World Cham­pi­onship sensa­tion: Austria beat Czechia for the first time in history

Image info: Peter Schneider converts the decisive penalty against Czechia to secure Austria's World Championship sensation - Photo: GEPA pictures/Daniel Goetzhaber

After a day off on Monday and two outstanding performances against Sweden and the USA at the weekend, Austria continued their World Championship campaign with another clash against an absolute top nation. It was the fourth meeting with Czechia in the current World Championship campaign within six weeks, with the neighbours having won all three warm-up games.

Indeed, there had never been a victory for Red-White-Red against the six-time world champions and one-time Olympic champions – 19 defeats in 19 games. Czechia began their World Championship campaign on Saturday with a comfortable 5:1 win over Great Britain, before suffering a 3:5 defeat to Sweden on Sunday. Czechia are expecting Boston Bruins superstar David Pastrňák in Finland on Wednesday.

Compared with the thrilling USA game, in which Austria claimed their first point after a narrow 2:3 overtime defeat, Head Coach Roger Bader made several changes to the line-up.  

Bernhard Starkbaum returned in goal in place of David Kickert, with David Madlener in the line-up as the backup goalie. On the top forward line, Marco Kasper started at left wing this time, while Brian Lebler was deployed as the right winger alongside centre Lukas Haudum. Paul Huber joined Benjamin Nissner and Peter Schneider on the second forward line. Ali Wukovits centred the third line, with Manuel Ganahl on the left and Nico Feldner on the right. Nico Brunner, Oliver Achermann and Simeon Schwinger featured on the fourth line. Captain Thomas Raffl was rested with an eye on the Norway game. 

The defence was also reshuffled, with Clemens Unterweger making his comeback alongside David Maier. Dominique Heinrich once again defended with Kilian Zündel, Dominic Hackl formed a defensive pairing with Bernd Wolf, and Philipp Wimmer played alongside Erik Kirchschläger. Forward Benjamin Baumgartner is no longer with the team in Finland; the 22-year-old was injured in the game against the USA and will not feature again at this World Championship.

Austria began the first period confidently in front of 3.264 fans at Nokia Arena, employing a sound tactical approach. They were controlled defensively in their own zone and kept pace well with Czechia without relying on an energy-sapping, aggressive forecheck. Benjamin Nissner had the lead on his stick from the slot (7.), but was denied by Czechia goalie Karel Vejmelka. Shortly afterwards, Matěj Stránský appeared to make it 1:0 for Czechia, but the goal was disallowed following a video review for goaltender interference (8.). Peter Schneider then set up his teammate Benjamin Nissner perfectly, but he failed to connect with the puck.

The ÖEHV team came through a tricky spell with two successive penalty kills, then had luck when Filip Hronek hit the post. Austria failed to capitalise on their first power-play opportunity, and at the other end veteran Roman Červenka, left completely unmarked in the slot, gave Czechia a 1:0 lead (18.); the score after 20 minutes.

Czechia stepped up the tempo in the second period and repeatedly created danger in front of Bernhard Starkbaum's net, but he kept a clean sheet with an outstanding performance. The Austrians, perfectly prepared by Head Coach Roger Bader and his coaching staff, also launched some fine attacking moves, kept the game open and repeatedly caused problems for the Czech defence. Austria were fortunate again when David Krejčí fired the puck against the right-hand post.

Austria had their second power-play opportunity at the start of the final period, but could not use their numerical advantage to equalise. As the period progressed, Red-White-Red suddenly sensed the chance to take more from the game despite their narrow deficit and attacked boldly, although without creating any clear-cut chances. The young ÖEHV players were superb and repeatedly forced Czechia to build their attacks again. In the closing minutes, the favourites became nervous and produced several illegal long shots, with the phase marked by numerous stoppages.

At the end, Head Coach Roger Bader went "all in", taking goalie Bernhard Starkbaum off the ice just under a minute before the end. 38 seconds before the final siren, Brian Lebler turned the puck over the line for the 1:1 equaliser following a shot from the blue line and a scramble in the crease (60.). There were anxious minutes as the referees conducted a video review. The goal stood, and Austria forced Czechia into overtime. A sensation!

