The Austrians were twice down by two goals in the final decider with goals from Matthew Myers (20’/PP), Robert Dowd (22′) and Cade Neilson (47′). Ali Wukovits (45th / PP), Dominque Heinrich (48th), Benjamin Nissner (52nd), Captain Thomas Raffl (59th) and Peter Schneider (60th / EN) turned in the 100th international match of team boss Roger Bader in the final third of the game.
It was the Brits who caused some tricky situations in the first third. Bernhard Starkbaum was there at first, but shortly before the first break Austria’s goalkeeper was beaten. Myers used a rebound on the power play.
The British followed suit at the beginning of the middle third. Dowd slipped into a Neilson shot and skated the disc into the net. After video verification, the hit counted. Bader’s crew staggered. Myers (25th) and Scott Conway (29th) went alone to the red-white-red goal, Starkbaum prevented the 0:3.
Only gradually did Austria put pressure on Ben Bowns’ goal, the Graz99ers’ short-term goalie in October 2020. In the first majority game, Wukovits also managed to make it 1:2, but it didn’t last long. With one of many dangerous British counterattacks, Neilson restored the two-goal lead just 88 seconds later. But Heinrich promptly initiated the final turning point with the renewed connection, which Nissner, Raffl and Schneider finalized.
Austria has only managed to stay up for the second time in the past 18 years (after Copenhagen 2018). Thanks to the surprising point wins against the USA (2:3 after extra time), the Czech Republic (2:1 after penalty shootout) and Latvia (3:4 after penalty shootout), the ÖEHV team ended the tournament with seven points and achieved their best World Cup result since Eleven place in 2004. A place in the top 12 is even realistic, which would also have a financial impact – CHF 190,000 instead of CHF 95,000.
