Victory at the end

Austria ice hockey team turns around a 3-0 deficit

Dominic Zwerger(Bild: GEPA pictures)

Austria's ice hockey team has bid farewell to the Olympic qualifying tournament in Bratislava with a hard-fought victory. The ÖEHV team defeated Hungary on Sunday 4:3 on penalties (0:3,1:0,2:0,0:0,1:0) and finished the tournament in third place. 

The Austrians completely missed the first period, but managed a conciliatory finish thanks to goals from Lukas Haudum (39th/PP, decisive penalty) and Dominic Zwerger (52nd, 60th).

Team manager Roger Bader preferred Thomas Höneckl to David Kickert in goal this time. The goalkeeper of the Black Wings Linz had a tough time in the first period and conceded three goals through Vilmos Gallo (5th), Kirstof Papp (12th) and Bence Szabo (19th). Bader reacted at the break and replaced Höneckl with Florian Vorauer, who remained scoreless and fended off four Hungarian attempts in the penalty shootout.

Strong final third
The Austrians improved in the course of the middle third and now also had some good chances. After Vinzenz Rohrer missed a great one with an inaccurate pass (30'), they scored on the powerplay with a slap shot from Lukas Haudum (39'). The Hungarians were put under heavy pressure in the final period. Dominic Zwerger scored the equalizer with a superb individual effort (52') and poked the disc into the net 44 seconds before the end after a Haudum shot. Zwerger and Haudum scored again in the penalty shoot-out (2:1).