Austria played strong three-on-three hockey in overtime, but neither side scored. In the shootout, Bernhard Starkbaum, who was also named Austria's Player of the Game, stopped every Czech attempt. Czechia specialist Peter Schneider, of all people, beat goalie Karel Vejmelka with an irresistible deke to secure the first victory in history over Czechia in their 20th meeting. The emotional highlight followed at Nokia Arena when the Austrian national anthem was played. Red-White-Red now have three points from three games.

Head Coach Roger Bader was delighted with the historic success and his team's performance: "I am, of course, incredibly proud of the team, absolutely delighted. Firstly, because we delivered a good performance. And secondly, because we were rewarded for it with a win. At 0:0 after 40 minutes, we said that we did not want an honourable defeat; we wanted to win this game. That was clearly the objective. Naturally, we were fortunate to equalise without a goalkeeper at the end, but we earned that bit of luck too!"

Amid all the euphoria, the head coach immediately turned his attention to Wednesday's difficult match against Norway: "It is a cliché, but after the game is before the game. It is great that we won today and picked up two points, but it does not change anything at all about the situation going into the Norway game. It is an important game for us; if we win, we can take a big step forward!"

Equalising goalscorer Brian Lebler was overjoyed after the win against Czechia: "I am very excited. In the final minute, we had the goalkeeper on the bench, so there is always desperation in front of the net. Then came the shot from the blue line, there was a battle for the puck, a bit of luck was involved, and suddenly the puck was there – it is incredible. Bernhard Starkbaum played incredibly well throughout the game and was simply superb in the shoot-out. And Peter Schneider finishes it with a beautiful goal!"

Just under 22 hours after the memorable victory over Czechia, the ÖEHV side continues against Norway on Wednesday at 15:20. Petter Thoresen's team began their World Championship campaign last Friday with a 0:5 defeat to Finland, laboured to a 4:3 shoot-out win over Great Britain on Sunday after leading 3:0, and lost 2:3 to Latvia on Monday.

Head coach Roger Bader knows that the Scandinavians are tough opponents: "Norway have been a top-division nation continuously since 2006 and have an experienced team, particularly in attack. We need a strong performance to beat them." The last meeting with Norway was on 7 February 2020 in the Austria Cup in Klagenfurt. Austria won 2:0, avenging the 1:3 defeat a few months earlier in Lorenskog, Norway. The overall record against the Norwegians stands at: 53 games – 18 wins, 5 draws and 30 defeats. Following Austria's excellent World Championship performances in Finland so far, ORF 1 will broadcast live!

13–29 May 2022
Hosts: Finland (Tampere & Helsinki)
Defending champions: Canada

Czechia vs. Austria 1:2 after a shoot-out (1:0,0:0,0:1,0:0,0:1)
Tue, 17 May 2022, 15:20, Nokia Arena Tampere
Czechia goalscorer: Roman Červenka (18)
Austria goalscorers: Brian Lebler (60), Peter Schneider decisive shoot-out goal (65)

Norway vs. Austria
Wed, 18 May 2022, 15:20, live on ORF 1

Latvia vs. Austria
Fri, 20 May 2022, 19:20, live on ORF Sport+

Austria vs. Finland
Sat, 21 May 2022, 15:20, live on ORF Sport+

Austria vs. Great Britain
Mon, 23 May 2022, 19:20, live on ORF Sport+

Already played:

Austria vs. USA 2:3 AOT (1:0,1:1,0:1,0:1)
Sun, 15 May 2022, 15:20, Nokia Arena Tampere
Austria scorers: Benjamin Nissner (15 minutes), Paul Huber (35 minutes)
USA scorers: Kieffer Bellows (35 minutes), Adam Gaudette (49 minutes/PP1), Luke Hughes (63 minutes)

Sweden vs. Austria 3:1 (2:1,1:0,0:0)
Sat, 14 May 2022, 11:20, Nokia Arena Tampere
Sweden scorers: Joel Kellman (3 minutes), Max Friberg (17 minutes), Joakim Nordström (33 minutes)
Austria scorer: Peter Schneider (20 minutes)