The Ice Hockey World Cup will be played in the Czech Republic from 10 to 26. May. follows the events in the app, on the website, on Sports Screen and on Sports Radio.
Austria has played an almost sensational World Cup. The team grabbed the full point pot from Finland on Thursday. Before that, Austria brilliantly challenged Switzerland and Canada.
Academy coach of the country’s biggest club EC Salzburg Tommi Rouvali says that the national team’s successes have also surprised Austria.
– The starting point of the games was that the team tries to stay at the A level. Before the match against Finland in Austria, they calculated how big a win against Great Britain would have to be in order to keep the place in the series, but now we are already talking about reaching the quarterfinals, says Rouvali.
Scored a 3–2 winning goal against Leijon in the last second on Thursday Benjamin Baumgartner24, describes Finland as a good hockey country.
– Their winning at the World Cup is, in my opinion, the best thing that has happened in Austrian hockey in a long time. We are so proud of the team, Baumgartner said For the International Ice Hockey Federation IIHF.
Austria is fifth in the group with four points. The country still faces the Czech Republic, Norway and Great Britain. The team has a fairly good chance of remaining at the highest level. According to Rouval, it is difficult to assess the future.
For example, a goalkeeper David Kickert played 15 regular season games in Salzburg last season. The first save was made by the Finnish keeper Atte Tolvanen.
There is one NHL player in Austria’s World Cup group, a 22-year-old forward from the Minnesota Wild Marco Rossi. The average age of the team is 27.6 years and the responsible players are starting to age. How long will the country have enough good players?
– Marco Kasper (20 years) plays in the AHL. Leon Kolarik (16) was the best player of the under-18 World Cup team as a minor. Then, sadly injured, Jakob Schnabl (17) is a promising defender, Rouvali lists.
So Austria has a fairly good situation in terms of players. However, Rouvali wonders how quickly they can take responsibility for the national team?
– I think that Marco Rossi must continue to participate in the games in order to have successes.
In recent years, the team has been a so-called elevator country in international ice hockey. Austria qualified from the A level in 2005 and since then has been among the top countries for the two World Cups before now.
Now the country is playing in the A-level World Cup for the third time in a row. In 2022, Austria was 11th and last year it ranked 14th. The fifteenth and sixteenth countries of the Games qualify for the B level.
– However, there are quite difficult years behind it. There has been almost no success or profits, Rouvali states.
During the previous two World Cups, Austria won one match in regular time and two games in extra time. Last year, the country remained in the A level because it beat Hungary 4–3 in a mutual match.
– Compared to that, the level-up has been big. It is of course a good thing for international hockey, even if it adds to the pain for the Finns.
The last time Austria received a World Cup medal was in 1947, when it was third in the series tournament. The last time it reached the playoffs was in 1994. At that time, Finland defeated Austria 10–0 in the quarterfinals.
Football is the number one sport
Like many other Central European countries, the most popular sport in Austria is football. Ice hockey is on the sidelines again.
The stands of the Austrian hockey league ICEHL are quite empty during the regular season. Regular season matches are televised for free 1–2 times a week, and during the playoffs, one match per round.
– At the time of the league’s playoffs, some advertisements are visible, and people may be wearing fan products. But it’s not quite up to Tampere’s level in terms of having the statues dressed in the team’s shirts, Rouvali describes the street scene at the end of the season.
According to him, the biggest problem with the development of ice hockey in the country is the number of fans. Major sporting events, such as the Olympics and the World Championships, are visible in the media. Otherwise, the sport is not really celebrated.
Rouvali estimates that the Salzburg club has a strong influence on Austrian hockey. The representative team has won the championship three times in a row and the club’s junior teams also almost always play for the championship.
There are several Salzburg academy players in the Austrian league, and even now the national team includes three players who have gone through the academy path: defenders Kilian Zündel and Paul Stapelfeldt as well as the attacker Paul Huber.
There are eight players from the representative team in the World Cup group, for example the experienced captain of Austria Thomas Raffl37.
“The best places in Europe”
EC Salzburg is currently owned by Red Bull, known for its energy drinks. The Ice Hockey Academy operates in the same premises as the football club. For example, gyms, canteens and dormitories are shared. However, the organizations of the academies are separate.
– We just went through the video analysis training together with the football side – we exchanged ideas a bit and so on. To that extent, we work together, but the daily work is not joint, Rouvali says.
He praises the club’s facilities and assures that the young people of the Academy have every opportunity to develop into top players. One example is the forward of the German national team and NHL club Buffalo Sabers John-Jason “JJ” Peter.
– In terms of facilities, this is one of the best places in Europe. I haven’t been able to visit the Swiss Zug, but we are number one or number two in terms of conditions, Rouvali estimates.
The academy has a lot of European hockey expertise. The coaches come from the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria and Russia, among others.
Several Finns have also worked in the club. At the moment there are four of them: Rouvali, Teemu Levijoki, Ilkka Pakarinen and Antti Aarnio.
Salzburg is a big club, but by no means the only big one in Austria. Competitors come from the southern parts of the country, the state of Carinthia.
– Klagenfurt and Villach are traditional hockey towns. We have a hard time with them.
The Ice Hockey World Cup will be played in the Czech Republic from 10 to 26. May. follows the events in the app, on the website, on Sports Screen and on Sports Radio.