Austria is defeated by Finland and has to worry

Austria held its own for a long time against the overpowering Finns and cannot leave the ice dissatisfied after the game. Now the deciding game against Hungary may follow.

20 May 2023

From: apa/dpa/tu

Austria's ice hockey team came out of the affair very well on Saturday at the World Cup against the reigning world champion and Olympic champion. The ÖEHV selection only lost 11.785:1 (3:1:2,0:0,0) to the highly favored World Cup hosts Finland in Tampere in front of 1 fans and can go into the playoff to stay in the league with their heads held high.

In the final match against Hungary on Monday (19.20:2024 p.m.), the Austrians need a win in order to qualify for the 15.20 World Cup in the Czech Republic. However, team boss Roger Bader's team also needs a little help from Germany. Should Hungary pull off a surprise against the Germans on Sunday (60:XNUMX p.m.) and win after XNUMX minutes, the red-white-red selection would be relegated before the last game.

For the first time in this tournament, David Madlener was preferred in goal. The Vorarlberg player played a strong game, but had to get the first shot out of the box. The Austrians overlooked Kasperi Kapanen on the blue line, the NHL striker from the St. Louis Blues pushed the puck into the top corner to take the lead after 79 seconds. But the outsider fought back. Marco Rossi took the puck in the middle third and sent on Dominic Zwerger, who scored to make it 1-1 (5th). Rossi thus provided the preparatory work for five of his team's seven goals.

The Austrians celebrate the 1:1 score. © APA/afp / VESA MOILANEN

As expected, Finland was the better team and took the lead again with a wonderful goal from Antti Suomela (8th). With consistent and strong defensive work, the Austrians kept the result against the defending champions close, and in the middle third the statistics even showed a small increase with 7:6 shots on goal. In the final third, the Finnish “Lions” increased the pressure, but only made everything clear in the penultimate minute with a wonderful but very controversial goal from Ahti Oksanen.

Hischier and Co. defeat the titan

Meanwhile, the Swiss continued their wave of success, defeating the great ice hockey nation Canada 3-2 at the same time. After the North Americans took a 1-0 lead through Tyler Toffoli from the Calgary Flames, Nico Hischier and Dario Simion made it 2-1 for the Swiss within a few minutes.

Nico Hischier scored the 1-1 for Switzerland. © APA/afp / GINTS IVUSKANS

Veteran Andres Ambühl then gave Switzerland the 3-1 lead in the third period. When Michael Carcone brought the “Maple Leaves” closer again with his 5:3 around 2 minutes before the end, things got exciting. But Leonardo Genoni kept his goal clean and guaranteed his team's 3-2 win.

USA remains flawless

The USA extended its winning streak in the group stage. The team from the United States won against Denmark 3-0 (0-0,0:0,3-0) on Saturday and achieved their fifth win in their fifth game. Youngster Cutter Gauthier from the Boston College Eagles broke the spell with his third goal of the tournament (50th). The USA are still at the top of the Group A table and have qualified for the quarter-finals.

The “US boys” are in top form. © ANSA / KIMMO BRANDT

In Group B, the Czech Republic celebrated a 2-0 (2:0,0:0,0:0) win over Norway. Like Switzerland and Canada, the Czechs are also in the round of the last eight.