World Cham­pi­onship 2025: Austria set for show­piece game against record world cham­pions Canada

The first phase of the tournament is complete for Austria. Their strong performances against Finland, hosts Sweden and Slovakia have once again led many international experts to say that Austria, as in 2024, are one of the surprise teams at this World Championship. They must now take that into phase 2, particularly against France and Slovenia in the battle to stay in the top division.

Before facing the Equipe tricolore on Friday at 16:20, live on ORF 1, the next supposedly overwhelming opponent awaits in Canada on Thursday. “This is a showpiece game,” is the unanimous message from the Austrian dressing room.

Canada, most recently world champions in 2023, are, as every year, considered strong contenders for gold. How seriously the Maple Leafs are taking this mission is evident from a roster packed exclusively with NHL players and led by superstar Sidney Crosby and goaltender Marc-André Fleury. The latter ended his NHL career a few weeks ago and will likely play his very last games as a professional here in Stockholm.

Having won the Stanley Cup in 2009 and Olympic Winter Games gold in 2010, he could join the elite Triple Gold Club with World Championship gold in 2025. Crosby is already a member.

The Austria vs. Canada clash automatically brings back memories of 2024, when Austria turned a 1:6 deficit into a 6:6 tie in the final period and only had to concede defeat 6:7 in overtime. In 40 games, Austria have recorded just one win (1930) and three draws. The other 36 games went to the record world champions.

Head Coach Roger Bader: “We expect a very strong team. They are favourites for the world title and have selected the appropriate players for their squad. We are looking forward to this game and want to show that we can play good ice hockey in Austria too. Competing against these players has to be motivating and, knowing my team, that is exactly how it will be.”

Paul Stapelfeldt: “The games so far have given us a boost. We go into the upcoming tasks with confidence. Canada is a huge game, perhaps even the biggest of the season for me personally. We are looking forward to it. We need to prepare very well for it. We want to put in a very good performance. As we have seen in the first games, if we reach our maximum level, we can not only trouble the big nations, but then perhaps even get something from the game. We know what we are capable of, we approach the task with humility, but we definitely want to bring our performance onto the ice.”

2025 IIHF ICE HOCKEY WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

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

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. 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 scorers: Peter Schneider (8), Marco Kasper (12) - Lukas Haudum and Peter Schneider scored in the penalty shoot-out.
Slovakia scorers: Samuel Honzek (27), Matúš Sukeľ (51) - Martin Chromiak scored 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 scorers: Mika Zibanejad (34/PP1, 58), Jonas Brodin (58), Alexander Wennberg (59/EN)
Austria scorers: 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 scorer: Bernd Wolf (14)
Finland scorers: Patrik Puistola (5), Juuso Pärssinen (8)

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