U20 World Championship in Bled: Austria celebrates opening win against France
Austria's U20 men's national ice hockey team opened the 2025 IIHF Ice Hockey U20 World Championship Division IA in Bled with a 4:2 win over France. The goals for the ÖEHV side were scored by Ian Scherzer (22th), Paul Sintschnig (25th), Thomas Klassek (32nd) and David Waschnig (38th). Red-White-Red are back in action on Tuesday against Norway, relegated from the top division and one of the World Championship favourites. The match will once again be live on krone.at from 16:00.
2 min read
A perfect start for Austria. From the opening puck drop, Head Coach Philipp Pinter's team looked ready and aggressive. While France were still able to offer some resistance to Austria's play in the first period, they were comprehensively dominated in the second. Austria established themselves in the offensive zone and, thanks to intense forechecking, quickly regained possession after turnovers.
The reward was what proved to be the decisive advantage. Ian Scherzer opened the scoring in the middle period. On the power play, Vasily Zelenov set up the Carinthian perfectly with a pass from behind the net. Scherzer sent the puck over the line beyond the goalkeeper's reach.
Three and a half minutes later, Paul Sintschnig, who was also named Best Player, stole the show, beating two French players with a superb solo effort before firing into the far corner to make it 2:0. After exactly 31:03 of playing time, Thomas Klassek took responsibility and fired a power-play shot from the blue line straight under the crossbar – 3:0.
David Waschnig's goal for 4:0 came from a swift transition play. France's netminder was still able to stop Luca Kogler's shot with his pad, but Waschnig gratefully seized on the rebound.
The French made things exciting again in the final period. Following a slashing penalty by Alexander Rebernig, they reduced the deficit to 1:4 from the resulting penalty shot and immediately capitalised on the power play to make it 2:4. Austria's players did not let the double blow unsettle them. Not even when France threw everything at it and pulled their goalkeeper in the closing minutes.
Head Coach Philipp Pinter: "A perfect start. We got into the game well, even if it was still a feeling-out process at the beginning and some early nerves were evident. The second period was extremely good, exactly what we wanted to see in terms of forechecking and tactical discipline. We kept our legs moving and put France under pressure throughout. We could even have scored more than those four goals in that period. We lost our way a little in the final period. We knew France would come at us and made life difficult for ourselves. Overall, it was a good first step and an important, deserved victory. Norway are a different calibre tomorrow. We want to play as well as we did in the second period today."
2025 IIHF ICE HOCKEY U20 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION IA
9 December 2024 - 15 December 2024, Bled (SLO)
Participants: Norway, France, Denmark, Austria, Hungary, Slovenia
Austria vs. France 4:2 (0:0,4:0,0:2)
Mon, 09 December 2024, 12:30, Ledena dvorana Bled
Austria scorers: Ian Scherzer (22nd), Paul Sintschnig (25th), Thomas Klassek (32nd), David Waschnig (38th)
France scorers: Teo Toubhans-Besnier (45th/PS), Paul Le Lem (46th/PP1)
Norway vs. Austria
Tue, 10 December 2024, 16:00, Ledena dvorana Bled
Live on krone.at
Slovenia vs. Austria
Thu, 12 December 2024, 16:00, Ledena dvorana Bled
Live on krone.at
Austria vs. Hungary
Fri, 13 December 2024, 12:30, Ledena dvorana Bled
Live on krone.at
Denmark vs. Austria
Sun, 15 December 2024, 12:30, Ledena dvorana Bled
Live on krone.at
All information on the official IIHF website: https://www.iihf.com/en/events/2025/wm20ia
