Ali Wukovits (45th / PP), Dominique Heinrich (48th) and Benjamin Nissner (52nd) as well as Thomas Raffl (59th) and Peter Schneider (60th / EN) took the Briton with one in front of 3,321 spectators in the Nokia Arena furious final section nor the safe believed participation in the 2023 tournament from the racket. Goals from Matthew Myers (19th / PP), Robert Dowd (22nd) and Cade Neilson (47th) were not enough for the Brits, who have to be relegated after three years in the A group.
The Austrians avoided falling over in the last push-off at the end of a tournament in which they caused a sensation with a historic 2-1 win on penalties against the Czech Republic and points won against the USA and Latvia. Bader’s troupe, which has 14 World Cup debutants, gave the team boss the right gift for his 100th game and at the same time took advantage of the moment. Austria only took part in the World Cup in Finland thanks to the exclusion of the warmongers Russia and Belarus.
Raffl scores Game-Winning Goal
A minute before the end, Captain Raffl destroyed hopes of a British happy ending with a 4:3.
Expected Lineup
Before the decisive game about staying or relegating, team boss Bader decided not to cast a lot. Only Heinrich, who was rested against Finland, returned to defence, as the extra defender Nico Brunner kept his fingers crossed together with the third goalie David Madlehner in the stands. Speaking of goalkeepers: As expected, Bader fielded Bernhard Starkbaum as number one. The Viennese’s routine was to become a trump card against the British.
The Austrian fans were already looking forward to the game before the game. Supported by a small brass band, the red-white-red crowds made themselves loudly heard in front of the arena. In the hall, however, they were outnumbered vocally. The starting position before the game was simple: Team GB needed a win after 60 minutes, Austria one point was enough.
Cold shower before the break
It was soon evident that the Brits were ready to go “all in” like in poker. Because after a short but fruitless period of pressure from the Austrians, the team from the island had significantly more train to goal. At Rot-Weiss-Rot there was a certain nervousness on the skates, the self-confidence shown so far in the tournament seemed to have stayed in the locker room. Starkbaum was challenged more than the Austrian fans would have liked. In the 10th minute, the Viennese had to unpack a huge reflex against Cade Neilson.
The Austrian offensive was not yet running on all four cylinders. Youngsters Marco Kasper and Peter Schneider were the most conspicuous, the chances were there, but not really compelling. Ben Bowns in goal was the winner both after a double chance from Schneider and Ali Wukovits (15th) and after a direct acceptance by Kasper (16th). A penalty against Manuel Ganahl – the KAC striker had slipped against goalie Bowns – really got the Austrians into trouble. The puck didn’t want to leave its own third in the penalty kill, Myers got the dust and it was 1-0 for Great Britain exactly one minute before the first break.
Brits score 1-0 on power play
Myers, outnumbered, took the lead that Britain deserved at the time
Hectic takes over
Now the morale of Bader’s team, which has been shown several times in Tampere, was in demand. But she got the next setback less than two minutes after the restart: Dowd deflected a shot from Nelson with his skate into the goal. Because the referees could not see any kicking movement by the Brit even after studying the video, the goal counted (22nd). Things were really happening in the Team GB fan sector, the Austrians seemed really battered for the first time at this World Cup.
Questionable 2-0 for Brits
Dowd maneuvered the disc over the line with his skate, but the referees could not see any kicking movement
Although red-white-red unpacked the proverbial crowbar, they acted too hectically and incorrectly in the build-up. Bowns hardly worked a sweat from the imprecise shots. Meanwhile, the British only had to wait for blunders from the Austrians. And it was only thanks to Starkbaum that both Myers and Lewis Hook failed in a kind of penalty situation at the goalie. Both times the Brits were completely alone after disastrous substitutions by the Austrians. After 40 minutes it was “only” 2-0
Austria still turns the game around
Only 20 minutes separated Team GB from the A-WM 2023. Bader had mixed his lines again for the final section to set new impulses. The Austrians desperately pushed for the goal, but repeatedly ran into the British defenders – or thwarted their own momentum with mistakes. The first penalty for the British brought Austria back into play. Wukovits hammered Bowns’ puck through the schooners after an ideal pass from Schneider (45′).
