WC: 2025 Austria team

[weklof]

Will Rossi join the team?

 

[Luceni]

Austria lost the last pre-tournament game yesterday against Canada with 1:5. I didn't see the whole game, but I thought the performance wasn't bad. Lack of concentration in the own zone cost the team three goals in the second period, but the guys had quite a few good scoring chances by themselves. Also the prep-game against Canada last year ended with the same result, so maybe that's a good omen.

The lines going into the WC should look something like this:

Tolvanan/Kickert

Unterweger - Wolf
Heinrich - Nickl
Biber - Maier
Stapelfeldt - Schnetzer

Zwerger - Kasper - Schneider
Th. Raffl - Baumgartner - Rohrer
P. Huber - Haudum - Lebler
Kainz - Achermann - Thaler

I've liked the Biber - Maier pairing. Solid on both ends, they're fitting great together imo.

It's unlikely that Rossi is gonna join the team due his contract situation with the Wild, but it would be nice to see.

 

[Khokhlach86]

Final roster

30	KICKERT	David	GK	188	81	16.03.94	L	EC Red Bull Salzburg (AUT)	112	0	0	2
35	TOLVANEN	Atte	GK	182	84	23.11.94	L	EC Red Bull Salzburg (AUT)	2	0	0	0
33	VORAUER	Florian	GK	187	79	09.12.99	L	EC-KAC (AUT)	20	0	0	0
45	BIBER	Gregor	D	190	89	09.08.06	L	Rögle BK (SWE)	14	0	2	6
91	HEINRICH	Dominique	D	175	76	31.07.90	L	EV spusu Vienna Capitals (AUT)	121	20	27	26
84	LINDNER	Luis	D	180	79	16.05.01	L	University of New Hampshire (USA)	19	0	1	4
12	MAIER	David	D	187	85	12.01.00	R	EC-KAC (AUT)	74	2	10	59
78	NICKL	Thimo	D	188	80	04.12.01	R	EC-KAC (AUT)	39	1	3	23
4	SCHNETZER	Ramon	D	178	83	12.08.96	L	Pioneers Vorarlberg Eishockeyclub (AUT)	56	2	4	20
18	STAPELFELDT	Paul	D	197	100	20.09.98	L	EC Red Bull Salzburg (AUT)	29	0	0	12
92	UNTERWEGER	Clemens	D	183	85	01.04.92	L	EC-KAC (AUT)	83	6	21	30
32	WOLF	Bernd	D	178	84	23.02.97	L	EHC Kloten (SUI)	104	3	15	54
26	ACHERMANN	Oliver	F	195	93	16.01.94	R	HC La Chaux-de-Fonds (SUI)	39	2	3	4
24	BAUMGARTNER	Benjamin	F	176	78	22.04.00	L	SC Bern (SUI)	65	13	15	61
21	HAUDUM	Lukas	F	183	86	21.05.97	L	Moser Medical Graz99ers (AUT)	122	31	32	38
52	HUBER	Paul	F	193	101	10.06.00	L	Moser Medical Graz99ers (AUT)	65	8	2	14
95	KAINZ	Lukas	F	184	87	02.09.95	L	Moser Medical Graz99ers (AUT)	47	4	11	10
96	KASPER	Marco	F	186	92	08.04.04	L	Detroit Red Wings (USA)	22	6	4	16
80	KRAUS	Nikolaus	F	182	81	21.11.96	L	EC Red Bull Salzburg (AUT)	12	0	0	12
7	LEBLER	Brian	F	191	96	16.07.88	L	Steinbach Black Wings Linz (AUT)	90	37	22	58
5	RAFFL	Thomas	F	194	104	19.06.86	L	EC Red Bull Salzburg (AUT)	135	39	33	78
19	ROHRER	Vinzenz	F	178	73	09.09.04	R	ZSC Lions (SUI)	22	1	4	12
3	SCHNEIDER	Peter	F	183	91	04.04.91	R	EC Red Bull Salzburg (AUT)	81	21	29	36
48	THALER	Lucas	F	180	76	21.01.02	R	EC Red Bull Salzburg (AUT)	38	7	7	33
16	ZWERGER	Dominic	F	183	93	16.07.96	L	HC Ambrì-Piotta (SUI)	90	22	31	41

​

 

[weklof]

It's unlikely that Rossi is gonna join the team due his contract situation with the Wild, but it would be nice to see.

Seems like Austria always end up with one of Kasper and Rossi, but never both. Having two high quality forwards would make a huge difference

 

[Primo Victoria]

Who is the starting goalie. Tolvanen?

 

[Eye of Ra]

I wonder if a combined 2014 Olympics team with the best possible team right now could have made Austria a medal canidate in this tournament? Not in any order;

Vanek
Rossi
Michael Raffl
Grabner
Kasper
Nödl
Zwerger
Komarek
Schneider
Haudum
Baumgartner
P Raffl
Fabio Hofer
Setzinger

Pöck
Reinbacher
Wolf
Ulmer
Heinrich
Unterweger
Nickl
Biber

Starkbaum
Kickert
Tolvanen

(Of course the 2014 Olympics players not in their current age but their 2014 age plus Komarek).

