World Cham­pi­onship 2025: Unfor­tu­nate opening defeat for Austria against Finland

A year after the sensational victory over Finland, Austria once again came close to earning a point in their opening game of the 2025 World Championship. Finland initially raced into a 2:0 lead through goals from Patrik Puistola (5th) and Juuso Pärssinen (8th). In the 14th minute, Bernd Wolf reduced the deficit to 1:2 from a tight angle. From then on, an open exchange developed, with several major chances at both ends. 

Finland had more shots on goal overall, but were repeatedly forced back into their own zone. All the Red-White-Red lines battled relentlessly for an equaliser, which came just a few minutes before the end of the game. Marco Kasper netted the apparent 2:2, but the goal was ruled out after a video review because Dominic Zwerger was a few centimetres inside the crease and interfered with goaltender Juuse Saros.

Head Coach Roger Bader pulled goaltender Atte Tolvanen, who made his World Championship debut against his home country, late on, but Austria were unable to create another clear scoring chance. Four-time world champions Finland ultimately prevailed somewhat fortunately 2:1.

Head Coach Roger Bader: "It is always frustrating when a goal is disallowed. That is clear. I have not watched it back on video yet, and I am curious to see what I will see. As for the game, I have to say it was a very good performance by Team Austria. We had a little trouble with the pace in the first period. We expected that. The longer the game went on, the better we grew into it. The final period was really strong. The Finns had more shots on goal, but I do not think a 2:2 would have been undeserved. In that respect, I am of course disappointed that we did not get the point. But we can be proud of the performance. Tomorrow, a superb team awaits us. We showed today that we have prepared very well for the World Championship, that we have a good team, that we can play good ice hockey, and that gives us confidence for the coming days."

Thomas Raffl: "One goal made the difference, and perhaps it was the one that was disallowed. Overall, we have to be satisfied. Perhaps we started a little too cautiously in the first period and gave them too much space. That improved as the game went on. In the end, I think it was an even game. That is how you can start a tournament, and despite the defeat, we will certainly take confidence from it. Tomorrow is a new day, another strong opponent, and we have to make sure we bring everything onto the ice again."

2025 IIHF ICE HOCKEY WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

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

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)
Finland goalscorers: Patrik Puistola (5th), Juuso Pärssinen (8th)

Austria lined up with:

Goaltenders: 35 Tolvanen Atte; 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; 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

Other games:

Sweden vs. Austria
Sat, 10 May 2025, Avicii Arena, 16:20, live ORF 1

Austria vs. Slovakia
Mon, 12 May 2025, Avicii Arena, 16:20, live ORF 1

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

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