Austrian Men's Senior National Team [Archive]

RexKramer

07-05-2007, 17:25

Jim Boni resigns:

After two years of duty in which Austria promoted with a flawless record of 5 wins back to the elite level only to get relegated again national team coach Jim Boni stepped back today. The last game of this years IHWC for Austria saw a substantially improved Austrian squad who finally succeeded in what it had critically failed the games before: finding the back of the net. The overtime loss to Norway on Friday after almost the entire game was dominated by Austria (dominated without getting really dangerous one has to say) proved to be decisive for relegation. Still penalty killing was as weak as in the whole tournament but at last the power play picked up and Austria could convert a lead in shots on goal into a lead in scored goals. Too late.

After this weak performance of a team that has the potential to be a elite group mainstay Boni's move was necessary. Although I consider him a good coach and I am sure that despite some implausible roster decisions the reasons for the bad shape of the team were beyond his responsibility. But he just did not make it and therefore change has to be made. The federation's board will decide about this issue during the summer as president Kalt has announced.

As it looks now the new coach will face a tough task at a division I tournament with Kazachstan as 2nd seeded team. If the Kazachs get their best players on board (depending on the current politics in Russia which might change according to the Moskwa's waterlevel) they are a the strongest possible opponent on the second level of world hockey (especially if they should also be the hosts).

More to come.

Graham

07-05-2007, 18:36

As it looks now the new coach will face a tough task at a division I tournament with Kazachstan as 2nd seeded team.

Kazakhs are actually the 3rd seeds:

1. Austria
2. Poland
3. Kazakhstan
4. Great Britain
5. The Netherlands
6. South Korea

Graham.

RexKramer

08-05-2007, 15:54

Thanks for correcting me. Anyway, with a home tournament they will be the squad to beat - no doubt for me. I don't think that Poland is a real contender to both of AUT and KAZ.

RexKramer

26-05-2007, 11:27

To continue post #1...

In the meantime some events of importance for team AUT in 2008 have happened.

First of all hosting the Division I group (as mentioned with POL, KAZ, GBR, NED, KOR) has been awarded to Innsbruck, which gives Austria home ice advantage (if there's such a thing in international hockey). Last time AUT hosted a second level IIHF tournament (1992 in Klagenfurt) promotion was the result and of the two last home tournaments (IHWC 1996 and 2005) we will just not talk about any more ;-).
Innsbruck has great facilities for hockey, two arenas next to each other (Olympiahalle with cap. of 8.000 and Tiwag arena with cap. 3.300) and if the tourney is properly marketed good attendances can be expected. Of course, i is not to be expected that fans from the other teams come in masses, but the trip to Innsbruck will be worth taking as I can assure you. Innsbruck is a samll and beautiful town with the scenic landscape of the Inn river and the surrounding montain ranges. With a population of not much more than 100.000 (among them almost 20.000 students) Innsbruck has a lively atmosphere and nice opportunities to go out and party. Tourism advertisment end.

News from team AUT:

After the disastrous performance in Moscow some players can be expected to retire from international play. Reinhard Divis already announced stepping back, older players like Martin Ulrich could follow.
The successor of Jim Boni (again, I think he did a good job overall and was not responsible directly for the poor showing in Moscow) has not been appointed yet but there have been rumours that Lars Bergström (formerly KAC, Lulea and Malmö) could stage a comeback on the bench of team AUT. Bergström was already part of the coaching staff under Herbert Pöck in 2004/05. No doubt, he is a high profile expert but given his strong bonds to one particular club (KAC) and the bad experience of 2005 (lots of trouble between staff and players) I am not sure ih he was really a wise choice. I'd love to see a highly qualified (full time) coach (something financially not feasible according to the federation) without an "Austrian" past.

EBEL:

2007/08 EBEL will feature less games than in the previous years which could be positive for AUT as the bulk of players an be expected to have quite fresh legs in Innsbruck.

Player availability:

This is the most serious threat for Austria. Of course EBEL will resp. has tailored it's schedule to the div. I but as a lot of very important players are engaged in NA or other European leagues there will be trouble. I don't know how DEL (for instance if Matthias Trattnig moves there and the unlikely case that Christoph Brandner's back lasts an entire season), SM Liiga (Brückler) and SEL (Andre Lakos, possibly alsoe Markus Schlacher who shoul/could be given a shot in both SEL and national team) schedules are compatible with a division I tournament but as far as I remember from this year we might lose players due to overlapping schedules.
This problem is even worse with the NA based players as everyone being on a team with post season activity is basically blocked from participation. So the scenario that not only Vanek and Pöck will be missing but also the promising youngsters Nödl, Grabner and Rotter (I am sure any of these 3 will be a strengthening team AUT in 2008) might not be able to suit up for Austria is very likely. To make (national team) matters worse Oliver Setzinger apparently also moves across the pond so his participation is in question as well.
So my prediction is that AUT will hav to tackle the task of gaining promotion with an EBEL roster that is far below the quality we could have if all "exports" were available. The only strenghtening I see is the one brought by naturalizing some players. I am more than sure that we will soon see the debuts of Darcy Werenka (Vienna) and Mickey Elick (Villach) for team AUT. Both are among the best of all EBEL defenders and will be a substantial reinforcement for team AUT (in contrast to the current dual nats Stewart and Mattie...).

