World Cham­pi­onship 2025: First win! Austria over­come Slovakia in the penalty shoot-out

In the first period, the red-white-red skaters pinned the 2002 world champions back in their own zone. After around twelve minutes, they had registered 9:1 shots on goal and led 2:0. For the 1:0 in the 8th minute, Bernd Wolf laid the puck back perfectly for Peter Schneider, who charged in and finished ice-cold. In the 12th minute, Marco Kasper, with a little luck, danced past three Slovak opponents, rounded our neighbours' goalkeeper as he lay on the ice and calmly slid the puck over the line.

Towards the end of the first period, Slovakia improved and created their first good chances, but found their match in David Kickert, who once again delivered a world-class performance. In the 24th minute, the post denied Lucas Thaler's shot from making it 3:0, before Slovakia got on the scoresheet shortly afterwards. David Maier tried to clear the puck from his own zone, but Samuel Honzek intercepted it and pulled one back to 1:2.

Slovakia were enjoying their strongest spell at that point. However, Austria remained bold and created chances of their own. Dominique Heinrich was unfortunate with a shot off the crossbar, as was Dominic Zwerger shortly afterwards. The Swiss-based player's shot slipped out of Samuel Hlavaj's glove and trickled a few centimetres wide of the goal. Austria retained their narrow 2:1 lead after 40 minutes.

Midway through the final period, Lukas Haudum had another gilt-edged chance, but instead of making it 3:1, Matus Sukel equalised at the other end. He took his time in front of goal until David Kickert was down on the ice, then lifted the puck high into the net. The scoreboard showed 2:2 after the final buzzer, securing Austria their first point. Overtime produced no winner, with the decision ultimately coming in the penalty shoot-out, where Lukas Haudum and Peter Schneider scored while David Kickert conceded just once.

Lukas Haudum: "We got off to a great start, exactly how you have to play against every nation. You can see how much quality we have. We then made it difficult for ourselves, had long shifts and didn't win the battles on the blue line. We need to do more there and keep it simpler. In the end, we have to be satisfied that we beat such a great nation with a performance like that. Naturally, the win feels very good. Perhaps today was the little bit of luck we needed. We work hard and, as you can see, consistency pays off."

Head Coach Roger Bader: "It had everything today. Our first period was incredibly strong. You had the feeling that the Slovaks didn't know what was happening to them. The first period built on our performance against Sweden. It was also really pleasing for us coaches to see the things we had planned come together. We knew the Slovaks would respond. We were nervous. It became a little more stable in the final period, but there were still many precarious moments. Being rewarded in the penalty shoot-out at the end also involved luck. We have to be honest about that."

2025 IIHF ICE HOCKEY WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

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

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 (8th), Marco Kasper (12th) - Lukas Haudum and Peter Schneider score in the penalty shoot-out.
Slovakia scorers: Samuel Honzek (27th), Matúš Sukeľ (51th) - Martin Chromiak scores in the penalty shoot-out.

Austria lined up with:

Goaltenders: 30 Kickert David; 33 Vorauer Florian (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; 5 Raffl Thomas - 24 Baumgartner Benjamin - 19 Rohrer Vinzenz
Line 3: 45 Biber Gregor - 12 Maier David; 52 Huber Paul - 21 Haudum Lukas - 7 Lebler Brian
Line 4: 18 Stapelfeldt Paul - 4 Schnetzer Ramon; 95 Kainz Lukas - 26 Achermann Oliver - 48 Thaler Lucas

Further fixtures:

Canada vs. Austria
Thu, 15 May 2025, Avicii Arena, 20:20 hrs, live ORF SPORT +

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

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

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

Already played:

Sweden vs. Austria 4:2 (0:0,1:1,3:1)
Sat, 10 May 2025, Avicii Arena, 16:20 hrs, 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 (14 min.)
Finland goalscorers: Patrik Puistola (5 min.), Juuso Pärssinen (8 min.)

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