This was not for the faint of heart. Austria’s national ice hockey team managed to stay up in the league at the A World Championships in Finland with an energy performance. But it took nerves of steel and a brilliant race to catch up. The Brits, who were weaker on paper, had led 3-1 in the “group final”, a defeat after 60 minutes would have sealed the red-white-red relegation. Now everything is good. The bottom line is a 5: 3 (0: 1, 0: 1, 5: 1) success.
Roger Bader’s protégés, who played his 100th international match on the bench, never gave up and saved themselves across the finish line. “I’m proud of my team. For us this is a great success. We knew it would be difficult against Great Britain. These opponents have qualities, they are on the same level as us, Italy and France. The league is better than people assume in Austria,” said the Swiss after the turbulent showdown, which brought back memories of the 2019 World Cup in Bratislava.
At that time, the burden of being the favorite was too great and Italy were happier with the 4:3 after a penalty shoot-out. This time, Black Wings captain Brian Lebler and his colleagues turned the tables. And that, although it hadn’t looked like it for a long time.
After 19 minutes it was 0:1, 117 seconds after the start of the second third it was 0:2 (22nd). And if one-goalie Bernhard Starkbaum hadn’t saved a few times in extremis, the matter would have been decided earlier. The red-white-red selection was passive for a long time, error-prone, playfully disappointing. Only with his back to the wall did the cramping relax. Ali Wukovits reduced the power play to 1:2 (45th), even the 1:3 (47th) only 88 seconds later did not ring the alarm bells.
The Austrians were physically stronger, they had more staying power. In the finish, the goals fell like ripe fruit. Benjamin Nissner scored the (saving) 3:3 (52nd), Thomas Raffl to 4:3 (59th) and Peter Schneider to 5:3 into the empty net (60th). All’s well that ends well. Of course the relief is huge. Austria will also be represented in the concert of the big ones in 2023, the A-WM could take place in Hungary and Slovenia.
Source: Nachrichten
