World Cham­pi­onship count­down: Austria lose first test against Czechia in Budweis

"I am very pleased with the performance," praised Head Coach Roger Bader his team, which is still without a number of national team players and produced an improved performance against World Championship hosts Czechia compared to the games against Slovenia. Austria took some time to get into the game and promptly conceded 0:1 while shorthanded in the 3rd minute. They trailed 0:2 after the opening 20 minutes, but showed a different side after the break.

Austria repeatedly won possession in their own zone and looked to get in front of the Czech goal quickly with direct play, which paid off in the 29th minute. Benjamin Baumgartner scored to make it 1:3, which was also the score going into the dressing room. In the final period, Austria were again able to challenge Czechia, who had more scoring chances and shots overall, for spells, but ultimately lost 1:5.

Head Coach Roger Bader: "We did a great many things very, very well that we had set out to do. We played very aggressively in our own zone, often took the puck away from the opposition and also forechecked well. The fact that the opposition had more scoring chances was down to the quality of their players and team. But we played a really good international game today."

Benjamin Baumgartner: "We needed the first period to get into the game. You could tell that Czechia are a significantly stronger opponent than Slovenia. We competed very well in the second and third periods, but unfortunately took too many penalties. A closer result would have been possible today."

They can make that happen in Linz as early as this coming Saturday.

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP PREPARATION

Czechia vs. Austria 5:1 (2:0,1:1,2:0)
Thu, 18 April 2024, 17:10, Budweis (CZE)
Czechia scorers: Adam Kubík (3rd/PP1), Andrej Šustr (18th), Jakub Galvas (25th), Jiří Černoch (51st), Michael Špaček (53rd)
Austria scorer: Benjamin Baumgartner (29th)

Austria vs. Czechia
Sat, 20 April 2024, 18:00, Linz, live on ORF SPORT +

Germany vs. Austria
Thu, 25 April 2024, 19:00, Garmisch (GER)

Austria vs. Germany
Sat, 27 April 2024, 16:15, Zell am See, live on ORF SPORT +

Austria vs. Canada
Sun, 5 May 2024, 19:00, Vienna, live on ORF SPORT +

Tickets for all home games are available now HERE.

Already played

Latvia vs. Austria 3:2 after a shoot-out (0:1, 1:0, 1:1)
Thu, 4 April 2024, 18:00 (CEST), Riga (LAT)
Austria scorers: Leon Wallner (at 16), Julian Metzler (at 43)
Latvia scorers: Feliks Egils Gavars (at 26), Dans Locmelis (at 46)

Latvia vs. Austria 3:2 after a shoot-out (1:0, 1:2, 0:0, 0:0)
Fri, 5 April 2024, 18:00 (CEST), Riga (LAT)
Austria scorers: Nico Feldner (at 31), Ian Scherzer (at 36)
Latvia scorers: Martins Lavins (at 11), Haralds Egle (at 34)

Slovenia vs. Austria 5:2 (3:0,1:1,1:1)
Thu, 11 April 2024, 19:00, Ljubljana (SLO)
Slovenia scorers: Ken Ograjenšek (at 2), Nik Simšič (at 8), Anže Kuralt (at 12), Jan Drozg (at 34), Žan Jezovšek (at 58)
Austria scorers: Nico Brunner (at 39/PP1), Senna Peeters (at 47)

Austria vs. Slovenia 0:6 (0:0,0:4,0:2)
Fri, 12 April 2024, 18:00, Villach
Slovenia scorers:Matic Podlipnik (21th/PP1), Anže Kuralt (32nd/PP1, 34th/PP1, 37th), Jan Drozg (44th), Ken Ograjenšek (52nd)

2024 IIHF ICE HOCKEY WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

10–26 May 2024 – Hosts: Czechia
Venues: Prague and Ostrava
Group A – Prague: Canada, Finland, Switzerland, Czechia, Denmark, Norway, Austria, Great Britain
Group B – Ostrava: USA, Germany, Sweden, Slovakia, Latvia, France, Kazakhstan, Poland

Schedule:

Austria vs. Denmark
Sat, 11 May 2024, 16:20, live on ORF 1

Austria vs. Switzerland
Sun, 12 May 2024, 20:20, live on ORF SPORT +

Canada vs. Austria
Tue, 14 May 2024, 20:20, live on ORF SPORT +

Finland vs. Austria
Thu, 16 May 2024, 16:20, live on ORF SPORT +

Czechia vs. Austria
Fri, 17 May 2024, 20:20, live on ORF SPORT +

Norway vs. Austria
Sun, 19 May 2024, 16:20, live on ORF SPORT +

Austria vs. Great Britain
Tue, 21 May 2024, 12:20, live on ORF SPORT +