Women’s Olympic Qual­i­fiers: Austria finish with an 8:2 win over Slovakia

Having struggled with their finishing against Germany and Hungary, almost everything came off against Slovakia. Two deflected shots and a direct strike from Theresa Schafzahl (20th, 28th, 57th), a well-placed shot and a power-play goal from Annika Fazokas (23rd, 60th), a superb combination finished by Marja Linzbichler for her first goal with the senior national team (30th), a power-play one-timer from Anna Meixner (37th) and another power-play goal from Antonia Matzka (41st) secured the emphatic result. Slovakia were only able to reduce the deficit to 1:5 and 2:6.

However, it took Austria some time to get into their scoring rhythm. Both teams had good chances to take the lead in the opening 20 minutes. Austria then took a deserved 1:0 lead shortly before the break. After Fazokas made it 2:0 in the 23rd minute, the floodgates opened. Austria were composed, consistently drove towards goal, put Slovakia under early pressure and forced errors in their own zone.

With four goals in the middle period and a 5:1 lead after 40 minutes, victory was no longer in doubt for Austria. They also had a two-player advantage for 1:30 minutes at the start of the final period, which they converted to make it 6:1. Although they missed out on the Olympic Games, Austria leave Bremerhaven with a good feeling after the 8:2 result. Their next major task awaits in two months’ time, with the Division IA World Championship.

Captain Anna Meixner: “It was an important win for us as a team. We will take a lot of positives from this game and give everything to continue improving before the next tournament. Perhaps the hardest thing in the entire tournament was motivating ourselves fully again today after the dream of the Olympic Games had been shattered. That was very disheartening. But we came together again as a team today. Nevertheless, the sadness and pain of missing out on qualification outweigh everything today. It will take a few days for that to sink in. Now we need to forget the tournament for a few days. There is not much time until the next one. We are heading to China in two months and, until then, we will work on the little things that we need to do better.”

Head Coach Alexander Bröms: “We felt the pressure against Germany and Hungary and were unable to show our full potential. We were much more relaxed today, and the performance was right. Looking ahead to the World Championship, this was an important win as we will face Slovakia again there. It gives us confidence for the tasks ahead.”

2025 WOMEN'S FINAL OLYMPIC ICE HOCKEY QUALIFICATION, GROUP I

Austria vs. Slovakia 8:2 (1:0,4:1,3:1)

Sun, 09 February 2025, 14:30, Eisarena Bremerhaven
Austria goalscorers: Theresa Schafzahl (20th, 28th, 57th), Annika Fazokas (23rd, 60th/PP1), Marja Linzbichler (30th), Anna Meixner (37th/PP1), Antonia Matzka (41st/PP2)
Slovakia goalscorers: Ema Tóthová (37th), Nikola Nemčeková (51st)

>> Line-ups

Previously played:

Hungary vs. Austria 3:2 n.V. (0:1,2:1,0:0,1:0)

Sat, 08 February 2025, 18:00, Eisarena Bremerhaven

Hungary goalscorers: Emma Kreisz (24th/PP1), Lotti Odnoga (31st), Réka Hiezl (62nd)

Austria goalscorers: Anna Meixner (19th), Emma Mörtl (32nd)

Germany vs. Austria 2:0 (0:0,2:0,0:0)

Thu, 06 February 2025, 19:30, Bremerhaven Ice Arena

Germany scorers: Celina Haider (24 min), Emily Nix (36 min)

All information on the official IIHF website