“Last year we were given the place because of the Russians and we wanted to use that and prove that we belong. This year we want to be the first Austrian team in 18 years to stay up twice in a row. That’s the motto,” said team boss Bader before leaving for Finland. On Tuesday the Swiss, his support staff and the 25 nominated players first went to Helsinki, on Wednesday the team traveled on to Tampere.
The fact that Austria was able to hold the A-class several times in a row was long ago when some players in the current squad are old. At the 2004 World Cup in the Czech Republic, a selection led by team boss Herbert Pöck and reinforced by NHL star-to-be Thomas Vanek, among others, managed to stay up in the league for the seventh time in a row. Note: In Prague, they managed to remain in the A group in a sporty manner, but as hosts of the 2005 tournament they were undelegated anyway.
After years in the elevator, Austria only managed to stay up again in Denmark in 2018, only to fall one step lower in Slovakia a year later. In the previous year, however, the Austrians used the “gift” in the form of the exclusion of the warmongers Russia and Belarus and remained in the upper house with the strongest World Cup tournament since that 19 years ago in Prague. In addition to the dramatic, decisive victory against Great Britain, the first success over the Czech Republic and surprising points gained against the USA and Latvia were particularly fond memories.
Ice Hockey World Championships start in Tampere
The Ice Hockey A World Championship will open on Friday in Tampere with the match between defending champions and hosts Finland and the USA. Austria’s team will be in action for the first time against France on Saturday.
Key games at the beginning and at the end
In order for the story of 2022 to repeat itself and not that of 2019, Bader’s boys have to compete this year in a group with the new hosts Finland, Sweden, the USA and Germany as well as Denmark, France and newly promoted Hungary. As always, the minimum goal is seventh place. With the start against France on Saturday and the “final” against Hungary on May 22 (7.20 p.m. CEST, live on ORF1), the key games in the relegation battle are clearly defined.
“Hungary is the main opponent in the fight for relegation. France is also within our reach,” said Bader. In an APA interview, the Swiss described the Magyar climbers as “probably the weakest team” on paper, but at the same time warned urgently: “You shouldn’t underestimate them, we’ve already had experience with games like this.” The best example: last year “Final” against the British, when the Austrians only converted a 1:3 deficit into a 5:3 victory with a show of strength in the final third.
As in the previous year, if possible, one or the other point against a big one should make the mission easier to stay in the league. Especially Germany and Denmark are within reach on a good day. The Austrians got one of their three test wins against the Germans. “Last year you saw that you have a chance in every game,” said Bader. But the points in the key games are important, especially in the one against Hungary: “That’s the goal, everything else is just dreaming,” said Bader. In particular, successes like against the Czech Republic “can’t be expected every year, we’re not that good yet. But we are making steady progress.”
Despite failures “intact team”
The Austrian squad also made progress during the month-long preparation for the tournament. The last two test games against Slovakia proved that the Werkl was well put together, where not only Marco Rossi, who came with experience in the National Hockey League (NHL), but also supporters like captain Thomas Raffl from champion Red Bull Salzburg were also part of the game were. In particular, the 6-3 win in the first game against the 2002 world champions gives hope that the victories needed to stay up in the league will be achieved in Tampere.
However, the team has to cope with high-profile failures again. Young star Marco Kasper, along with Michael Raffl, Benjamin Baumgartner and Raphael Herburger are missing up front, and defender Clemens Unterweger is injured. Nevertheless, Bader can muster a powerful squad peppered with promising youngsters such as the only 18-year-old defender David Reinbacher and the 21-year-old Rossi. Like Thimo Nickl, Mario Huber, Lucas Thaler and Henrik Neubauer, who normally plays in the Alps Hockey League near Zell am See, both are World Cup debutants. Steven Strong and Dominic Zwerger were also absent last year.
In any case, the optimism in the team is great. “If we bring our performance to the ice, we can also annoy the big ones. The team is intact and working,” said captain Thomas Raffl. The veteran also appealed to the commitment of the boys. “Victory and defeat are so close together that it takes the last centimetre. If everything is right, you can be successful,” said the 36-year-old, who scored Austria’s fourth decisive goal in last year’s 5-3 win against the British.
Good memories
Speaking of 2022: In general, the memories of the most successful World Cup since 2004 should also inspire the team. The fact that the Nokia Arena in Tampere, which only opened in 2021, is the scene of a world championship for the second time in a row is again due to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. The current Finnish ice hockey center – Tappara Tampere is the reigning champion – “inherited” the tournament originally planned in St. Petersburg together with the Latvian capital Riga.
While top scorer Peter Schneider, who is part of the game despite a broken metacarpal bone, is hoping for good ground in Tampere and would like to “deliver an even better performance in the same place”, team boss Bader sees the return to Finland’s third-largest city rather objectively. “One thing we can copy is that we have seven games in ten days again. We have three days without games, which we used very well last year. We didn’t go on the ice, we left the players alone until 4 p.m. to come down. That worked well,” said the 58-year-old.