Austria’s national ice hockey team has won the Euro Ice Hockey Challenge in Gdansk. After a 2:1 victory over Denmark on Saturday after extra time, the ÖEHV team won 2:0 (0:0,2:0,0:0) against the host team Poland on Sunday. On Friday, the first match between the Austrians and Norway was abandoned at 1-0 due to unplayable ice.
Roger Bader’s squad performed well against Poland, with Kevin Macierzynski (23rd) and Daniel Oberkofler (28th) scoring the goals. The Austrians were the only team to finish the tournament with two wins after Norway defeated Denmark 1-0.
In the second Saturday match the Norsk team had won against Poland 4:2. The ÖEHV team scored five points, Denmark four, Norway three and the Poles three.
“The team were not impressed by this week’s events and have moved closer together. All the players played well in Gdansk, including the 18-year-old debutants”, Bader was able to take a positive stock of the situation after the initial problems due to the late arrival of luggage and the aborted opening game.
Daniel Oberkofler, who was captain for Austria in his 100th match, was also relieved. “I am very happy that I have been able to play 100 games for Austria so far. But I am even more happy that we could win this tournament in Gdansk. We played very well three times,” said Oberkofler.
It was the first three or two complete internationals of the Austrians in the World Cup preparation, 13 more will follow. No less than six training camps are scheduled for spring. The World Championships are scheduled for 10 to 26 May, for Austria’s team it will be about class preservation in Bratislava.