 

[kabidjan18]

I wonder if a combined 2014 Olympics team with the best possible team right now could have made Austria a medal canidate in this tournament? Not in any order;

Vanek
Rossi
Michael Raffl
Grabner
Kasper
Nödl
Zwerger
Komarek
Schneider
Haudum
Baumgartner
P Raffl
Fabio Hofer
Setzinger

Pöck
Reinbacher
Wolf
Ulmer
Heinrich
Unterweger
Nickl
Biber

Starkbaum
Kickert
Tolvanen

(Of course the 2014 Olympics players not in their current age but their 2014 age plus Komarek).

The short and long answer is no, but I can dream.

 

[PanniniClaus]

Who is the starting goalie. Tolvanen?

This is Tolvanen's first crack to lead the team and unless he has a rough go, he should be the main man.

 

[kabidjan18]

Having Heinrich out there for the last 6v5, and subsequently him turning it over 4 times in a row in the last 1:30 is exactly why I'm not getting my hopes up this year.

There are some good players on the team but an old dog only knows old tricks, and regardless of the actual skill level of the defensemen on the roster, the coach will always return to Heinrich, with predictable results.

 

[Mogi]

Yeah that was horrific watching Heinrich try to handle the puck. First line had some good tries and honestly Kasper's goal should have stood. Tolvanen game MVP, sad that defense let him down in the first period.

 

[MrRuin]

Rough start, but that first goal really gave the team confidence. No points but they can build off of the performance. Sweden will be a much tougher matchup though.

 

[Luceni]

Austria got robbed by the refs. There was a clear penalty before the 2nd goal of Finland and the goal of Kasper should've counted. But at least Finland is not the opponent we need to win against.

Hopefully the refs improve. I'mm proud of Austrias first game.

I feel bad for the team. They would have earned a point at least against Finland but the refs said no. Hopefully the refs will get better when the opponents become weaker. Finland is not the team we need to win against but that loss sure felt kinda unfair.

 

[kthx]

Should have been a tie imo. Kasper's line was dangerous and Finland was sloppy. Happy with a victory, but I feel bad for Austrians too.

Think referees f***ed up the game bigly.

 

[Eye of Ra]

You guys are good. Should had points against us and Finland. You guys had some bad luck with the referees in both games. But im expecting QF for Austria still.

Austria should be in Olympics instead of France.

 

[Luceni]

I fear that we're playing good against the good teams but get no points. And we gonna fail win against the weaker teams. Thats why it's gonna be difficult to stay at A-level Championship.

 

[kthx]

I fear that we're playing good against the good teams but get no points. And we gonna fail win against the weaker teams. Thats why it's gonna be difficult to stay at A-level Championship.

I personally think you will stay in. Also Austria is fun to watch, hope you get Rossi+Kasper combo sometime soon.

 

[weklof]

You guys are good. Should had points against us and Finland. You guys had some bad luck with the referees in both games. But im expecting QF for Austria still.

Austria should be in Olympics instead of France.

I think both Norway and Austria are better teams than France if full strength. Austria got screwed by being in the same group as Slovakia. I believe they were in another group before they were rearranged following the Belarus ban.

 

[MrRuin]

Austria has always had much more difficulty playing against teams of similar strength so the jury is still out whether they have a really good team at the worlds ot not. We saw it against GB last year which really put a damper on an otherwise fantastic tournament.

However there are very positive signs: they are skating really really well and accepting the pace even against the toughest teams. They lines seem to have good chemistry, several good passing plays and decent breakouts even under high pressure.

The defence is definitely improved and I hope Tolvannen will be back soon because him and Kickert are a good goaltending duo.

Tomorrow against Slovakia will tell us a lot of what the team is capable of. Kasper sets the tone and if the team keeps following him anything is possible

 

[MrRuin]

20 really really good minutes with relentless forecheck and two nice goals. After that a very hard fought battle for points and they hung on. Really good and steady game from Kickert with of course some luck. But you never win those games without a little bit of luck.

They passed the first test and proved the first two games were not a fluke. On to the next one!

 

[Luceni]

I was a bit worried when they tied the game. But if you count all 3 games together, they've earned the win in this one. They didn't have much luck against sweden & finland. Tonight was probably the weakest game out of that 3 games but fortunately it was enough.

 

[kabidjan18]

This is for me one of the weaker renditions of the roster. No Reinbacher. No Rossi. No Mario Huber. No Nissner. So while some of the games have been tough breaks, I would gladly take the result so far over running the simulation again for a different result.

 

[HungryFrank]

one should never worry about games against teams like Slovakia. It is games against Slovenia we tend to lose and get relegated thereafter

 

[MrRuin]

Team looks hungry and like they are having a lot of fun on the ice. In previous years once relegation was avoided they let go of their focus and play really suffered. Will it be different this time? Will they manage to get three wins in this tournament for the first time ever? It would be another sign that they habe taken the next step. Bader has done an excellent job over the years forming the team and implementing a successful playstyle that matches the players he has.

 

[krutais23]

Guys, what would be your best on best current team?

 

[MrRuin]

Team looks hungry and like they are having a lot of fun on the ice. In previous years once relegation was avoided they let go of their focus and play really suffered. Will it be different this time? Will they manage to get three wins in this tournament for the first time ever? It would be another sign that they habe taken the next step. Bader has done an excellent job over the years forming the team and implementing a successful playstyle that matches the players he has.

All these questions have been answered and then some. 4 wins in a World Cup is a first for the team. First Quater Finals since 31 years. Young guns leading the way. What's not to like?