2024-04-10 05:04:04
Austria’s national ice hockey team goes into the next test match double with five new players with World Cup experience. Team boss Roger Bader hopes that his selection against Slovenia on Thursday (7 p.m.) in Ljubljana and on Friday (6 p.m.) in Villach can confirm the strong performances of the previous week. “We want to make progress every week,” he explained with a view to the World Cup starting May 10 in the Czech Republic.
He was satisfied with the performances against Latvia, third in the World Cup, who twice only prevailed after penalty shootouts in Riga. “We had no idea what to expect because many players hadn’t played for between three and five weeks and only had little competitive training. I was pleasantly surprised at how well we performed,” Bader told the APA – Austria Press Agency.
In the second week of preparation for the World Cup, the two strikers Benjamin Baumgartner and Dominic Zwerger, Swedish legionnaire Henrik Neubauer and defenders Nico Brunner and Philipp Wimmer have joined the team from Switzerland. “That is a substantial reinforcement,” emphasized the team boss.
He almost expects opponents Slovenia to be part of the World Cup squad because the Slovenians are playing in the B World Cup, which starts at the beginning of May. Austria will then face World Cup hosts the Czech Republic (April 18th in Budweis, April 20th in Linz), runner-up Germany (April 25th in Garmisch, April 27th in Zell/See) and finally on May 5th in Vienna World champion Canada tested.
Bader will continue to work on his World Cup squad, which will gradually emerge. Currently around two thirds of the players who will fight to stay in the league in Prague are still missing. Around a dozen World Cup candidates are currently in action in the ICE league final between KAC and Red Bull Salzburg. From Switzerland, Bader still has veteran Michael Raffl and youngster Vinzenz Rohrer on his list. Rohrer is already in the final of the National League with the ZSC Lions, Raffl could follow with Lausanne. “I’ll leave him alone and will contact him after the end of the season,” he said regarding Raffl.
Bader is hoping for reinforcements from North America, where four young top players are involved: Marco Rossi, Marco Kasper, David Reinbacher and Thimo Nickl. “I have spoken to all four players and if they are available, they would like to come,” said Bader. For the time being, he can “only” count on Rossi, Austria’s currently only NHL professional who missed the play-offs with the Minnesota Wild.
Kasper qualified for the AHL play-offs with the Grand Rapids Griffins, the Detroit Red Wings’ farm team. Reinbacher is still fighting for a place in the AHL play-offs with the Laval Rocket; the decision for the Montreal Canadiens farm team will probably not be made until April 19th and 20th. The situation is similar with Thimo Nickl, who is in the middle of the play-off race with Wheeling Nailers in the ECHL.
If they miss the play-offs or are eliminated in the first round, “it’ll be fine, otherwise it will be difficult,” said Bader. Ideally, the Swiss will already have the World Cup squad together at the dress rehearsal in Vienna against Canada, but he would still keep space in the squad free for the top-class trio. “I would take them even without Vienna. They have all been to a World Cup, you know what you get from them,” said Bader.
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