RexKramer

12-08-2007, 21:34

The newspaper KTZ reports that Austria's next head coach will almost surely be Lars Bergström. The Swede was cited to have been in very good talks with federation president Kalt and team manager Mion.
Bergström said that he is very interested and that the immediate promotion to the elite would be his goal. But he also stated that a long term way of thinking and planning had to be implemented as "other nations like Norway and Denmark are about to close in or even surpass Austria" (literal citation).

Bergström is surely an experienced and good coach, he worked at Eliteserien clubs (Lulea, Malmö) and has good knowledge of Austrian hockey after having coached KAC for several seasons.
The only reason to be a little bit sceptical is this "good relation" to Austrian hockey due to possibly lacking independence and objectiveness.

But overll Bergström is a good choice and the big issue deciding over promotion or not will be player availability anyway. And there I see big problems ahead of team AUT.

RexKramer

28-08-2007, 12:34

Although it is notofficial yet LArs Bergström confirmed in an interview that he will take over the job as national team coach, which will give Austria a man behind the bench who is not a club coch at the same time. Bergström will however not relocate to Austria right away as his familiy will stay in Lulea. He stated that he wants to be independent without being perceived as tied to a particular club or circle of people. According to him such "social" issues have troubled team AUT in the past (I'm pretty sure he's right about that). For German reading users the link to the interview is below, it's not uninteresting to read as Bergström also talks about his pans for youth development and his visions for Austrian hockey in the longer run.

Lars Bergström interview (http://www.sportnet.at/?cid=25accaa6-2881-4acf-875d-6844080b376c&aid=61e1eb59-3ca2-42d3-870f-3655c6acf62e&ArticlePage=0)

Toni

11-09-2007, 18:46

RexKramer

30-09-2007, 11:50

To continue this story:

Bergström will be working full time for the national team without a club coaching activity.
In the meantime also the preparation program and the schedule for the Div. I group in Innsbruck has been announced.

4.-10. February 2008
Euro Ice Hockey Challenge in Poland
Teams: POL, AUT, ITA, EST

Preparation games:
vs. Russia, Danmark, Italy

2008 IIHF Division I, Group A
13.-19. April 2008, Innsbruck

Sun, 13.4.2008
13:30 Holland – Kasachstan
17:00 Großbritannien – Polen
20:30 Südkorea – Österreich

Mon, 14.4.2008
13:30 Polen - Holland
17:00 Kasachstan - Südkorea
20:30 Österreich – Großbritannien

Wed, 16.4.2008
13:30 Südkorea – Großbritannien
17:00 Polen – Kasachstan
20:30 Österreich – Holland

Fri, 18.4.2008
13:30 Großbritannien - Holland
17:00 Polen - Südkorea
20:30 Kasachstan - Österreich

Sat, 19.4.2008
13:30 Holland – Südkorea
17:00 Kasachstan – Großbritannien
20:30 Österreich – Polen

Apparently all games will be played in the small TIWAG arena (standard rink of HC Innsbruck, cap 3.300) which is a very strange decision to me. Apparently "Olympia world" the publicly held company running the Innsbruck sports facilities is reluctant to adapt the big Olympic hall for the tournament (they will also not do so for HCI in the play-offs although it was promised to do so in the past...). This is really dissappointing I think because with reasonable ticket prices I guess the big hall could easily be sold out at the important games for AUT creating a nice revenue and a good atmosphere. With the small arena it will be the case that a lot of people willing to go to the games will be left outside.

Betterman

21-10-2007, 13:01

Tickets for the division 1 at Innsbruck go on sale from december 1st.
Details on www.eishockey.at/6295.html

RexKramer

01-12-2008, 23:57

A thread like this is missing I guess.

I'll start it with the news that VSV defenseman Mickey Elick has received the Austrian citizenship today and is eligible for the national team. Elick is a very good defensman alhough he is not as strong anymore as some seasons ago. Nevertheless definitely a guy to help team AUT.

Jazz

09-01-2009, 01:22

http://www.iihf.com/uploads/pics/WM.jpg

2009 IIHF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Berne & Zürich-Kloten (Switzerland), 24 April - 10 May 2009

]STANDINGS Group C
||GP|W|OTW|OTL|L|GF:GA|Pts
1.|http://www.internationalhockey.net/flags/flags_21x14/sweden.jpg SWEDEN|0|0|0|0|0|0:0|0
2.|http://www.internationalhockey.net/flags/flags_21x14/usa.jpg UNITED STATES|0|0|0|0|0|0:0|0
3.|http://www.internationalhockey.net/flags/flags_21x14/latvia.jpg LATVIA|0|0|0|0|0|0:0|0
4.|http://www.internationalhockey.net/flags/flags_21x14/austria.jpg AUSTRIA|0|0|0|0|0|0:0|0

SCHEDULE

Venues: Post-Finance Arena (Berne) & Schluefweg (Zürich-Kloten)

25.04.2009, 20:15, Sweden - Austria (Berne)
27.04.2009, 16:15, United States - Austria (Berne)
29.04.2009, 16:15, Austria - Latvia (Berne)
......
10.05.2009, 20:15, GOLD MEDAL GAME

General Tournament Thread (click here) (http://www.internationalhockey.net/forums/showthread.php?t=8045)

