The Austrian national ice hockey team got off to a successful start in preparation for the World Cup in May. In Riga they beat Latvia 4-3, tomorrow there will be another duel with the Latvians.
With heart, fighting spirit, passion, efficiency in front of the goal and a strong goalkeeper Florian Vorauer, they won on Wednesday evening in front of around 8,500 fans. Overall, Latvia created more chances, but the red-white-red crackers threw themselves heartily into every shot and could rely on Vorauer if a puck did find its way towards the goal.
In an overall balanced game, Maximilian Rebernig put his team in the lead in the 9th minute and had two reasons to be happy, as it was his first goal for the national team. 17 seconds after the start of the second period, Benjamin Nissner made it 2-0, eight minutes later another player, Luca Erne, was able to celebrate his first team goal. However, the 0:3 brought Latvia onto the scene, who scored for the first time just one and a half minutes later.
After a penalty against Patrick Söllinger, the hosts used their power play to reduce the score to 2:3 (33rd minute). Latvia now had the upper hand and pressed for the equalizer, which was also achieved in the 36th minute. Indiscipline on the part of the 2023 World Cup third place caused the momentum to tip again. With a double majority, Lucas Thaler brought his team back into the lead 4:3.
In an intense final period, Latvia took goalkeeper Mareks Mitens off the ice just under two minutes before the end of the game, but Austria defended consistently and kept the result over time.
Head coach Roger Bader: “That was a great performance by my team. It’s a shame that no one in Austria saw it. We played with four blocks, had a good team performance and a good goalkeeper. Overall, it was a fast, balanced game, which is also reflected in the result. Tomorrow we’ll face another cauldron, with the arena expected to be sold out with 10,000 fans. We want to impress again and take the next step.”
World Cup preparation – test match
Latvia : Austria – 3:4 (0:1|3:3|0:0)
Goals: 0:1 Rebernig (9th), 0:2 Nissner (21st), 0:3 Erne (29th), 1:3 Ozolins (30th), 2:3 Prohorenkovs (33rd), 3:3 Smirnovs (36th), 3:4 Thaler (39th/PP)
eishockey.at , Image: City-Press GmbH picture agency
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