Ice Hockey - Women

Austria loses World Championship opener against Norway 2:3!

(Bild: EPA)

Austria's women's ice hockey team have failed to get their home Division 1A World Championship (B-World Championship) off to a good start!

The Austrians lost 2:3 (0:0, 1:0, 1:3) against Norway in the Heidi Horten Arena in Klagenfurt on Sunday. The Norwegians turned the game around in the final third with three goals in the space of five and a half minutes. On Monday (19:30), the Austrians will continue their campaign against South Korea, who lost 2-0 to Hungary. "That's very disappointing, not the start we expected," said captain Anna Meixner.

The ÖEHV team needed a few minutes to get into the game, but then created some very good chances. Meixner failed to score solo against the Norwegian goalkeeper (7th), defender Annika Fazokas only hit the crossbar (10th). At the other end, the Norwegians were also dangerous time and again, but were unable to beat goalkeeper Selma Luggin. A more energetic start was made in the middle third, which was rewarded with a goal. Switzerland's Fazokas outpaced a Norwegian and her shot found its way into the net (24').

Setback in the fight for the hoped-for promotion
Coach Alexander Bröms' team were unable to capitalize on three subsequent powerplays, with the Scandinavians capitalizing on their powerplay at the start of the final period. Millie Rose Sirum scored the equalizer (42') and gave the visitors plenty of energy. An unfortunate action by Luggin gave Norway the lead. The goalkeeper bounced the disk from behind the goal directly to Josefine Biseth Engmann, who slotted into the empty net (46'), Sirum increased the lead to 3:1 (48').

The Austrians had a lot of power play in the final period and scored the equalizer through Fazokas in double overtime (57'). It was not enough to equalize, so there was a setback right at the start in the fight for the hoped-for promotion - the team's lack of exploitation of chances robbed them of success. "On the whole, it was okay, but when you have so much power play, we have to score one or two," said Meixner. "It's a great pity. Good chances don't help you if you don't put them in," explained two-goal scorer Fazokas.