PRE-TOURNAMENT NEWS regarding each participant (click on links below).
http://www.internationalhockey.net/flags/flags_ani/Austria.gif TEAM AUSTRIA http://www.internationalhockey.net/forums/showthread.php?t=8046
http://www.internationalhockey.net/flags/flags_ani/Belarus.gif TEAM BELARUS http://www.internationalhockey.net/forums/showthread.php?t=8047
http://www.internationalhockey.net/flags/flags_ani/Canada.gif TEAM CANADA http://www.internationalhockey.net/forums/showthread.php?t=8048
http://www.internationalhockey.net/flags/flags_ani/Czech_Republic.gif TEAM CZECH REPUBLIC http://www.internationalhockey.net/forums/showthread.php?t=8049
http://www.internationalhockey.net/flags/flags_ani/Denmark.gif TEAM DENMARK http://www.internationalhockey.net/forums/showthread.php?t=8050
http://www.internationalhockey.net/flags/flags_ani/Finland.gif TEAM FINLAND http://www.internationalhockey.net/forums/showthread.php?t=8051
http://www.internationalhockey.net/flags/flags_ani/France.gif TEAM FRANCE http://www.internationalhockey.net/forums/showthread.php?t=8052
http://www.internationalhockey.net/flags/flags_ani/Germany.gif TEAM GERMANY http://www.internationalhockey.net/forums/showthread.php?t=8053
http://www.internationalhockey.net/flags/flags_ani/Hungary.gif TEAM HUNGARY http://www.internationalhockey.net/forums/showthread.php?t=8054
http://www.internationalhockey.net/flags/flags_ani/Latvia.gif TEAM LATVIA http://www.internationalhockey.net/forums/showthread.php?t=8055
http://www.internationalhockey.net/flags/flags_ani/Norway.gif TEAM NORWAY http://www.internationalhockey.net/forums/showthread.php?t=8056
http://www.internationalhockey.net/flags/flags_ani/Russia.gif TEAM RUSSIA http://www.internationalhockey.net/forums/showthread.php?t=8057
http://www.internationalhockey.net/flags/flags_ani/Slovakia.gif TEAM SLOVAKIA http://www.internationalhockey.net/forums/showthread.php?t=8058
http://www.internationalhockey.net/flags/flags_ani/Sweden.gif TEAM SWEDEN http://www.internationalhockey.net/forums/showthread.php?t=8059
http://www.internationalhockey.net/flags/flags_ani/Switzerland.gif TEAM SWITZERLAND http://www.internationalhockey.net/forums/showthread.php?t=8060
http://www.internationalhockey.net/flags/flags_ani/United States.gif TEAM UNITED STATES http://www.internationalhockey.net/forums/showthread.php?t=8061

RexKramer

04-04-2009, 21:05

The roster for the first two preparation games for IHWC 09 (vs. Russia @Innsbruck on 8th and 10th of April) has been announced:

Tor
STARKBAUM Bernhard - EC VSV (AUT)
WIESER Marco - EC VSV (AUT)

Abwehr
ALTMANN Mario - EV Vienna Capitals (AUT)
BACHER Stefan - EC VSV (AUT)
LAKOS Andre - Traktor Chelyabinsk (RUS)
LAKOS Philippe - HC TWK Innsbruck "Die Haie" (AUT)
LUKAS Robert - EHC LIWEST Linz (AUT)
ORAZE Martin - EC VSV (AUT)
UNTERLUGGAUER Gerhard - HC TWK Innsbruck "Die Haie" (AUT)
WERENKA Darcy - EV Vienna Capitals (AUT)

Angriff
IBOUNIG Christoph - EHC LIWEST Linz (AUT)
KALT Dieter - Lulea HF (SWE)
KASPITZ Roland - EC VSV (AUT)
KRISTLER Andreas - EC VSV (AUT)
OBERKOFLER Daniel - EHC LIWEST Linz (AUT)
OFNER Harald - HC TWK Innsbruck "Die Haie" (AUT)
PEINTNER Markus - EC VSV (AUT)
PETRIK Benjamin - EC VSV (AUT)
PETRIK Nicolas - EC VSV (AUT)
RAFFL Michael - EC VSV (AUT)
SCHIECHL Michael - Eishockeyclub Graz 99ers (AUT)
SETZINGER Oliver - SC Langnau Tigers (SUI)
TOFF Nico - EC VSV (AUT)

There are no players from Klagenfurt and Salzburg who will join in only after these games. The selection features no less than 7 debutants and only very few regulars we can expect to play in Switzerland (at least I hope so). The disturbing part about this is that some proven EBEL regulars with international experince have again not been considered while some youngsters seem to be on this team just because they are young and from the right club. Of the debutants the biggest part is from Villach and guess who is rumoured to take over in Villach as coach....national team coach Lars Bergström.

To give you an idea how plausible these selections are from a purely athletic point of view consider that Benjamin Petrik will play for Innsbruck (retreated to second league) next season - probably because of his great performance this season and MArco Wieser was nothing less than VSV's third netminder. But at least the starting goalie will be a proven player: Bernhard Starkbaum VSV's back up who made impressive 18 games this season.

Irrespective of who will still join in I am getting more and more dissatiafied with Bergstöm's way. He's hockey expertise is beyon doubt but his player selections in too many cases are just something between bizar and pretty much openly driven by special interest policy.

This team for the games against Russia is a slap in the face for hockey fans who expect to see a regular Austrian national team facing off against the reigning world champions and not a Villach emphasized C squad.

Forsberg

04-04-2009, 21:16

There are no players from Klagenfurt and Salzburg who will join in only after these games. The selection features no less than 7 debutants and only very few regulars we can expect to play in Switzerland (at least I hope so). The disturbing part about this is that some proven EBEL regulars with international experince have again not been considered while some youngsters seem to be on this team just because they are young and from the right club. Of the debutants the biggest part is from Villach and guess who is rumoured to take over in Villach as coach....national team coach Lars Bergström.

