The young Austrian ice hockey players can still hope for promotion to the top division. After the defeat on Wednesday, a win against the Ukrainians was absolutely necessary, and the U20 was able to clearly achieve this with a 9:2.
Austria took a 3-0 lead in the first third, but then the Ukrainians scored a double strike to make it 3-2. As a result, head coach Philipp Pinter‘s protégés act confidently, Waschnig makes it 4:2. In the middle third, the ÖEHV cracks clearly pulled away to 8:2, and in the final third they scored another goal – the final score was 9:2.
The young Austrians’ best goalscorer is Kolarik with three goals, while Gesson also manages a brace. In addition to Waschnig, Neumann, Hutzinger and Zelenov are responsible for the other goals.
Advancement possible, but not in your own hands
The coach was impressed with the performance after the disappointing result against Norway the day before: “The boys did a great job, were tactically very disciplined and created a lot of chances offensively. Today we scored the goals that we unfortunately didn’t score yesterday. We will use the day off tomorrow and prepare.”
On Saturday the World Cup ends in Bled, Slovenia against Kazakhstan, who were relegated from the Top Division last year. After four games, Austria now has three wins and one defeat. In order for promotion to succeed, Norway would have to lose points in the last game; the Scandinavians are two points ahead.
