WM 2025: Austria miss out on upset against hosts Sweden

Austria started their second World Championship game with David Kickert in goal. Florian Vorauer served as the back-up against World Championship hosts Sweden. Atte Tolvanen travelled to Helsinki to be with his pregnant wife, with the birth of his first child imminent. The netminder's departure had already been agreed with Head Coach Roger Bader before the World Championship. Austria started aggressively and were very active offensively; in a 2:1 situation, Paul Huber missed the first major chance, while Marco Kasper hit the outside of the post shortly afterwards. 

An early power play went without reward. As the first period progressed, the hosts increasingly took control without ever becoming truly dangerous. Austria held firm in the defensive zone, while David Kickert inspired calm with some fine saves. Marco Kasper was later denied by Sweden netminder Samuel Ersson with a good chance. The penalty kill also worked in their first short-handed situation towards the end of the period, and the score was 0:0 after 20 minutes.

In the second period, Lucas Raymond broke in alone on goal from the right, but David Kickert prevented the looming deficit with a sensational save. At the other end, Marco Kasper tested the Swedish netminder with a good shot. Following a quick counter-attack down the right, Ersson saved a shot from Thomas Raffl, but Benjamin Baumgartner coolly converted the rebound to give Austria a 1:0 lead (26th minute). 

Austria then killed off another penalty. Sweden increased the pressure, but the outstanding Kickert continued to keep them out. The hosts needed another power-play opportunity to level the score at 1:1 through Mika Zibanejad (34 minutes). Just under three minutes before the end of the period, Austria had a strong shift, with Benjamin Baumgartner almost restoring the lead after a pass from Thimo Nickl.

In the final period, Sweden raised the tempo and at times pinned Austria in their defensive zone, with David Kickert increasingly taking centre stage. Austria survived a tricky spell short-handed before striking: Marco Kasper initiated a quick attack, played a wonderful one-two with Ramon Schnetzer and made it 2:1 (53rd minute). 

Sweden turned the game around in the final minutes with two goals in twelve seconds. With an extra skater on the ice, Jonas Brodin equalised, before Mika Zibanejad made it 3:2 moments later (58th minute). Head Coach Roger Bader pulled netminder Kickert, and Sweden sealed the win with Alexander Wennberg's 4:2 empty-net goal (59th minute).

Head Coach Roger Bader praised his team after this emotional game: "You first have to digest this defeat; it was a very emotional game. When you produce a performance like we did against one of the World Championship favourites in front of 12.500 spectators in their own arena, that is what makes me proud above all. The way we played, the way we fought, was fantastic. When you lead 2:1 with two and a half minutes left, you naturally hope to see it out. After the equaliser, we at least hoped to go to overtime and take something from today, so to end up with zero points is very bitter. The team deserved more today. We played an incredibly good game; it was a fantastic performance!"

Bader is already looking ahead to Monday's next game against Slovakia: "I will tell the players that they can be proud of this performance. In a tournament, you always have to look ahead. Now it is about recovering and focusing again on the next game. But what we have shown against Finland and Sweden in the last 24 hours is something you would not expect from Austrian ice hockey!"

Marco Kasper, scorer of Austria's interim 2:1 goal: "We played a really good game, but we are still only frustrated now. Unfortunately, I also made a small mistake on the face-off, and that happened at the end and proved decisive. We showed that we can really keep up with them. Of course, they created pressure, but David Kickert played unbelievably well. That helps us enormously!"

After a rest day, Slovakia await on Monday

Following a rest day on Sunday, the third World Championship game in Stockholm takes place on Monday at 16:20. Slovakia await at the Avicii Arena, live on ORF 1.

2025 IIHF ICE HOCKEY WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

9–25 May 2025, Stockholm, Sweden & Herning, Denmark

Sweden vs. Austria 4:2 (0:0,1:1,3:1)
Sat, 10 May 2025, Avicii Arena, 16:20, 12.530
Sweden goalscorers: Mika Zibanejad (34th/PP1, 58th), Jonas Brodin (58th), Alexander Wennberg (59th/EN)
Austria goalscorers: Benjamin Baumgartner (26th), Marco Kasper (53rd) 

Austria lined up with:

Goaltenders: 30 Kickert David; 33 Vorauer Florian (backup)
Line 1: 92 Unterweger Clemens - 32 Wolf Bernd; 16 Zwerger Dominic - 96 Kasper Marco - 3 Peter Schneider
Line 2: 91 Heinrich Dominique - 78 Nickl Thimo; 5 Raffl Thomas - 24 Baumgartner Benjamin - 19 Rohrer Vinzenz
Line 3: 45 Biber Gregor - 12 Maier David; 52 Huber Paul - 21 Haudum Lukas - 7 Lebler Brian
Line 4: 18 Stapelfeldt Paul - 4 Schnetzer Ramon; 95 Kainz Lukas - 26 Achermann Oliver - 48 Thaler Lucas

Further fixtures:

Austria vs. Slovakia
Mon, 12 May 2025, Avicii Arena, 16:20, live ORF 1

Canada vs. Austria
Thu, 15 May 2025, Avicii Arena, 20:20, live ORF SPORT +

Austria vs. France
Fri, 16 May 2025, Avicii Arena, 16:20, live ORF SPORT + and ORF 1

Slovenia vs. Austria
Sun, 18 May 2025, Avicii Arena, 16:20, live ORF SPORT + and ORF 1

Latvia vs. Austria
Tue, 20 May 2025, Avicii Arena, 12:20, live ORF 1

Already played:

Austria vs. Finland 1:2 (1:2,0:0,0:0)
Fri, 09 May 2025, Avicii Arena, 16:20, 6.822
Austria scorer: Bernd Wolf (14th minute)
Finland scorers: Patrik Puistola (5 minutes), Juuso Pärssinen (8 minutes)

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