To give you an idea how plausible these selections are from a purely athletic point of view consider that Benjamin Petrik will play for Innsbruck (retreated to second league) next season - probably because of his great performance this season and MArco Wieser was nothing less than VSV's third netminder. But at least the starting goalie will be a proven player: Bernhard Starkbaum VSV's back up who made impressive 18 games this season.

Irrespective of who will still join in I am getting more and more dissatiafied with Bergstöm's way. He's hockey expertise is beyon doubt but his player selections in too many cases are just something between bizar and pretty much openly driven by special interest policy.

This team for the games against Russia is a slap in the face for hockey fans who expect to see a regular Austrian national team facing off against the reigning world champions and not a Villach emphasized C squad.

I really cant belive that something like this are happening in serious (at least from Croatian point of view) hockey country :c165::c089:

Forsberg

08-04-2009, 16:28

You don't really need me for the game result. There will be online scoring at the AUT federation page:

http://www.eishockey.at/Main.html

Just click Nationalteam live on the right hand side oc the screen from about 40' prior to the first face-off on.

About the AUT-RUS games:

Coach Bergsström has chosen to ice a team with no less than 7 debutants most of them players from Villach where he is in discussion about becoming coach. Among these players there are no less prominent than the 3rd VSV netminder (who will back up) and another young guy who played so well this year that he got himself a contract with Innsbruck for the second league next year.
Some usual suspects of players who should be in (at least according to a vast majority of fans) are again left out while others who should not be in (again, fan's voice) have their jersey secured as always.
Apart from this no players from Klagenfurt and Salzburg are on the team by now and unfortunately a bunch of regulars are injured and will not be available for IHWC. This has lead to the situation of a lack of centermen - a position Austria is relatively good endowed with normally. Put together, I think the Russians will slaughter our team. Coach Bergström has promised that the young players he called up will run, thus somehow revealing that he himself doesn't really believe how they are able to play is even remotely enough...

I think it is no good to waste a game against the ruling world champions like this.

Will Vanek join team Austria , as Buffalo is probably out of playoff race ?

RexKramer

08-04-2009, 16:42

Yes, according to what I have read Vanek and also Islanders defenseman Thomas Pöck will join in. Michael Grabner and Andreas Nödl are definitely out (play-off with Manitoba resp Philadelphia).

Kiraly

08-04-2009, 16:56

Vanek and Pock on the roster will pretty much ensure that the Austrians will not be relegated.

Cabal

08-04-2009, 20:39

Vanek and Pock on the roster will pretty much ensure that the Austrians will not be relegated.

Yes, i totally agree on that point. Vanek and Pock are really good players and especially vanek should help the austrian team very much.
But lativia is no bad team too. Will be a close game between latvia and austria at the IHWC i presume.

By the way Austria - Russia 1:3 after 2 periods

Marc Brunengraber

13-04-2009, 07:12

Rex - good luck to your squad in Switzerland, except when they play the USA. :-)

hossa 18

13-04-2009, 13:58

if Austria will play good defensively and with Vanek up to front they should beat Latvia and even surprise team USA.
very important will be a goaltending, i am not familiar with current austrian goalkeepers are they any good?

RexKramer

13-04-2009, 14:24

@ Marc, thanx...I'm just in Thailand preparing myself to endure the mental stress of IHWC ;-) relegation games require loads of psychic stability...enjoy the games yourself

@ Hossa18

Austria playing well defensively is a true longshot. Defensive play is rather the weak side of the team and the strange selections the coach makes don't help eithe as well as the fairly large number of unavailable players.
#1 goaltender will most likely be Bernd Brückler (Espoo Blues) who was among the best SM Liiga goalies in the last seasons. At the end of this season he was however relegated to be backup and will leave Espoo so he comes with not too many games played recently. Apart from this he has seldom played up to expectations in the NT. But basically he is a classy goalie that stands above what other teams on our level typically have between the pipes.

RedAce

13-04-2009, 19:58

Please if anyone has Recorded the Exhibition game from last friday April 10th
Austrai vs Russia plaese Email me.

I Collect Internatianl games on Video, But it is not just a collection it is a passion.

Here in the USA there is little to no coverage of any kind of international hockey.
I prefer the International game and find it far more entertaining then borning NHL crap.

anyway way i have a large collection of games on DVD i can offer for exchange. so PLEASE if anyone has or can get me a copy of this game Austrai vs Russia PLEASE contact me.

Thank you.

Daniel

Forsberg

13-04-2009, 20:42

RexKramer

14-04-2009, 07:09

As it is now I think the set of players in question for team AUT can be narrowed down to this:

Net:

BRÜCKLER Bernd (Espoo Blues, FIN)
PENKER Jürgen (Rögle BK, SWE)
STARKBAUM Bernhard - EC VSV (AUT)

No more planned changes to happen with the goalies.

