Image: APA/Erwin Scheriau
Not only the exclusion of Russia and Belarus because of the Ukraine invasion has raised the bar for Austria’s men’s national ice hockey team. The times of the elevator crew, who oscillate between first and second class, should be a thing of the past. “We have the ambition to establish ourselves in Group A,” said head coach Roger Bader ahead of the World Cup in Tampere and Riga, which begins tomorrow. The red-white-red team, in which not a single Black Wings player appears, sets up its base camp in Finland, as it did last year.
That shouldn’t be the worst omen. Last year there was a point against the USA, a sensational 2-1 victory over the Czech Republic after a penalty shoot-out and a 5-3 win against Great Britain in the key match. The mission to stay in the league was crowned with success, that is also the declared goal this year, although the draw makes some people even dream of the quarter-finals. Why not?
France, the opening opponent on Saturday (11.10 a.m., ORF 1), and Hungary are definitely beatable, Germany and Denmark are hurdles that can be jumped on a brilliant day. The intensive preparation (35 days, five qualifying camps, nine test international matches with three victories) welded the national team together. The most convincing performance was that of the 6:3 win in Kapfenberg over Slovakia. “It went the way we imagined. Now we want to deliver our best performance on the big stage,” stressed Bader, the seven legionnaires – including Marco Rossi (21) from the NHL club Minnesota Wild and David Reinbacher ( 18/Kloten), the youngest red-white-red defender at a World Cup in 30 years – who expressed confidence.
A native of Linz is also one of the key players – namely Lukas Haudum (KAC), who scored five goals in preparation. The soon to be 26-year-old striker exudes confidence: “If everyone does their job, we can play a good role.” There is definitely no lack of framework conditions. The Nokia Arena in the “sauna capital” of Tampere, designed by star architect Daniel Libeskind and seating up to 13,500 spectators, is the most modern ice hockey arena in the world with an exquisite LED dice, adjacent hotel (273 rooms) and casino.
Top values for fans and Lebler
What’s happening in the local ICE Hockey League? In a survey of the players’ union younion among the active players, Linz was voted the venue with the best atmosphere, the Black Wings (27 percent) prevailed over last year’s winner Fehervar (22%). When asked about the player with the hardest shot, Linz captain Brian Lebler (31%) came out on top. Defender Ramon Schnetzer (26) leaves the Black Wings, for whom he played 106 matches, for Switzerland.
Source: Nachrichten
