Austria versus Belarus / Image: GEPA pictures
The Olympic Games in Beijing in February will take place without Austria's men's national ice hockey team. The ÖEHV selection also lost their second game on Friday at the qualifying tournament in Bratislava and after the 2: 5 (2: 0.0: 5.0: 0) against Belarus they have no chance of participating. The final match against Poland on Sunday (13.30) is no longer relevant for the award of the Olympic ticket for Austria.
The Austrians were ahead 2-0 after a strong first third thanks to goals from Raphael Herburger (9th / PP) and Brian Lebler (19th). But in the middle third, the team of team principal Roger Bader fell apart and fell significantly behind due to five goals conceded.
“You can analyze the game as well as the results of the periods. We had a very good first third, the first twelve minutes were the strongest that an Austrian team has shown in recent years. We did everything right. The second third began unhappily with a deflected shot. From the third goal, which was completely unnecessary, the film was broken “, analyzed Bader.
Relapse after a strong start
Bader made two changes compared to the previous day (1: 2 against Slovakia). In goal, Bernhard Starkbaum was given preference over David Kickert, Mario Huber stormed in the fourth line instead of Patrick Obrist. Despite a break of only 18 hours, the Austrians started with a lot of vigor and took the lead for the first time this season. In the power play, Herburger was ideally served by Lukas Haudum and made it 1-0 (9th).
The ÖEHV team then got themselves into trouble with two penalties, but with a bit of luck they missed a goal in the first third. With a wonderful counterattack, they even managed to make it 2-0 (19th). Via Marco Rossi and Dominic Zwerger, the puck landed at Lebler, who did not miss the chance. “As in the first third, we haven't started against a top nation for a long time,” said Thomas Raffl about the first 20 minutes.
But like against the Slovaks, the red-white-red selection fell back significantly in the middle third. After Andrei Stas's quick follow-up goal by Andrei Stas in the power play (21st), the thread broke completely. The team from Belarus, which consists largely of players from the Russian KHL, decided the match with further goals from Yegor Sharangowitsch (26th, 33rd), Shane Prince (37th / PP) and Geoff Platt (40th). Starkbaum was then redeemed and replaced by Kickert, but a turnaround was not in sight.
Every second shot from the opponent sits
Bader scored five goals from ten shots in the middle third. “It's extreme. Belarus went into a frenzy for a short time,” said the Swiss, not sure whether we got two or three easy goals first and then played badly or whether we played badly first and then the goals got”.
The fact that the Austrians had the late game the day before and Belarus therefore had six hours more recovery time is “not an excuse, but a fact,” said Raffl. Austria's captain was, as always, self-critical. “If you want to beat a nation like Belarus, you have to have consistently good ice hockey for 60 minutes. It wasn't good enough today,” emphasized Raffl.
Like in 2018 in Pyeongchang, Austria's men are only spectators in Beijing. The ÖEHV's hope of participating in the Olympics therefore only lies with the women's team, which will play from November 11th to 14th in Füssen against hosts Germany, Denmark and a climber in the pre-qualification for an Olympic ticket.