Defense:

Available and selected:
UNTERLUGGAUER Gerhard - HC TWK Innsbruck "Die Haie" (AUT)
WERENKA Darcy - EV Vienna Capitals (AUT)
REBEK Jeremy (Red Bulls Salzburg)
LAKOS Andre - Traktor Chelyabinsk (RUS)
LUKAS Robert - EHC LIWEST Linz (AUT)
LAKOS Philippe - HC TWK Innsbruck "Die Haie" (AUT)

Plus two of the following three:
ORAZE Martin - EC VSV (AUT)
ALTMANN Mario - EV Vienna Capitals (AUT)
BACHER Stefan - EC VSV (AUT)

Forwards:

available and surely selected:
VANEK Thomas (Buffalo Sabres, NHL)
KOCH Thomas (Red Bulls Salzburg)
SETZINGER Oliver - SC Langnau Tigers (SUI)
KASPITZ Roland - EC VSV (AUT)
TRATTNIG Matthias (Red Bulls Salzburg)
SCHULLER David (KAC)

surely selected but probably not available:
not yet cleared by Buffalo due to not completely healed broken jaw
KALT Dieter (Lulea, SWE) recovering from concussion

further candidates (roughly in order of probability of being called):
HARAND CHristoph (KAC)
PEINTNER Markus - EC VSV (AUT)
RAFFL Michael - EC VSV (AUT)
SCHELLANDER Paul (KAC)
KRISTLER Andreas - EC VSV (AUT)
IOUNIG Christoph - EHC LIWEST Linz (AUT)
OBERKOFLER Daniel - EHC LIWEST Linz (AUT)
OFNER Harald - HC TWK Innsbruck "Die Haie" (AUT)
PETRIK Nicolas - EC VSV (AUT)
TOFF Nico - EC VSV (AUT)

Absentees:

PÖCK Thomas (NY Islanders, NHL)
Andreas Nödl (W, Philadelphia Flyers/Phantoms)
Michael Grabner (W, Manitoba Moose)
Mickey Elick (D, Villach)
Philipp Lukas (C, Linz)
Daniel Welser (W, Salzburg)
Thomas Raffl (W, Villach)
Marco Pewal (C, Salzburg)
Rafael Rotter (C, Vienna)
Gregor Hager (W, KAC)
Patrick Harand (W/D, Salzburg)

Not considered (wrongly imho):

Florian Iberer (D, Linz)
Herbert Ratz (D, Klagenfurt)
Sean Selmser (C, Vienna)
Marc Tropper (W, Vienna)
Raimund Divis (C, Vienna)
Matthias Iberer (W, Linz)
Manuel Latusa (W, Salzburg)
Martin Ulmer (Salzburg)
Mark Szücs (W, Linz)
....

Apart from the question of the missing forwards the team is as good as set. Given the list of missing players I'm safe to say that the outfit we'll see in Switzerland is quite far from what we could have. Basically the squad will be pretty much like the one for the OG qualifier in February. Net and defense are the same on offense there's Vanek instead of Grabner and Phillip Lukas the #2 centerman missing.
Given that such a team gave the highe rated Germans a true run for their money I'd stilsay that Austria is still (as always) a candidate for relegation but there's other teams that should be even more afraid of that fate.

hossa 18

14-04-2009, 09:07

Fingers cross, hope that Kalt and Vanek will be cleared to play.

Toni

14-04-2009, 12:46

Update:
Vanek will play but Thomas Pöck will be missed (abdominal strain)

RexKramer

14-04-2009, 17:31

Update:
Vanek will play but Thomas Pöck will be missed (abdominal strain)

Just read it....not too good. Our defense could have needed him dearly, no doubt. With all these injuries and absences it seems as there is some kind of curse on the team.

Cabal

14-04-2009, 21:54

Just read it....not too good. Our defense could have needed him dearly, no doubt. With all these injuries and absences it seems as there is some kind of curse on the team.

Of course your team (especially defense of your team) will miss Thomas Pöck, but Vanek should improve your offense very much! Probably the best austrian player (at the moment) joined your team for the IHWC, that are good news for austria.

I think Austria has good chances to win against latvia at least.

Jazz

14-04-2009, 23:49

Good to hear that Vanek is playing.

Any idea about who is covering the insurance costs for his contract in case of long-term injury?

RexKramer

15-04-2009, 03:22

Good to hear that Vanek is playing.

Any idea about who is covering the insurance costs for his contract in case of long-term injury?

I guess the federation. I have no specific info on this but for all I know I think the insurance issue was solved quite some time ago, in fact long before he was really released. Apparently there was caution on the side of the Sabres because his jaw would only completely heal after a summer without any hockey according to the doctors. But Vanek wanted to play, in fact he has always played for the NT whenever he was not in the play-offs.

Pöck's defection however is a little bit strange. Officially he has a strained abdominal muscle but afaik he played until the very end of the Islanders' last game. I guess that NYI are not keen on letting their players go and a marginal player like Pöck abides not to jeopardize his spot with the team. Pöck is an UFA so I guess if he wanted he could play.

RexKramer

15-04-2009, 13:41

No. Family Name Name Pos Height Weight Date of Birth Shoots Club

Net:
31 BRÜCKLER Bernd GK 186 86 26.09.1981 L Espoo Blues (FIN)
38 PENKER Jürgen GK 185 90 17.10.1982 L Rögle BK (SWE)
23 STARKBAUM Bernhard GK 186 89 19.02.1986 L EC VSV (AUT)

Defense:
41 ALTMANN Mario D 193 94 04.11.1986 L EV Vienna Capitals (AUT)
32 LAKOS Andre D 203 103 29.07.1979 R Traktor Chelyabinsk (RUS)
11 LAKOS Philippe D 192 100 19.08.1980 R HC TWK Innsbruck "Die Haie" (AUT)
55 LUKAS Robert D 177 84 29.08.1978 L EHC LIWEST Linz (AUT)
39 ORAZE Martin D 191 82 09.10.1984 L EC VSV (AUT)
27 REBEK Jeremy D 179 88 08.02.1976 R EC Red Bull Salzburg
4 UNTERLUGGAUER Gerhard D 177 88 15.08.1976 L HC TWK Innsbruck "Die Haie" (AUT)
24 WERENKA Darcy D 189 93 13.05.1973 R EV Vienna Capitals (AUT)

