Austria saves itself in extremis
World Cup in Finland – Austria, the team of Swiss coach Roger Bader with motivator Arno Del Curto on the boards, is not relegated to the Ice Hockey World Cup in Finland after beating Great Britain 5:3.
But for a long time the Austrian World Cup adventure was again threatened with a sobering end. In 2019, Team Austria was relegated in the very last game despite their blatant superiority – with a 3: 4 after a penalty shoot-out against Italy. Since then, two B-WM’s have been victims of the corona virus. Austria, meanwhile, slipped up for Russia for the title fights in Finland – and exceeded expectations in most games.
The Austrians never lost a game more than 0:3 (against Finland). Czech Republic completes historic first victory. The team of Bader and Del Curto also scored against the USA. In the all-important last game against the British, Austria was still 1:3 behind in the final section. The British were better, more disciplined and efficient. But in the final section, the Austrians scored five goals in 14 minutes. Alex Wukovits, the first dark-skinned Austrian international (father is Senegalese), opened the score (1:2). Then Damien Heinrich (2:3), Benjamin Nissner (3:3), Thomas Raffl (4:3) and Peter Schneider (5:3) scored for a valuable victory.
Italy descends
In Group A in Helsinki, Italy took the buck – with less drama. The Italians lost the decisive match against Kazakhstan 2:5. Italy is relegated to the B group after four years. For so long, the Italians primarily stayed in the first class because the 2020 World Cup in Switzerland was canceled and there were no relegations in Riga in 2021. A year ago in Latvia, Italy finished the tournament in last place.
Canada and Czech Republic
With the Czech Republic and Canada, two other teams qualified for the quarter-final ticket. The Canadians secure progress with a 2:3 defeat against Denmark (!). Denmark defeated the Canadians for the first time at a World Cup. In the early days of hockey, the Canadiens celebrated the biggest win in World Cup history against Denmark, 47-0. Denmark’s win means Switzerland need to win a point against Germany to finish first in Group A in Helsinki.
The Czechs defeated the USA 1-0 in Tampere in a classy game. Matej Blümel scored the only goal of the game after just seven minutes. After the debacle against Austria, the Czech Republic celebrated three wins in a row and conceded a maximum of one goal against Latvia, Norway and the USA. Should the Swiss win group A, they will meet the USA or Latvia in the quarter-finals on Thursday. The Americans still need a point win against Norway or a Latvian point loss against Sweden in Group B for the last place in the quarter-finals.