World Cham­pi­onship 2023: Austria lose 1:4 to the USA after a strong perfor­mance

Head Coach Roger Bader opted for Bernhard Starkbaum as the starting goalie in the fourth World Championship game, with David Madlener serving as backup goalie. 

This time, the first line consisted of Manuel Ganahl, Lukas Haudum and Henrik Neubauer. Steven Strong and David Maier were paired on defence. The second five-man unit was slightly altered, with Benjamin Nissner centring the second forward line alongside wingers Thomas Raffl and Lucas Thaler. Dominique Heinrich and Kilian Zündel played on defence. 

Marco Rossi played at centre on the third line, with Dominic Zwerger and Peter Schneider as his forward partners. Bernd Wolf and Thimo Nickl were on defence. Ali Wukovits played at centre on the fourth line, alongside wingers Paul and Mario Huber. Philipp Wimmer and Nico Brunner formed the fourth defensive pairing.

Austria held their own against the heavy favourites from the outset. The US boys had the edge, but the ÖEHV side were solid defensively in the opening minutes. Thomas Raffl passed up the first very good chance for Red-White-Red, with US goalie Cal Petersen denying his shot. Marco Rossi had to serve two penalties, but Austria emerged unscathed from both penalty kills. Ali Wukovits had the second good opportunity, placing a wrist shot too centrally at the opposition goal. Dominic Zwerger then fired after a wonderful pass from Peter Schneider and forced Petersen into a spectacular save.

Just moments into the second period came the next good chance, as Lukas Haudum was denied by Cal Petersen. Dominic Zwerger then tested the US netminder following a powerful drive by Peter Schneider. The opening minutes clearly belonged to the ÖEHV side, with Steven Strong passing to Manuel Ganahl, whose deflection did not find the net for the lead.

Bernhard Starkbaum kept a clean sheet during the USA’s quick counter-attacks, producing one outstanding save against Carter Mazur. Following a spell of US pressure, Rocco Grimaldi was perfectly positioned at the far post after a cross-ice pass and scored to make it 1:0 for the group leaders (28.). With the lead, the Americans raised the tempo and took control.

Magical goal brings Austria level

Shortly before the end of the period, things became frantic once again: Austria drew level at 1:1 on the power play through a magical goal. Thomas Raffl redirected the puck into the empty net following a tic-tac-toe move involving Marco Rossi and Peter Schneider (38.); it was already the captain’s third World Championship goal. Austria held the draw for barely a minute before Carter Mazur found space in the slot after a quick attack and scored to make it 2:1 (39.). 

The third period began with a quick USA goal. Lane Hutson (44.) poked the puck into the net to make it 3:1. During a good shift, Austria had the chance to pull one back with a triple opportunity. Marco Rossi, Dominic Zwerger, who hit the post, and Peter Schneider were unable to put the puck in the net. 

Goalie Bernhard Starkbaum then showed his class with two superb saves. After a quick breakaway by Bernd Wolf in the 52nd minute, Austria were awarded a penalty shot, but Dominic Zwerger was denied by Cal Petersen. Moments later, Zwerger again went in alone on the opposition goal but could not convert.

Head Coach Roger Bader took an early risk and pulled goalie Bernhard Starkbaum, with Nick Perbix scoring into the empty net to make it 4:1 for the USA (58.). In the end, the USA celebrated their fourth win in four games. Austria’s goalie Bernhard Starkbaum was named the best player.

Head Coach Roger Bader: "I am proud of the team and how they performed. We had set out a number of things in terms of the game plan and our defensive organisation. We did that very well: how we made the Americans come at us, how we defended well, and how we created good counter-attacks with the vertical ice hockey I envisage; that was good. What disappointed me was that, after equalising, which we deserved, we conceded the second goal so quickly. We were briefly not alert to the pass behind us to the fourth man. It would have been better to go into the break at 1:1. The third goal was of course very unfortunate, the way it came about. But we had further chances afterwards, not only the penalty shot but also in the shift afterwards with Zwerger and Schneider. The USA are a top-class team at taking their chances; ultimately, everything simply has to be perfect to take points against opponents like that!"

Classic against Germany on Friday

The Red-White-Red players are back in action on Friday at 19:20, LIVE on ORF SPORT +, against Germany, who must first face Denmark on Thursday at 19:20.

USA vs. Austria 4:1 (0:0,2:1,2:0)
Wed, 17 May 2023, 15:20 (16:20)
USA scorers: Rocco Grimaldi (28.), Carter Mazur (39.), Lane Hutson (44.), Nick Perbix (58./EN)
Austria scorer: Thomas Raffl (38./PP1) 

Line-ups

The current IIHF World Championship standings

86TH IIHF ICE HOCKEY WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

12 May 2023 - 28 May 2023, Tampere (FIN) and Riga (LAT)
Group A, Tampere: Finland, USA, Sweden, Germany, Denmark, France, Austria, Hungary
Group B, Riga: Canada, Czechia, Switzerland, Slovakia, Latvia, Norway, Kazakhstan, Slovenia

Remaining schedule:
Dates and times refer to our local time zone, with the local time shown in brackets.

Austria vs. Germany
Fri, 19 May 2023, 19:20 (20:20 local time)
LIVE on ORF SPORT +

Austria vs. Finland
Sat, 20 May 2023, 15:20 (16:20 local time)
LIVE on ORF1 (highlights at 22:15 on ORF SPORT +)

Austria vs. Hungary
Mon, 22 May 2023, 19:20 (20:20 local time)
LIVE on ORF SPORT +

Already played:

France vs. Austria 2:1 n.V. (1:0,0:0,0:1,1:0)
Sat, 13 May 2023, 11:20 (12:20 local time)
France scorers: Tim Bozon (20./PP1), Sacha Treille (61./PP1)
Austria goalscorer: Thomas Raffl (47/PP1)

Sweden vs. Austria 5:0 (1:0,2:0,2:0)
Sun, 14 May 2023, 19:20 (20:20)
Sweden goalscorers: Par Lindholm (4), Marcus Sörensen (27), Patrik Nemeth (39), Leo Carlsson (52), Dennis Everberg (54)

Denmark vs. Austria 6:2 (1:0,1:1,4:1)
Tue, 16 May 2023, 15:20 (16:20)
Denmark goalscorers: Nikolaj Ehlers (10), Niklas Andersen (34), Jesper Jensen Aabo (47), Nicklas Jensen (52/PP1), Matias Lassen (54), Patrick Russell (58)
Austria goalscorers: Thomas Raffl (28/PP1), Peter Schneider (49)

All information and the full schedule can be found at www.iihf.com