World Championship schedule in Tampere – opening game against France
It is now confirmed: Austria will once again play in Tampere at the 2023 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship, opening their campaign against France on 13 May. Their final group game will be against promoted Hungary on 22 May.
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“You cannot influence the schedule, so we will take it as it comes,” says Head Coach Roger Bader is not particularly surprised by the schedule. The 57-year-old only highlights the heavy workload once again: “While other nations play their games over the course of eleven or twelve days, we are once again in the situation of having to play seven games in just ten days. In particular, starting the World Championship with four games in five days is a heavy workload that we have to manage.”
France (13.05), Sweden (14.05), Denmark (16.05) and the USA (17.05) await to begin with.
Heading to Tampere with fond memories
Only three and a half months ago, Austria created historic moments at one of the world's most modern ice hockey arenas, the Nokia Arena. Following the 1:3 opening defeat to Sweden, they came close to their first major upset on 15 May, losing 2:3 after overtime to the USA. That came less than 48 hours later, with a 2:1 shootout win over Czechia – the first victory over their neighbours in history!
Further top results against Norway (3:5), Latvia (3:4 after a shootout) and eventual world champions Finland (0:3) followed. An incredible finish in their final group game saw them eventually beat Great Britain 5:3 and definitively secure top-division status.
That is also the declared objective for 2023. Should the mission to stay in the top division succeed, it would be the first time in 18 years that Austria have finished among the top 14 twice in a row and therefore remained an A-pool nation.
Roger Bader: “We have fond memories of Tampere and will do everything we can to make it happen.”
86th IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship
12 May 2023 – 28 May 2023, Tampere (FIN) and Riga (LAT)
Group A, Tampere: Finland, USA, Sweden, Germany, Denmark, France, Austria, Hungary
Group B, Riga: Canada, Czechia, Switzerland, Slovakia, Latvia, Norway, Kazakhstan, Slovenia
Schedule
Dates and times are given in our home time zone, with local time shown in brackets.
France vs Austria
Sat, 13 May 2023, 11:20 (12:20 local time)
Sweden vs Austria
Sun, 14 May 2023, 19:20 (20:20)
Denmark vs Austria
Tue, 16 May 2023, 15:20 (16:20)
USA vs Austria
Wed, 17 May 2023, 15:20 (16:20)
Austria vs Germany
Fri, 19 May 2023, 19:20 (20:20)
Austria vs Finland
Sat, 20 May 2023, 15:20 (16:20)
Austria vs Hungary
Mon, 22 May 2023, 19:20 (20:20)
All information and the full schedule can be found at www.iihf.com