Forwards:
67 BAUMGARTNER Gregor F 185 90 13.07.1979 L EHC LIWEST Linz (AUT)
61 HARAND Christoph F 180 80 27.05.1981 L EC KAC (AUT)
28 IBOUNIG Christoph F 180 85 23.01.1985 L EHC LIWEST Linz (AUT)
8 KASPITZ Roland F 170 82 01.11.1981 L EC VSV (AUT)
18 KOCH Thomas F 173 77 17.08.1983 L EC Red Bull Salzburg
9 KRISTLER Andreas F 170 75 30.08.1990 L EC VSV (AUT)
10 OBERKOFLER Daniel F 183 74 16.07.1988 L EHC LIWEST Linz (AUT)
47 OFNER Harald F 180 78 21.01.1983 L HC TWK Innsbruck "Die Haie" (AUT)
12 RAFFL Michael F 185 87 01.12.1988 L EC VSV (AUT)
45 SCHULLER David F 182 91 06.09.1980 L EC KAC (AUT)
15 SCHELLANDER Paul F 186 75 05.11.1986 R EC KAC (AUT)
91 SETZINGER Oliver F 183 89 11.07.1983 L SC Langnau Tigers (SUI)
21 TRATTNIG Matthias F 185 95 22.04.1979 L EC Red Bull Salzburg
PEINTNER Markus

debutants bold

Dieter Kalt out as it seems but Lars Bergström jumped over his shadow (if that saying is used in English too) and nominated Gregor Baumgartner. Baumgartner a former AHL All star had a very good season for Linz this year but was nevertehless not considered for the NT games (just as last year). For no less than 7 of the forwards it'd be their IHWC debut the two oldest forwards are just 30...Among the defensemen there are 3 debutants.
1 or 2 forwards and defensemen will be cut (depnds on wether Bergström will go with a (7,13) or a (8,12) setup) which means we'll surely see Team AUT with at least 8 players without any IHWC experience and at least 7 without any senior world championship experience at all (defenseman Martin Oraze played the div. I tourney last year).
I guess staying up's gonna be a tough task with a team like this.

RexKramer

17-04-2009, 07:04

Update:

Markus Peintner is missing on the roster due to the flue and might be included again if he recovers in time. Apparently also Thomas Pöck (or the Islanders?) might change his mind. Whether he shall participate or not will be definitely decided today.

Apart form this I get more and more estranged by a number of nominations. Somehow the situation is like with a number of the first best picks being unavailable Bergström leaves the next best aside and directly proceeds to what is the third choice of players for a vast majority of observers. Otherwise the selection of the whole bunch of Altmann, Ofner, Ibounig, Petrik, Oberkofler, Bacher, Kristler, Raffl can't be explained with their qualities on the ice. If the one or the other of them was selected I had no problem but basically there is a better/more expereinced alterntive for each of them.

GorazdR

17-04-2009, 08:55

Good luck to you Austrians. Hope you pull off a surprise this year, like Norway did last year in Canada.

RexKramer

17-04-2009, 14:10

Good luck to you Austrians. Hope you pull off a surprise this year, like Norway did last year in Canada.

Thx ;-)
That'd be more than a surprise however - at the moment the more plausible surprise would be to stay up. I have always hoped to have all three EBEL countries in the elite but I really doubt its gonna happen. And Austria is not a small part of this doubt :c089:
But maybe we can break the world record of times being relegated from the A pool...if it's not ours already.

RexKramer

17-04-2009, 14:54

MArkus Bacher (D) and Niki Petrik (F) both from Villach have been cut from the roster before the trip to GRenoble with the test games vs. France and Norway. Markus Peintner is back with the squad. Post #21 updated.

RexKramer

19-04-2009, 05:15

Thomas Pöck is now confirmed to be out for IHWC.

RexKramer

20-04-2009, 09:52

After the shut out loss to Norway yesterday team manager Giuseppe Mion said that still a lot of work lies ahead of the team as the offensive play was too uncreative and lacked punch.

Problem is that there is not much time left...today's game against France will be quite important, the French are a likely opponent for the relegation round and if the Austrians should also lose this last game the team's morale is to be found in the basement I guess.

Among the fans here there's hope that Andreas Nödl is swept in the AHL play-offs with Philadelphia and that Bergström leaves a spot open for him so that he could join in later in the tournament. Not gonna happen I guess.
What is worrying me (among other things like the pure lack of quality players) is that many of the players (especially among the debutants) are pretty much lightweights - so physical presence will not be an asset. From an Austrian perspective one can only hope that Vanek produces...

RexKramer

21-04-2009, 20:57

tanman9

21-04-2009, 21:59

After the victory over France yesterday the team will move to Berne tomorrow where Thomas Vanek will join.
Apparently the team management will register only 19 skaters at first as it is hoped that Andreas Nödl will be available for the third and crucial preliminary round game against Latvia.

Hey Rex, with the injury problems that FRA is dealing with right now, how much does the victory possibly get down played some what. Also, what unkonwn guys need to possibly step up to have a sucessful tournament for AUT.

RexKramer

21-04-2009, 23:07

Hey Rex, with the injury problems that FRA is dealing with right now, how much does the victory possibly get down played some what. Also, what unkonwn guys need to possibly step up to have a sucessful tournament for AUT.

