On the VERY LAST powerplay of the tournament, Bader finally accepted evidence based reasoning and played the PP2 first. They scored. 4th powerplay goal for the 2nd unit. The "top powerplay unit" with Heinrich, Raffl, etc. went 1-18. They were the worst unit of any team in the tournament. Rossi looked absolutely helpless on that unit trying to find anyone to play with.
I think it's probably better for the long term growth of the Austrian team to lose this game. Even though quarters would have been so cool. Austria cannot play possession based hockey, and they cannot do so because they lack the manpower to do so.
Old ways of thinking die really hard. After the Olympics, there was a wave of retirements. And this team was restructured around the new core, Komarek, Lebler, Heinrich, Raffl brothers, Martin Schumnig, etc. And despite some great performances from Michael Raffl, the past 10 years have been basically nonstop darkness for Austria. Most of those players have retired on their own. That core needs to be retired. Good guys. But they've had a decade to show something and haven't.
Thomas Raffl is still a good player. I don't mind him simply being on the roster, for wisdom and leadership. But he is not a top line player. He should be a 4th line grinder. Kill penalties. And he should not be the captain, because the captain has to set the tone on the ice and off of it. Marco Rossi is the captain of the team. Even if Kasper, Reinbacher, become better players, Marco Rossi is the captain because he has the Zach Parise lead by example gritty playstyle that can set the tone for others on the ice. Getting that unnecessary penalty 11 seconds into the 3rd period was a killer. Arguably the team's best game was when he was not on the ice for Norway, whether he is on the team or not on the team moving forward does not affect the team's performance.
Dominique Heinrich should not be on the team, period. He is not a player suitable for this caliber of hockey. Too long he has been conceptualized as the #1D in the team. His statistical performance was bad and only saved from being even worse by absolutely brilliant defensive play by Thimo Nickl. It was hilarious to see Marco Rossi on the Powerplay repeatedly look him off, not pass to him, basically pretend that he did not exist because there was a clear lack of trust there. There is simply no reason to have him out there. He is a huge liability defensively, he is not good offensively, no defenseman got so much ice time and did so little with it.
For the Olympic Qualifications, I would like to see a few players. Obviously, I'd like to see Marco Kasper and David Reinbacher. Clemens Unterweger is the #1D team on the team as it stands, offensively, and Thimo Nickl is the best defenseman defensively. I will add, I think Thimo Nickl arriving from the ECHL playoffs was what really turned the tide of the tournament around. If Reinbacher is there, I think he's your #1 defenseman. I'd pair him to Wolfi maybe, and pair Nickl and Unterweger. Strong and Maier are fine. I prefer Zundel to Brunner, but it's not going to make a huge difference. Someone I really didn't think got a fair shot was Tobias Sablattnig. Staplefeldt played well in the limited role that he had.
For forwards, I'd like to see Senna Peeters. I kind of get why they don't prefer him, because his playstyle is really enabled by puck possession, and the one thing Austria doesn't do much of against anyone is possess the puck. However, I think he can add significant value. And he's still growing as a player. I'd slot in Kasper on the top line, kick Nissner out to wing probably. The team has too many centers, but that's not really a problem. Something that Bader tried in the last period, moving Rohrer onto line 3 with Baumgartner and Haudum, I think works great if they had tried it earlier. But have Baumi take the faceoffs, he is better at them. 4th line consisting of P. Huber, Wukovits, and Peeters would be solid, Ganahl extra forward.
I also want to see Wraneschitz over Honeckl. He shouldn't start over either Kickert or Madlener but I think he's better than Honeckl and will maybe push the room.
I think it's probably better for the long term growth of the Austrian team to lose this game. Even though quarters would have been so cool. Austria cannot play possession based hockey, and they cannot do so because they lack the manpower to do so.
Old ways of thinking die really hard. After the Olympics, there was a wave of retirements. And this team was restructured around the new core, Komarek, Lebler, Heinrich, Raffl brothers, Martin Schumnig, etc. And despite some great performances from Michael Raffl, the past 10 years have been basically nonstop darkness for Austria. Most of those players have retired on their own. That core needs to be retired. Good guys. But they've had a decade to show something and haven't.
Thomas Raffl is still a good player. I don't mind him simply being on the roster, for wisdom and leadership. But he is not a top line player. He should be a 4th line grinder. Kill penalties. And he should not be the captain, because the captain has to set the tone on the ice and off of it. Marco Rossi is the captain of the team. Even if Kasper, Reinbacher, become better players, Marco Rossi is the captain because he has the Zach Parise lead by example gritty playstyle that can set the tone for others on the ice. Getting that unnecessary penalty 11 seconds into the 3rd period was a killer. Arguably the team's best game was when he was not on the ice for Norway, whether he is on the team or not on the team moving forward does not affect the team's performance.
Dominique Heinrich should not be on the team, period. He is not a player suitable for this caliber of hockey. Too long he has been conceptualized as the #1D in the team. His statistical performance was bad and only saved from being even worse by absolutely brilliant defensive play by Thimo Nickl. It was hilarious to see Marco Rossi on the Powerplay repeatedly look him off, not pass to him, basically pretend that he did not exist because there was a clear lack of trust there. There is simply no reason to have him out there. He is a huge liability defensively, he is not good offensively, no defenseman got so much ice time and did so little with it.
For the Olympic Qualifications, I would like to see a few players. Obviously, I'd like to see Marco Kasper and David Reinbacher. Clemens Unterweger is the #1D team on the team as it stands, offensively, and Thimo Nickl is the best defenseman defensively. I will add, I think Thimo Nickl arriving from the ECHL playoffs was what really turned the tide of the tournament around. If Reinbacher is there, I think he's your #1 defenseman. I'd pair him to Wolfi maybe, and pair Nickl and Unterweger. Strong and Maier are fine. I prefer Zundel to Brunner, but it's not going to make a huge difference. Someone I really didn't think got a fair shot was Tobias Sablattnig. Staplefeldt played well in the limited role that he had.
For forwards, I'd like to see Senna Peeters. I kind of get why they don't prefer him, because his playstyle is really enabled by puck possession, and the one thing Austria doesn't do much of against anyone is possess the puck. However, I think he can add significant value. And he's still growing as a player. I'd slot in Kasper on the top line, kick Nissner out to wing probably. The team has too many centers, but that's not really a problem. Something that Bader tried in the last period, moving Rohrer onto line 3 with Baumgartner and Haudum, I think works great if they had tried it earlier. But have Baumi take the faceoffs, he is better at them. 4th line consisting of P. Huber, Wukovits, and Peeters would be solid, Ganahl extra forward.
I also want to see Wraneschitz over Honeckl. He shouldn't start over either Kickert or Madlener but I think he's better than Honeckl and will maybe push the room.
