World Cham­pi­onship 2025: Austria put up a stern fight against Canada for a long time in 1:5 defeat

Austria started the game against the North American top favourites with goaltender Florian Vorauer, who was making his World Championship debut. David Kickert was in the line-up as back-up. Austria began with plenty of confidence: after just a few seconds, Dominic Zwerger tested Canada’s star goaltender Marc-André Fleury, while Benjamin Baumgartner fired a dangerous shot moments later. 

Canada took more and more control with every shift and moved the puck quickly in the offensive zone. ÖEHV goaltender Vorauer was at the centre of the action, but received very good support from the defence. Austria had the first power play, but apart from a good shot by Brian Lebler, they created little with the man advantage. Following a quick counter-attack through Benjamin Baumgartner, Brian Lebler played a superb pass to Vinzenz Rohrer, who lifted the puck into the top-right corner to give Austria a 1:0 lead (12.). 

The Canadians pressed for an equaliser, but Florian Vorauer was outstanding in the first period. Austria had the necessary luck with a minute and a half remaining in the period when Barrett Hayton hit the post from a tight angle.

Canada had their first power play in the second period and Nathan MacKinnon levelled quickly at 1:1 with a powerful shot (22.). Austria immediately had their next power play, with Lukas Haudum firing a dangerous slap shot. Then Head Coach Roger Bader’s team had their best chance following a quick counter-attack through Peter Schneider and Dominic Zwerger, but Marco Kasper was denied by Fleury. 

The Maple Leafs remained on top and combined quickly. Adam Fantilli appeared in front of the Austrian goal, but Vorauer made a superb save. The Canadians then pinned Austria in their own zone for a long time with an extra attacker on the ice during a delayed penalty, and Nathan MacKinnon hammered the puck into the net at 163,9 km/h – the highest speed recorded at this World Championship so far – to make it 2:1 (34.). 

Vorauer then again made an excellent save against Ryan O’Reilly. Shortly before the end of the period, Dominique Heinrich tested Fleury once more with a good shot.

In the final period, the World Championship favourites continued to play at a very high tempo. Following a good save by Vorauer, Macklin Celebrini lifted the puck over the goal from point-blank range. Austria produced good penalty killing during Canada’s next power play. The Austrian defence was powerless against Travis Konecny’s well-worked goal for 3:1 (49.). 

After another excellent save by Vorauer, Will Cuylle scored into the top corner shortly afterwards to make it 4:1 (52.). Superstar Sidney Crosby completed the scoring with a precise shot for 5:1 (59.). Goaltender Florian Vorauer was named Austria’s best player after an outstanding performance in the first World Championship game of his career.

Vinzenz Rohrer, who scored to give Austria a 1:0 lead, was delighted with his goal against Canada: "That is obviously great, even when Sidney Crosby is skating past you, and also against this goalie, against these big names, it is still something very special for me!"

Marco Kasper praised goaltender Vorauer’s performance and hopes for a quick recovery: "Florian Vorauer played an incredibly good game, and I’m absolutely delighted for him. It was really tough for us; in the end, they overran us in our own zone and created a lot of chances. It is difficult to hold out against that. We gave our best, and that is something we can always do. We now have to focus quickly on tomorrow’s game, eat well, try to sleep well, and then we will be ready for tomorrow!"

Head Coach Roger Bader was pleased with his team’s performance: "In the end, it was a result befitting a World Championship favourite. But I am very proud of the team. 40 minutes in, it was 1:2; we fought heroically in defence, used our third goaltender, who played a superb game, and we gave a very good account of ourselves. For me, the second period was incredibly strong from our side, even though we lost it. That we ran out of a little energy in the final period and they then scored their goals was almost to be expected. Of course, the game took a lot out of us, but we knew that beforehand. We cannot simply stand there and let Canada run over us. We had to fight, and a game like this will definitely help us progress. Now it is important that the players get to bed as quickly as possible and sleep well. But we knew about this situation before the World Championship. We will be ready!"

Canada superstar Sidney Crosby had praise for the ÖEHV selection: "We had to fight hard and be patient; their goalie made some good saves. Austria kept us to the outside and defended very hard. As the game went on, we did the right things. We knew exactly how Austria would play. They are sound defensively, defend their goal and are very quick on skates. You saw that on the goal: after the quick turnover, they had a good counter-attack. They have some good players who move very well, and they play very well together as a team!"

Canada’s star goaltender Marc-André Fleury, who is making his international farewell appearance, is enjoying the World Championship in Sweden: "It is fun to play in this team; wearing this jersey is a total honour. This is a great group, great guys. World Championship games are not easy, the opponents are fast, good skaters. Everyone works hard; today was a close game, much closer than the result suggests. It is great to play here, I like the fans, they are loud throughout the game, the drumming, the fan chants and the jumping up, the atmosphere in this arena is fantastic!"

France await on Friday afternoon

Just under 18 hours after the clash with Canada, the first key game in Stockholm follows on Friday from 16:20. France await at the Avicii Arena, live on ORF SPORT + and from 18:10 on ORF 1.

2025 IIHF ICE HOCKEY WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

9th - 25th May 2025, Stockholm, Sweden & Herning, Denmark

Canada vs. Austria 5:1 (0:1,2:0,3:0)
Thu, 15th May 2025, Avicii Arena, 20:20, 5.259
Canada goalscorers: Nathan MacKinnon (22nd/PP1, 34th), Travis Konecny (49th), Will Cuylle (52nd), Sidney Crosby (59th)
Austria goalscorer: Vinzenz Rohrer (12th) 

Austria lined up with:

Goalkeepers: 33 Vorauer Florian; 30 Kickert David (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; 7 Lebler Brian - 24 Baumgartner Benjamin - 19 Rohrer Vinzenz

Line 3: 45 Biber Gregor - 12 Maier David; 48 Thaler Lucas - 21 Haudum Lukas - 52 Huber Paul

Line 4: 18 Stapelfeldt Paul - 4 Schnetzer Ramon; 95 Kainz Lukas - 26 Achermann Oliver - 80 Kraus Nikolaus

Other games:

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

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

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

Already played:

Austria vs. Slovakia 3:2 after penalties (2:0,0:1,0:1,0:0,1:0)
Mon, 12 May 2025, Avicii Arena, 16:20, 4.375
Austria goalscorers: Peter Schneider (8), Marco Kasper (12) - Lukas Haudum and Peter Schneider score in the penalty shootout.
Slovakia goalscorers:Samuel Honzek (27), Matúš Sukeľ (51) – Martin Chromiak scores in the penalty shoot-out.

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 (34./PP1, 58.), Jonas Brodin (58.), Alexander Wennberg (59./EN)
Austria goalscorers: Benjamin Baumgartner (26), Marco Kasper (53) 

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

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