The Czech Republic, the six-time ice hockey world champion and ambitious host of these title fights, flexed its muscles and inflicted a 0.4 (0:1, 0:2, 0:1) defeat on the Austrian national team.
That’s no reason to bury your head in the sand. “The difference to the games against Canada (6:7 a.t.) and Finland (3:2) was that we didn’t score any goals,” explained head coach Roger Bader, who was generally happy with the performance of his protégés was satisfied. Especially in the second third until the double strike within 64 seconds at the end of the section (36th, 37th).
- Also read: It’s not every day that a miracle occurs in the “cauldron” of Prague
“In the first period we were overrun, in the second period we had good moments. 12:7 shots for us – that shows how it went,” said the 59-year-old Swiss: “With a 1:1, that’s definitely it “If it had been deserved, it might have been exciting.”
One thing is clear: “We don’t have to be embarrassed.” As number 16 in the world rankings, you can lose against the Czech Republic – even at this height and especially in front of this backdrop. The O2 Arena in Prague was completely sold out with 17,413 fans, and the atmosphere was correspondingly high. “It’s a great experience for all the players and also for us coaches. We haven’t experienced that so often. That’s great,” emphasized Bader, who is now focusing on the next group match on Sunday (4:20 p.m., ORF Sport+). directed against Norway.
Under certain conditions, relegation could be secured with a win before the final duel with Great Britain on Tuesday (12.20 p.m., ORF Sport+). “We want to win. We’ll see what the result of that is. That’s just a distraction. We want to concentrate on the performance,” said Bader. When asked whether the first top ten placement since 1994 was a desirable World Cup goal, he softened: “I’ll be very happy if we’re in the top 14. Let’s stay humble.” And focused.
Captain Raffl: “We left everything outside”
Mental fatigue shouldn’t be an excuse: “Everyone has that.” Getting in the mood for Norway doesn’t require any special features: “There are no secrets. Everyone knows everything about everyone,” says Bader. This tournament has long been played with open cards.
“The Czech Republic played simple ice hockey, we have to take that with us and use it against nations that are supposedly on equal terms,” said captain Thomas Raffl: “All the players are excited to be there and are proud to play for Austria. We know that we are playing against top nations. We left everything out there. Maybe we didn’t have the freshness we had against Finland, but there should be no excuses against Norway.”
Striker Manuel Ganahl paid tribute to the Czechs: “They are a super team. They want to win at all costs and stayed on the gas for over 60 minutes,” explained the future Graz 99ers player: “We kept the match open for a long time. Opponents of this You don’t hit caliber every day. We did a lot right and can take positive things from the Norway match.”
Vinzenz Rohrer, Swiss champion with the ZSC Lions, was impressed by the atmosphere: “It was a brutal atmosphere in the hall, in the previous matches the audience was always for us,” reported the 19-year-old.
My themes
For your saved topics were
new articles found.
info By clicking on the icon you can add the keyword to your topics.
info
By clicking on the icon you open your “my topics” page. They have of 15 keywords saved and would have to remove keywords.
info By clicking on the icon you can remove the keyword from your topics.
Add the topic to your topics.
Source: Nachrichten
