World Championship 2023: National Team focused on their 37th win over Hungary
The major showdown in the battle to stay in the top division (provided Hungary lose to Germany today, Sunday): on Monday evening at 19:20 pm, live on ORF SPORT+, Head Coach Roger Bader’s men will face Hungary, who have so far recorded an overtime win over France and are therefore one point ahead of Austria in the standings. A win will keep Austria among the top 16 teams in the world. The motto is “fight first, then play”, according to the head coach.
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Austria and Hungary have faced each other 52 times already. This is only their third meeting at an IIHF World Championship. Austria won each of the previous two, most recently in 2009 in Kloten (SUI), where they claimed a 6:0 victory. Last December, they played two friendlies against Hungary in Kapfenberg, resulting in one win and one defeat. Of the 52 meetings to date, Austria have won 36, lost 14 and drawn twice. Friendlies have been organised almost every year since the aforementioned 2009 World Championship. Not least for this reason, neither camp expects any surprises.
“We know Hungary, and they know us,” said Head Coach Roger Bader, who described Austria’s neighbours as follows: “They are a hard-working team that plays a very physical game. Their first line certainly stands out, with Janos Hari of Fehervar, who has been their best individual player for years, and two top European players on the wings in Balazs Sebok, who is signed with Ilves Tampere, and Vilmos Gallo of Linkoping in Sweden. It is certainly an above-average first line that stands out somewhat from the rest. Their goaltender plays in Poland and has made 45 appearances this season.”
In terms of their style of play, the head coach expects an opponent who will try to dump the puck into the offensive zone frequently, follow up with a forecheck and initiate physical play there. “They will fight, but so will we,” explained Roger Bader, who sees an advantage for his team in terms of speed.
For his own team’s game, the Swiss coach has issued the motto: “Fight first, then play.” “We certainly will not walk into a trap. We will try to play the way we have built up our game over the past matches. When we have an opportunity to forecheck, we will do so with full force. We will try to take control from the start, but we certainly will not blindly charge forward. We respect Hungary and do not think we are favourites. It is a 50:50 game.”
After their strong performances against Germany and Finland, Austria must once again draw on their full potential to secure the major objective of staying in the top division. “The final game is part of it. Now we have to earn it,” said Head Coach Roger Bader.
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
Schedule
Dates and times refer to our local time zone, with the local time shown in brackets.
Austria vs. Hungary
Mon, 22 May 2023, 19:20 pm (20:20 pm)
LIVE on ORF SPORT +
Already played:
France vs. Austria 2:1 OT (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 scorer: Thomas Raffl (47/PP1)
Sweden vs. Austria 5:0 (1:0,2:0,2:0)
Sun., 14 May 2023, 19:20 (20:20)
Sweden scorers: 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 scorers: Nikolaj Ehlers (10), Niklas Andersen (34), Jesper Jensen Aabo (47), Nicklas Jensen (52/PP1), Matias Lassen (54), Patrick Russell (58)
Austria scorers: Thomas Raffl (28/PP1), Peter Schneider (49)
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)
Austria vs. Germany 2:4 (1:2,0:1,1:1)
Fri, 19 May 2023, 19:20 (20:20)
Austria goalscorers: Bernd Wolf (12'), Lukas Haudum (54')
Germany goalscorers: Nico Sturm (5', 59'/EN), Parker Tuomie (17'), Wojciech Stachowiak (34')
Austria vs. Finland 1:3 (1:2,0:0,0:1)
Sat, 20 May 2023, 15:20 (16:20)
Austria goalscorer: Dominic Zwerger (5')
Finland goalscorers: Kasperi Kapanen (2'), Antti Suomela (8'), Ahti Oksanen (59')
All information and the full schedule can be found at www.iihf.com
