Eishockey
More than a month of preparation for the A World Cup in Finland, which begins on May 13, will end for Austria on Sunday (5 p.m., live on ORF Sport +) with a prestige duel. In Schwenningen, Roger Bader’s boys face Germany as a dress rehearsal. “It’s a game with a derby character,” said Swiss Bader, looking forward to the duel in which the Austrians want to put the finishing touches on themselves. Top talent Marco Kasper is also allowed to practice for the World Cup for the first time.
Before the duel in the Helios Arena in Schwenningen, a district of the twin towns of Villingen-Schweningen in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, team boss Bader still has 27 players with him. Two players still need to be sorted out before the trip to Finland. That will take place on Monday, before the next day via Zurich and Helsinki to the main venue of the World Cup, Tampere, where Sweden will be the first opponent on May 14th.
Kasper will be in the final squad for sure. The 18-year-old striker joined the team after his club Rögle were eliminated in the semi-finals of the Swedish league and should be able to integrate quickly. “It is enormously valuable that he already got to know the national team processes in the November break. All in all, it’s good that we only have to integrate one player with him,” said Bader before the 74th comparison with a German team – including games against East Germany. The record is clearly negative: 17 victories are opposed to four draws and 52 defeats.
However, the Austrians recently presented themselves well with respectable defeats against Sweden (0:1), Finland (2:4) and the Czech Republic (1:4). However, following the game against the Czechs, some players struggled with food poisoning, probably caught in a hotel in Ostrava. “We have a good team, we showed that in this tournament. At the same time, we have to keep our feet on the ground. The good games in Ostrava shouldn’t give rise to false hopes,” said Bader, who didn’t want to overrate the games.
Germany with NHL young stars
Against the Germans, the Austrians are again clear outsiders. And this is mainly due to support from overseas. Because while Michael Raffl – currently the only Austrian in the National Hockey League (NHL) – and Marco Rossi had to cancel, the German team boss can count on NHL support. In addition to goalkeeper Philipp Grubauer from Seattle Kraken, young stars Moritz Seider from the Detroit Red Wings and Tim Stützle from the Ottawa Senators are also part of the game.
Last station of the World Cup preparation
The last World Cup preparation camp for Austria’s ice hockey team is currently taking place in Schwenningen. On Sunday they will play the last friendly of the long preparatory phase against Germany.
“Germany is the perfect opponent for us at the end of the World Cup preparations. It’s a game with a derby character, you generally like to play against each other,” said team manager Bader, looking forward to the game. “Germany is an established A nation and is ahead of us in the ranking. Challenging them is always a special attraction. At the same time, we keep an eye on the big picture in the background.” In the Austrian case, the big picture means staying up after they had moved up to the upper house due to the exclusion of Russia and Belarus from Division Ia .
