The current squad already includes established players such as Bernd Wolf, Benjamin Nissner, Lucas Thaler and Ramon Schnetzer, as well as Dominic Hackl and Philipp Wimmer, who also have World Cup experience.
The average age is exactly 24 years. With Jonathan Oschgan (17) and Paul Sintschnig (17), Roger Bader is also taking two players with him who will fight for promotion to the World Cup Division IA with the U18 national team at the end of April.
“Especially the start of the World Cup preparations is always exciting, as some young players always get the opportunity to show themselves at the beginning,” explains Roger Baderwhich proves once again that he is not afraid to throw young players into the deep end. In recent years, young talents have been able to play their way into the World Cup squad. “It’s always exciting to see who improves over the course of these camps, so we have reason to keep them in the squad every week. The two games against Latvia are now a first opportunity to perform.”
It is the third year in a row that a double against Latvia has been played at the start of the World Cup preparations. This duel has already been fixed for next year and will then be held again in Austria.
Roger Bader: “We want to play two good games and that the players show us coaches why we should take them with us on the way to the World Cup, why they are a candidate for the World Cup.”
The game will be played in the 2023 World Cup arena, which has a capacity of around 10,500 spectators. According to the Latvian association, both games will be played in front of an almost full crowd.
Squad World Cup Preparation Camp #1
| name | First name | Pos | Size | Weight | birth date | R/L | Association | GP | G | A | PIM | ||
| 30 | OZHGAN | Benedict | GK | 186.0 | 83.0 | July 5, 2005 | L | Vasteras IK (SWE) | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1 | AHEAD | Florian | GK | 187.0 | 79.0 | December 9, 1999 | L | EC KAC (AUT) | 29 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 29 | WRANESCHITZ | Sebastian | GK | 182.0 | 80.0 | March 6, 2002 | L | EV Vienna Capitals (AUT) | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 5 | HACKL | Dominic | D | 186.0 | 86.0 | November 8, 1996 | L | EV Vienna Capitals (AUT) | 42 | 0 | 2 | 14 | |
| 10 | CLASS SEC | Thomas | D | 182.0 | 83.0 | February 18, 2005 | L | RPI Engineers (USA) | 6 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| 13 | KRAGL | Gerd | D | 178.0 | 84.0 | June 23, 1997 | L | Steinbach Black Wings Linz (AUT) | 27 | 0 | 1 | 4 | |
| 4 | SCHNETZER | Ramon | D | 178.0 | 83.0 | August 12, 1996 | L | Pioneers Vorarlberg Ice Hockey Club (AUT) | 69 | 3 | 7 | 24 | |
| 16 | SÖLLINGER | Patrick | D | 186.0 | 93.0 | August 5, 2004 | L | Steinbach Black Wings Linz (AUT) | 17 | 1 | 0 | 14 | |
| 12 | WHIMMER | Philip | D | 193.0 | 93.0 | 12/13/2001 | L | EC Red Bull Salzburg (AUT) | 38 | 0 | 1 | 35 | |
| 32 | WOLF | Bernd | D | 178.0 | 84.0 | February 23, 1997 | L | EHC Kloten (SUI) | 117 | 6 | 17 | 62 | |
| 6 | WURSCHL | Nicholas | D | 180.0 | 78.0 | August 28, 1999 | R | Steinbach Black Wings Linz (AUT) | 13 | 0 | 0 | 8 | |
| 3 | ANTONITSCH | Sam | F | 182.0 | 87.0 | January 3, 1996 | L | EV Vienna Capitals (AUT) | 17 | 2 | 1 | 8 | |
| 26 | ERNE | Luca | F | 193.0 | 98.0 | January 26, 2004 | R | Pioneers Vorarlberg Ice Hockey Club (AUT) | 7 | 0 | 0 | 8 | |
| 18 | KOSCHEK | Felix | F | 185.0 | 80.0 | October 23, 2005 | L | EV Vienna Capitals (AUT) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| 25 | NEW BUILDERS | Henrik | F | 183.0 | 90.0 | April 15, 1997 | R | Steinbach Black Wings Linz (AUT) | 27 | 1 | 4 | 0 | |
| 7 | NISSNER | Benjamin | F | 181.0 | 80.0 | November 30, 1997 | L | EC Red Bull Salzburg (AUT) | 53 | 9 | 13 | 24 | |
| 23 | OZHGAN | Jonathan | F | 184.0 | 81.0 | May 18, 2008 | R | Steinbach Black Wings Linz (AUT) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 24 | REBERNIG | Maximilian | F | 192.0 | 97.0 | 09/03/2000 | L | Ice hockey club EC iDM heat pumps VSV (AUT) | 17 | 0 | 1 | 8 | |
| 21 | JOKER | Ian | F | 181.0 | 89.0 | July 3, 2005 | L | RPI Engineers (USA) | 7 | 1 | 2 | 2 | |
| 19 | SINTSCHNIG | Paul | F | 185.0 | 77.0 | March 11, 2009 | L | Ice hockey club EC iDM heat pumps VSV (AUT) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| 15 | THALER | Lucas | F | 180.0 | 76.0 | January 21, 2002 | R | EC Red Bull Salzburg (AUT) | 49 | 8 | 8 | 39 | |
| 22 | WALLENTA | Elijah | F | 182.0 | 85.0 | January 4, 1999 | L | Ice hockey club EC iDM heat pumps VSV (AUT) | 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| 11 | WALLNER | Leon | F | 185.0 | 88.0 | July 1, 2002 | R | EV Vienna Capitals (AUT) | 23 | 4 | 3 | 2 | |
| 28 | WASHING | David | F | 180.0 | 79.0 | April 24, 2007 | L | EC KAC (AUT) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| O | 183.7 | 84.7 | 24.0 | 579 | 35 | 62 | 256 | ||||||
OVERVIEW OF WORLD CUP PREPARATIONS (SUBJECT TO CHANGE)
April 8th, 7:00 p.m., Riga (LAT): Latvia vs. Austria
April 9th, 7:00 p.m., Riga (LAT): Latvia vs. Austria
April 16th, 7:00 p.m., Feldkirch: Austria vs. Italy
April 23rd, 7:00 p.m., Vienna: Austria vs. Czech Republic
April 24th, 5:30 p.m., Jihlava (CZE): Czech Republic vs. Austria
April 30th, 7:00 p.m., Zell am See: Austria vs. Germany
May 2nd, 5:00 p.m., Garmisch-Partenkirchen (GER): Germany vs. Austria
May 9th, 4:20 p.m., Klagenfurt: Austria vs. Slovenia