Wukovits scores a 1:2 goal
The Viennese broke the goal ban from an Austrian point of view with a powerful slap shot through goalie Bowns’ saver.
But the joy about the goal didn’t even last two minutes, because Neilson used another mistake made by the euphoric Austrians to make it 3-1 (47th). Starkbaum could not do anything against the sharp wrist shot. But it seemed that the hockey gods had taken a liking to the game, as just 1:09 after Britain’s third goal, the Austrians were back on target. Heinrich hit the far corner with a precise shot and relegation was only one goal away for Austria.
Heinrichs 2:3 brings Austria closer (48.)
The defender scored another hit with a full shot into the far corner.
The renewed goal now had an effect on the British. Perhaps the memory of the Latvia game came up again when a two-goal lead slipped through their fingers. With eight minutes remaining, fans’ worst fears from the island were realized. Nissner poked the puck over the line with the help of Joshua Batch’s skate. Now Great Britain was relegated in one fell swoop. 1:06 min. before the end, Raffl finally ended hopes of a happy ending for Team GB and Schneider scored the celebrated final point with a shot into the empty goal (60th).
vote for the game
Roger Bader (ÖEHV team boss): “Everyone who loves Austrian ice hockey showed nerves today. We started very, very badly. The first third was the worst of the whole World Cup. We were passive, even in the box, which is normally our strength. Of course we thought, why is that? We do believe that a lot of players were very nervous. You tried to cover it up. I think the tension and the fear of losing everything was there. Then we threw everything forward. We played a great final third against Latvia, so we needed one like that again. Then it worked. Of course I’m happy now. We are very happy that we made it.”
Bernhard Starkbaum (Goalkeeper Austria): “It was definitely not for the faint-hearted. We realized it wasn’t going that way. In the other games we destroyed the game more, the Brits did that against us. We just didn’t give up. We knew how to crack them. In the end we were rewarded for the hard work throughout the tournament. I’m happy and proud to be part of this team. What we have achieved in the past few weeks was hard work.”
Thomas Raffl (Captain Austria): “We are all just happy that we reached the goal. But as a player you also have to look back self-critically, the first two thirds were the worst we played in the tournament. We’re a young team and we’re playing a very good tournament, and then it all boils down to just one game. It is understandable that nerves are involved. But in the third third we played the hockey we wanted to play again.”
Lukas Haudum (Austria striker): “We knew that we had to give it our all in the third period, that a draw would be enough for us. That’s closer than having to shoot the whole game. Then we scored a goal, then got one, but scored another one straight away and then it was over. Of course, the third goal was a bit lucky, but we deserved it. When you go to the gate, gates like this happen. It’s extremely cool.”
Ice Hockey A World Championship 2022 in Finland
Montag:
Austria – Great Britain 5:3
(0:1 0:1 5:1)
Goals: Wukovits (45./PP), Heinrich (48.), Nissner (52.), Raffl (59.), Schneider (60./EN) or Myers (20./PP), Dowd (22.) , Neilson (47.)
Penalty minutes: 6 or 2
Austria: Starkbaum – Maier, Unterweger; Zundel, Heinrich; B. Wolf, Hackl; Kirchschläger, Wimmer – Kasper, Haudum, Ganahl; Schneider, Nissner, Th. Raffl; P. Huber, Wukovits, Lebler; Schwinger, Achermann, Feldner
Great Britain: Bowns – Tetlow, Richardson; O’Connor, D. Phillips; Ehrhardt, Jones; Batch – Perlini, Conway, Mosey; Lake, Neilson, Dowd; Hook, Myers, J. Phillips; Ferrara, Lachowicz, Davies; Waller
