0 (2:0,6:0,3:0)
Mon, 26 December 2022, 19:30 (Mon, 26 December 2022, 14:30)

Group A and Group B standings

Final round/relegation round

Quarter-final 1
02 January 2023, 17:00

Quarter-final 2
02 January 2023, 19:30

Quarter-final 3
02 January 2023, 22:00

Quarter-final 4
03 January 2023, 00:30

Semi-final 1
04 January 2023 20:30

Semi-final 2
05 January 2023 00:30

Little final for 3rd place
05 January 2023 20:30

Final (Commentary by Michael Berger)
06 January 2023 00:30