Eishockey
Marco Kasper has been voted Austria’s ice hockey player of the year. The 18-year-old offensive man from the Swedish club Rögle BK won the vote carried out by the specialist magazine “Powerplay” with 79 points and was honored as the youngest player to date. Second place went to Anna Meixner (39 points), who was the first woman to make it into the top three. Third place went to defender David Reinbacher (20), also an 18-year-old.
“I am very grateful for this award. It’s incredibly cool to win this award. Being player of the year at such a young age means a lot to me. I will continue to work hard to inspire young players and continue to commend myself for this award in the years to come.”
The Carinthian, who will be 19 at the beginning of April, has been a regular at Rögle since the 2021/22 season and won the Champions Hockey League (CHL) with the club from Ängelholm last year. At the World Championships in Tampere, where the Austrian team managed to stay up for the first time since 2018, he was used in all games and once again convinced the scouts from the National Hockey League (NHL).
In the NHL draft on July 7, he was eventually selected by the Detroit Red Wings as the number eight. However, after consultation with Detroit, he continues to compete in the current season in the strong Swedish Svenska Hockeyligan (SHL), with 23 points (eight goals, 15 assists) he is by far the best teenager in the league.
Meixner also best player in Swedish league
Second place also went to a Sweden legionnaire. Meixner is the top striker for Brynäs IF from Gävle, which is well on the way to the SDHL final, and was the second-best goalscorer in the league’s regular season with 26 goals. Only at the weekend did the 28-year-old from Salzburg receive the “Golden Helmet”, the award for the best player in the Swedish league.
Third was the Vorarlberger Reinbacher, who safely managed to stay up in the Swiss National League with promoted Kloten and is traded as a possible first-round pick in the upcoming NHL draft.