Austria's ice hockey team starts with a fresh squad against the Czech Republic!

Austria's ice hockey team starts with a fresh squad against the Czech Republic!

Today, April 17, 2025, there is an important test for the Austrian national ice hockey team. In preparation for the World Cup, team boss Roger Bader's team will face the Czech Republic. The game starts at 7 p.m. and will be broadcast live on krone.tv and in the live stream. This game is the first part of a doubleheader against the Czechs; the second leg is scheduled for April 19th in Linz.

Bader has nominated nine new players for today's match. These include goalkeepers David Kickert, Benedikt Oschgan and Florian Vorauer as well as defenders Dominique Heinrich, Patrick Söllinger and Niklas Würschl. Three attackers, Benjamin Baumgartner, Nico Feldner and Lukas Haudum, also join the team. These changes bring a total of 633 international games of experience to the ÖEHV selection, which should increase competitiveness. Co-captain Manuel Ganahl, however, will not be there as he has canceled the rest of the World Cup preparation and the World Cup for personal reasons.

Preparation and expectations

Austria is starting the third week of preparation for the 2025 World Cup. Bader emphasizes that the first phase of preparation was aimed at giving players who have not been on the ice for a long time the necessary match practice. However, the team has not yet achieved a win in preparation for the World Cup and previously lost to Latvia and Hungary in two games each.

The Czech Republic, on the other hand, is a strong opponent: They won two games against Germany last week and have three players who won gold at the home World Cup in Prague last year. Bader expects a high pace as many of the Czech team's players are active in Europe's top leagues. Austria wants to present itself as a good opponent and constantly improve its performance.

Coming challenges

After the double game against the Czech Republic, Austria will play another test double against Germany at the end of April. A reception from Canada in Vienna is also on the program. These games are crucial for the team to optimally prepare for the World Cup, which will take place in Denmark and Sweden from May 9th to 25th, 2025.

In another context, the German national ice hockey team achieved its first victory in preparation for the World Cup on April 16, 2025, when it won the game against Slovakia 3-2 at the stadium in Pistian, Slovakia. This success could serve as an additional incentive for the Austrian team to improve their performance and tackle the upcoming challenges positively.

Further information about the game and preparations for the World Cup is available here crown, Laola1 and Sports show available.