It doesn't get downplayed a lot because Austria is (at least that's my opinion) not expecting an awful lot of wins in this tournament other then two or probably three in the relegation round anyway. There most likely the opponents are France, Hungary and Denmark. If AUT beats the same French team again as good as 50% of what's necessary is achieved. Hungary despite the good preparation results is imho the weakest team in the field and Denmark deprived of a good deal of their top players is nothing to be extremely afraid of too.

The injured French players are of course a pity for France but given what Austria lacks in regular and impact players one can consider the other teams problems in this domain as a materialization of cosmic fairness ;-).

In order to remain up a major point is of coursegoaltending - although definitely not an unknown Brückler (I guess he's gonna be #1 in the crucial games) has to play better than he did before in the NT.

I don't know how the team will finally look like but I guess that Michael Raffl, Harald Ofner and Paul Schellander will be the newbies that make the cut. Raffl is the only of those I consider as a real grinder, Ofner is a speedy and agile skater but has imho no vision for the game. Paul Schellander is a lean young player with a lot of cleverness in his game. He's always good to steal the puck of a sloppy opponent with quick attacks and was praised a lot by French reports on the two games Austria played in Grenoble.

Austria's line up yesterday was

Kristler-Koch-Trattnig
Raffl-Schuller-Setzinger
Baumgartner-Kaspitz-Harand
Ofner-Schellander-Peintner

Vanek will be teamed up with Koch and Trattnig and Kristler (19yrs) will be cut I guess together with Oberkofler who did apparently not play yesterday.

With this or a similar setup we have one clear scoring line which needs to produce. The second line should it be like this is not a true second (scoring) line as well as the third is not a true third (checking) line. These formations will have to play more defensively but can/should basically also contribute a little to the forwards' scoring output (especially through Setzinger in the second line and either Baumgartner or to a lesser extent Harand in the third who are not as good players as Setzinger but have a playmaking centerman with Kaspitz who is sometimes well able to nicely feed his linemates. Even the fourth line is not made up of guys who play 100% checking line hockey as only Peintner is a real grinder on this line. Ofner is as I said more a figure skater and Schellander usually not a centerman and for sure not a player with the physique and style of a checking line center. It will be crucial that these three adapt to what is expected from a fourth line.

Unterluggauer-Werenka
A. Lakos-Rebek
Lukas-Ph. Lakos

I expect Austria to play with 6 defensemen throughout. With the exception of Philippe Lakos neither of these 6 is a stay home style player, neither is a very hard hitter or hard to pass speedy skater. So in our end we'll have all sorts of troubles. But especially the first four all have a devcent scoring touch. Thus I expect the defensmen to be the major part in scoring beside the production of the first line we hope for.

RexKramer

24-04-2009, 13:43

In the quest to break the cycle of being in the A pool in odd years and division I in even years that Austria is in since the 2005 home ice IHWC Swedish coach Lars Bergström definitely had to improvise. Many absences from first choice players out of EBEL and European clubs plagued the team selection and the likes of Dieter Kalt (Lulea), Mickey Elick (Villach), Ph. Lukas (Linz), Daniel Welser (Salzburg), Thomas Raffl (Villach) would happily be seen in Switzerland by every Austrian fan. The unavailability of three of four top NA based players (Thomas Pöck NY Islanders, Andreas Nödl Philadelphia Flyers/Phantoms, Michael Grabner Manitoba Moose) of course doesn't bring much joy either but has to be expected and accepted.
For the first stages of the preparation Bergström (who is definitely not everyone's Mr. Niceguy) called together a squad loaded with debutants of questionable NT caliber and a good part of hockey Austria wondered why certain available and proven players are just not on the Swede's radar. But as the preparation progressed eventually these calamities lifted and with several roster cuts and late calls the team that will actually tackle the challenge of not being thrown into the downward bound elevator once again converged to a group of players that still bears some questionmarks for the observer but is grosso modo surely in the set of plausible choices.

The Austrian preperation campain began with two defeats of Lars' surprise team against Russia, continued with a shut out loss against the sharp looking Norwegians and ended with a clear and calming win against France. This game, the last cuts down to a pretty much standard roster given the constraints and the knowledge that in the tournament a guy called Thomas Vanek will lurk the crease of the opposing teams gives some confidence that at least rank 14 is attainable without having to pray for a miracle.

For the first part of the tournament Austria has registered only 21 players as with both Philly teams at the brink of elimination in the Play-offs one hopes for the services of Andreas Nödl whose strong defensive play could especially be needed. Of course showing why he's already more in the NHL than waiting to get there also in the offensive zone would be appreciated.
In general one can expect AUT to have only one true scoring line (Vanek plus the skilled and cunning centerman Koch teamed up with power forward Trattnig) and lines #2 (Setzinger, Schuller, Raffl) and #3 (Baumgartner, Kaspitz, Harand) caught somewhere between defensive duties most likely forced on them by the opponents and the need to create something also in offense in order to relief Vanek and co. Block #4 (Peintner, Schellander, Kristler) features two debutants alongside the player with probably IHWC's most eccentric look and is hopefully not caugh off guard as it can be expected that they will get regular shifts.
The defense corps will as usual have all sorts of troubles in the own end but features 2 pairings of players (Werenka, Unterluggaue; A. Lakos, Rebek) that have proven to be able to find the back of the net from the point regularily also on international level. Goaltending duties will most likely be split between Penker and Brückler and it should not surprise if Rögle's Jürgen Penker will get the more prominent opponents against which zero points are calculated anyway in order to conserve Bernd Brückler's energies for the 4 big games (the glimpse of hope game against Latvia and the do or die games in the relegation round shoul hope have been just to be glimpsed but not grabbed - which is more than likely).

