Ice hockey World Championship test

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Nico Feldner

(Bild: GEPA)

Austria's young national ice hockey team also put in a strong performance in its second guest game in Riga - but was not rewarded! 

Just like the day before, the ÖEHV team lost 2:3 on penalties against Latvia on Friday (0:1, 2:1, 0:0, 0:0, 0:1). The next test match opponents in view of the World Championships in Prague on May 10 will be Slovenia next Thursday (7 p.m. in Ljubljana) and Friday (6 p.m. in Villach).

Latvians decide the game with the 14th penalty
The Austrians twice made up for a deficit through Nico Feldner (31st) and thanks to Ian Scherzer's first international goal (36th). In extra time, team boss Roger Bader's side were unable to capitalize on a power play, but took a 2-0 lead in the penalty shoot-out thanks to Emilio Romig and Feldner and two saves from Thomas Höneckl. After that, no more goals were scored and the Latvians decided the game with their 14th penalty. Defender Dominique Heinrich played his 100th international match.

"We scored in both games!"
"They were two great games. Of course it would have been nice to win one of them, but we scored in both games and played with an open mind. After the short preparation for the two test matches and in view of the fact that some players played their last game three to five weeks ago, there was a lot in it in terms of fighting and tactics. It was a good start. Now we have to take the next step," explained Bader, who has added Dominic Zwerger, Benjamin Baumgartner, Henrik Neubauer, Nico Brunner and Philipp Wimmer for next week.