World Cham­pi­onship opener: Heavy defeat against Finland

Image caption: Austria’s U20 national team takes on Finland - Photo: © Puckfans.at/Werner Krainbucher

Austria began their exciting IIHF World Junior Championships adventure as heavy underdogs against Finland in the spectacular Rogers Place – home of the Edmonton Oilers in everyday ice hockey life – in front of 1.901 fans. The Finns made a lightning start, skating at high speed into the defensive zone of the U20 national team coached by Head Coach Marco Pewal. After three and a half minutes, Brad Lambert circled the red-white-red goal guarded by goaltender Sebastian Wraneschitz, passed into the slot to Ville Koivunen and he wasted no time in making it 1:0 for Finland (4.). Suomi continued to play at a high tempo and pinned Austria in their own zone. Austria’s defence stood firm collectively, while Wraneschitz delivered a strong performance over the remainder of the first period.

The ÖEHV selection created little in attack, although Oskar Maier had their best chance. He burst into the offensive zone between two Finnish defencemen and was denied by Finland’s netminder Juha Jatkola with a backhand effort. Antti Pennanen’s team then raised the tempo again and fired shots at the Austrian goal from every angle. Following a battle behind the goal, Ville Koivunen played a fine backhand pass to Samuel Helenius, who made it 2:0 for the Finns from close range (19.). Roby Jarventie then had to serve a penalty for a high stick, but it remained 2:0 to Suomi after 20 minutes.

Little changed at the start of the second period. The Finns, superior in skating and stickhandling, applied pressure, while Austria’s young players resisted with great fighting spirit and every means at their disposal. Yet Finland made it 3:0: Karri Aho sent the puck towards goal from the blue line and Kasper Simontaival converted the rebound (25.).

Then came Martin Urbanek’s big moment. On a 4:3 power play, the Villach player was perfectly set up by Luca Auer and hammered the puck under the crossbar with a one-timer (26.). Austria’s first goal at this U20 World Championship was on the board.

Unfortunately, the Finns restored their three-goal lead fairly quickly. Austria were also extremely unlucky: Karri Aho’s shot was deflected by Kalle Vaisanen’s body, leaving goalkeeper Sebastian Wraneschitz with no chance (27.). The Austrians then opened up the game. With 4:1 behind them, the Finns played a little more freely, while the red-white-red team produced some pleasing attacks without becoming truly dangerous in front of goal.

Finland again dominated the opening two minutes of the final period. Austria had to regroup, but then gained better control of the match again. With just under ten minutes remaining, the Austrians’ physical fatigue became apparent, as the constant and demanding defensive work had drained their energy. The Finns exploited this ruthlessly. Ville Koivunen scored a fine 5:1. Kneeling with his back to goal, he pulled the puck into the net with a backhand from a tight angle (49.). The goal was somewhat reminiscent of Alexander Ovechkin’s famous "The Goal" against the Phoenix Coyotes on 16 January 2006.

Shortly afterwards, Topi Niemela hammered the puck into the net from the blue line to make it 6:1 (51.). Brad Lambert then intercepted a misplaced pass from goaltender Sebastian Wraneschitz and scored to make it 7:1 (55.), which was the final score. After a strong performance in the face of 48 shots on his goal, Wraneschitz was named Austria’s best player.

Head Coach Marco Pewal analysed after the match: "We are pleased that we were able to play today. We knew it would be a difficult match and that we would only have the puck rarely. We had to make sure we protected our house well and played solidly in defence. We did that well at times. On the other hand, we too often allowed the Finns into our zone in front of goal too easily, and they took their chances ruthlessly." Pewal was satisfied with the team’s fighting performance: "We fought brilliantly, every single player gave everything until the end. We saw the difference in class on the ice; we have to put the game behind us. It certainly will not get any easier against Canada!"

Austria’s first goalscorer at this World Championship Martin Urbanek was delighted with his first goal: "It was a very nice feeling to make it 1:3. The goal was superbly worked on the 4:3 power play with passes from Lukas Thaler and Luca Auer. I think we deserved that at that stage." The Villach player said of the performance: "We held our own relatively well for 50 minutes. Towards the end, you could notice the fatigue a little and we faded somewhat. We played good ice hockey for the first 40 minutes, especially in the second period."

A burden had already been lifted from the red-white-red shoulders shortly before the start of the World Championship. There will be no relegated team at this edition of the U20 World Championship either. This means Austria will also take part in the IIHF World Junior Championships next year. Austria’s next game takes place in the night leading into Wednesday, 29 December 2021 at 01:00 Central European Time (Tuesday, 28 December 2021, 17:00 local time) against hosts Canada.

Austria vs. Finland 1:7 (0:2,1:2,0:3)
Mon, 27 December 2021, 20:00 CET (12:00 local time)
Austria goalscorer: Martin Urbanek (26./PP)
Finland goalscorers: Ville Koivunen (4.), Samuel Helenius (19.), Kasper Simontaival (25.), Kalle Vaisanen (27.), Ville Koivunen (49.), Topi Niemela (51.), Brad Lambert (55.)