Austria's ice hockey team before a decisive game: quarter-finals to grip!

Austria's ice hockey team before a decisive game: quarter-finals to grip!

Team boss Roger Bader specifies the Austrian ice hockey team before the last group game of the 2025 World Cup 2025. Under the motto "Rolling planning, rolling goals", the team has already won three games in the top division, which was last the last case in 1999. On May 19, 2025, Austria was able to achieve an impressive score of seven points with a 3-2 victory after penalty shooting against Slovenia. This number corresponds to the scout from the final rounds 2024 and 2022. Now it is up to the team to create the move into the quarter -finals in the decisive game against Latvia on Tuesday at 12:20 p.m., for which a victory is necessary after 60 minutes. Bader refers to Latvia as a favorite, as they have successfully qualified for the Olympic Games as a top 10 nation and received with Rodrigo Abol's reinforcement.

In the performance assessment after the game against Slovenia, Bader emphasizes the skill level of his team, but criticizes the exploitation of opportunities. The strategy was adapted before the game and focuses on the top lines, while the ice age for Oliver Achermann, Lukas Kainz and Paul Stapelfeldt was reduced. Despite the challenging tasks, Bader looks back on the World Cup optimistically, even if the quarter -finals were to be missed. He sees the success achieved as a foundation for future developments in Austrian ice hockey.

World Cup history and developments in women's and young ice hockey

While the men's team is on the way to the knockout phase, Austrian women's ice hockey has also made progress in recent years. On January 3, 2024, Theresa Schaf number scored the first goal in the newly created Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) for Boston. Another highlight was Anna Meixner's draft on June 11, 2023 in Position 32 by Ottawa, where she joined the squad in November 2023 and scored her first goal for Ottawa Charge on December 19, 2023.

In the junior area, the U18 women reach the World Cup Division IA and take fourth place there with three wins and two defeats. From January 5, 2025, the U18 team will compete against strong opponents such as Italy and Germany in Budapest. The U18 men were also able to celebrate success recently and won bronze at the World Cup Division IA in April 2024 in Frederikshavn after prevailing against Japan, Hungary and Denmark. The situation for the U20 men, who missed the promotion to the top division, was similarly challenging after lost their decisive game against Denmark with 4: 5.

sustainability in Austrian ice hockey

The Austrian ice hockey is not only booming in the men's and women's area, the young people also show promising progress. Win2day Austrian Women’s Hockey League, founded in 2024, is intended to help increase interest in women's ice hockey. Supported by title sponsor Win2day, the Austrian Ice Hockey Association is sustainable in this area. The success of our players like Marco Rossi, who scored 12 goals and 15 assists after 34 games in the NHL, will be even more optimistic. Marco Kasper also celebrated his first NHL goal for the Detroit Red Wings on November 15, 2023. However, injuries, such as David Reinbacher's knee injury, are challenges that the team must continue to cope with.

Measured by previous achievements and developments in all areas, it can be seen that Austria's ice hockey is on the right track both at national and international level. Bader and his team are ready to give everything to take the next step in World Cup history and continue to set positive accents in ice hockey.