Austria had a 3-2 scoreline against the ice hockey nation at the World Cup in Stockholm Slovakia won. The expectations of the World Cup quarter-finalists in the first game Germany Cup in Landshut were therefore high.
The shower felt even colder in the first third. It was 0:5 after 20 minutes, the Austrians watched the Slovakians play and hardly offered any resistance. “That wasn’t enough in international ice hockey,” said Sturmer Lucas Thaler. “We just weren’t ready. We woke up in the second third.”
After the first break, a completely different picture emerged. While the shot ratio in the first third was 4:15, it was then 10:4 and 15:3 for Austria. “It looked good then, we can build on that,” said Thaler. Austria’s captain Peter Schneider brought the national team after a fine cross pass from Dominic Zwerger on the scoreboard (36th).
Lucas Thaler made it 2:5 in the third period (49th). But the goal came too late for a successful comeback. From a rare attack, Slovakia scored 6-2 (59th) after a suspicious offside position. The 16 year old Paul Sintschnig crashed headfirst into the boards and was eliminated injured.
“We were clearly the better team in the second and third thirds,” said team boss Roger Bader, who complained that his team always had problems with the tempo and physical play at international level in the first game of the season.
For Austria it’s about Saturday (6.45 p.m./ORF Sport +) against tournament favorites Deutschland.