After the defeat at the beginning of the qualification, Austria's national ice hockey team already has its back to the wall.
Already after the first match day of the Olympic qualification it is clear that Austria will hardly win the qualifying tournament in Bratislava. The start against hosts Slovakia was lost 2-1 in front of 4,200 spectators on Thursday.
For Austria to have a chance, they would have to score four points more than Slovakia against the same opponents on Friday against Belarus (3:15 p.m.) and on Sunday against Poland (1.30 p.m.).
It had only been 106 seconds in Bratislava when the puck hit David Kickert's goal. The Slovaks combined through the third of the Austrians, who let themselves be pushed in by five, and then Hudacek struck with a shot into the near corner. A modest start.
Risk from Austria
The Austrians then fought their way into the game. Zwerger and Heinrich could have made sure of the equalization. Although the Slovaks were clearly the better team in the second section, Gernat only scored the 2-0 (29th) with an embarrassed shot from the gang. Kickert's puck rolled over the line between his legs – bad luck for the goalie, who had saved many better shots.
Austria risked more in the final third and came up with some good attacks. Like, for example, at 1: 2, when Heinrich's puck came to goal scorer Lebler via Zwerger (52nd). Austria pushed for an equalizer in the final minutes, but the fight remained unrewarded. After the final siren, Slovakia coach Ramsay took a deep breath. Austria's team boss Roger Bader said: “Of course I'm not happy with the result. But I'm happy with the performance. Some moments were very good. “Striker Zwerger demands:” We have to continue like we did in the last third. “
