The class difference between the Austrian and South Korean hockey teams has also become clear at the Austrian Cup in Innsbruck. After the 5:0 at the B-WM in the Ukraine in spring, the ÖEHV team finished the Olympic hosts on Friday with 8:3 (4:1,3:1,1:1). KAC striker Manuel Ganahl scored three goals, while the Graz striker Woger was successful once and performed three assists.
24 hours after the 2:3 after extra time against Olympic participant Norway, coach Roger Bader’s team celebrated a clear success against the Asians, who were clearly defeated in the first two thirds. The quick leadership of the Koreans by Kim Ki-sung after only 38 seconds turned out to be a flash in the pan.
After a ten-minute break to repair a door in front of the guests’ bank, the Austrians took command in the duel of the A-WM-climbers.
“In the short break, there was a short speech from the team boss and after that we played as we wanted,”said Manuel Ganahl in an interview with ORF-TV. The KAC striker was the top scorer with three goals (6/8/28). Daniel Woger from the Graz 99ers scored a 4-1 (19th) draw with Ganahl after he had previously played three assists to his partners in the second line,”We have put pressure on him and deserved to win. Our line harmonized very well,”said Woger happily.
The Austrians proved to be very effective in the first two-thirds of the attack, but they also had an easy time against the Koreans, who were far from defending themselves in the saddle,”We had more time than against the Norwegians and we took advantage of that,”said captain Thomas Hunderpfund, who scored 6:1 (34th) and 8:3 (45th) in power play.
Brian Lebler won 7-1 (39th) and a two-digit result seemed possible. But then the hosts made a few mistakes. The nimble Asians, who have more than half a dozen naturalized North Americans in their ranks, took advantage of this to score two more goals (40-41) against Goalie David Madlener, who took the place of David Kickert this time.
The last opponent of the young ÖEHV team is Denmark, another A-WM participant on Saturday. The Danes beat South Korea 7-4 and Norway 2-0 on Friday.