“After the second third, no one in the world believed in us. Crazy, I couldn’t get the smile off my face. “Great,” said Dominique Zwerger. Marco Rossi couldn’t believe it. “After two thirds it was hard to believe – impossible, really. Suddenly we started scoring, 6:3, 6:4 confidence came. Of course we were lucky. We’ll never forget this game,” said the striker, who took the game into overtime with 49 seconds remaining.
Austria had never scored more than two goals in a competitive game against the reigning world champions, but the Canadians, loaded with NHL stars on Tuesday, broke all barriers in the end. After 1:2 of Benjamin Niessner (11th), Benjamin Baumgartner (44th), Peter Schneider (45th, 56th), Sverger (51st), Rossi (60th) confirmed the comeback in Austrian ice hockey – history enters. Austria got a point against Canada for the second time in history, after 2004 also in Prague (2:2).
“I’ve been a coach for 30 years and have experienced crazy games. I thought about taking the goalkeeper out from 6:4. There was such euphoria, we were flying on a cloud. It’s hard to get five goals against Canada in the final third,” he said after a memorable evening in front of 14,700 spectators at the O2 Arena. said team leader Roger Bader.
As in the opener, Bader preferred David Matlener in goal, while North American Timo Nickel was used in defense in place of Kilian Jundal. He changed two forward lines, splitting the Salzburg line and Schneider stormed in with Rossi and Swerger replacing Mario Huber.
Competition for two-thirds grew as expected. The Canadians, accompanied by several NHL stars, showed their class and consistently established themselves in the attacking third, while the Red-White-Red outsiders defended themselves with plenty of fighting spirit. Dylan Cozens (7th) and Kaiden Kuhle (10th) quickly put the defending champions in front, but the Austrians also took the win at their first opportunity. After Mario Huber’s preparatory work, Nissner made it 1:2 (11th). A third goal was scored as a result of a bit of bad luck, Bowen Byram’s shot bounced wide of the goal off Paul Huber’s hip and into the goal (14th).
Jared McCann (23rd) and Connor Bedard (30th) scored. The young star scored his fifth goal of the tournament and became the first 18-year-old since Sidney Crosby in 2006 to score in his first three World Cup games. Madlener, who made several strong saves, did not fare well.
Pierre-Luc Dubois scored Canada’s sixth goal (38th), but the Austrians heated up in the final third. First Baumgartner finished off a counterattack safely through Schneider, Schneider scored himself 54 seconds later, and finally Zwerger put the puck into the net for the final score. With this, belief in a sense is returned. Schneider cut the score to 5:6, and Rossi completed the comeback 49 seconds before the final siren. In overtime, Canada’s captain Tavares exited after 15 seconds. Austria still celebrated their first point in the fight to stay in the league, and with plenty of morale, gained confidence for the tasks ahead.
After a one-day break, the ÖEHV continues against Olympic champions Finland on Thursday (4:20 p.m.) and the Czech Republic host the World Cup on Friday (8:20 p.m./two live ORF Sport +). “Austria usually scores no points against Canada and against Finland and the Czech Republic. But points in a game are bonus points to help us achieve our bigger goal of staying in the league. An extra point would be even more valuable,” Bader said.