TEAM AUT (IHWC debutants bold)

29 PENKER Jurgen GK L 1.85 / 6'1'' 90 / 198 17 OCT 1982 Rogle BK Angelholm
30 BRUCKLER Bernd GK L 1.86 / 6'1'' 86 / 190 26 SEP 1981 Blues Espoo

4 UNTERLUGGAUER Gerhard D L 1.77 / 5'10'' 88 / 194 15 AUG 1976 HC Innsbruck Haie
24 WERENKA Darcy D R 1.89 / 6'2'' 93 / 205 13 MAY 1973 EV Vienna Capitals
32 LAKOS Andre D R 2.03 / 6'8'' 103 / 227 29 JUL 1979 Traktor Chelyabinsk
27 REBEK Jeremy D R 1.79 / 5'10'' 88 / 194 8 FEB 1976 EC Red Bull Salzburg
55 LUKAS Robert D L 1.77 / 5'10'' 84 / 185 29 AUG 1978 EHC Linz
11 LAKOS Philippe D R 1.92 / 6'4'' 100 / 220 19 AUG 1980 HC Innsbruck Haie
39 ORAZE Martin D L 1.91 / 6'3'' 82 / 181 9 OCT 1984 EC VSV Villach

26 VANEK Thomas F R 1.89 / 6'2'' 94 / 207 19 JAN 1984 Buffalo Sabres
18 KOCH Thomas F L 1.73 / 5'8'' 77 / 170 17 AUG 1983 EC Red Bull Salzburg
21 TRATTNIG Matthias F L 1.85 / 6'1'' 95 / 209 22 APR 1979 EC Red Bull Salzburg
91 SETZINGER Oliver F L 1.83 / 6'0'' 89 / 196 11 JUL 1983 SCL Tigers Langnau
45 SCHULLER David F L 1.82 / 6'0'' 91 / 201 6 SEP 1980 EC KAC Klagenfurt
12 RAFFL Michael F L 1.85 / 6'1'' 87 / 192 1 DEC 1988 EC VSV Villach
61 HARAND Christoph F L 1.80 / 5'11'' 80 / 176 27 MAY 1981 EC KAC Klagenfurt
8 KASPITZ Roland F L 1.70 / 5'7'' 82 / 181 1 NOV 1981 EC VSV Villach
79 BAUMGARTNER Gregor F L 1.85 / 6'1'' 90 / 198 13 JUL 1979 EHC Linz
34 PEINTNER Markus F L 1.81 / 5'11'' 83 / 183 17 DEC 1980 EC VSV Villach
15 SCHELLANDER Paul F R 1.86 / 6'1'' 75 / 165 5 NOV 1986 EC KAC Klagenfurt
37 KRISTLER Andreas F L 1.70 / 5'7'' 75 / 165 30 AUG 1990 EC VSV Villach

RexKramer

25-04-2009, 11:46

Andreas Nödl was knocked out the AHL play-offs with his Philadelphia Phantoms and laola1.at reports that he is now cleard to come to Switzerland. Nödl started this season with the Flyers and was subsequently sent back and forth between Flyers and Phantoms. In his NHL appearences he was used as defensive winger and got quite some PK ice time. He would of course be a good reinforcement.
For me it is at least doubtful whether he might already be clear or not as the Flyers are still in the play-offs although they are trailing 3-1. Nödl still might be called up. Flyer's next game is tonight so I think the issue should be cleared today.

RexKramer

25-04-2009, 13:14

ORF reports that Austria's line up for tonight will be:

Vanek - Koch - Trattnig
Setzinger - Schuller - Harand
Baumgartner - Kaspitz - Raffl
Peintner - Schellander - Kristler

Werenka - Unterluggauer
A. Lakos - Rebek
Lukas - Ph. Lakos
Oraze

puckfan

26-04-2009, 13:07

Nödl comes to Switzerland
The austrian Philatelphia Phantoms und Flyers Forward is on the way to Bern.

RexKramer

26-04-2009, 13:36

Nödl comes to Switzerland
The austrian Philatelphia Phantoms und Flyers Forward is on the way to Bern.

Welcome Puckfan (and Andi Nödl)
Robert Lukas on the other hand is out for the tournament. The defenseman suffered a shoulder injury in the first period vs. Sweden. He had played pretty ok up until then and was imho one of the better defensemen.

RexKramer

28-04-2009, 19:44

News from the Austrian camp

Bergström has put Andi Nödl into the second line with Schuller and Setzinger. Nödl as an NHL experienced youngster who mainly had to focus on defensive play this season with the Flyers should give this line more stability as well as greater punch towards the goal. I guess the line up in the first do (or die) game will be like this

Vanek-Koch-Trattnig
Setzinger-Schuller-Nödl
Harand-Kaspitz-Peintner
Baumgartner-Schellander-Kristler

On defense there are some woes as Andre Lakos (who played miserably for a KHL defenseman) has problems with the Achilles tendon. If he should be sidelined Austria was down to only 5 defensemen. Bergström's choice for netwas Bernd Brückler. Hope he playes like a future KHL netminder (he will play for Nishny Nowgorod next season).

Aldair

29-04-2009, 14:12

Nice guy:)))

http://www.iihf.com/channels/iihf-world-championship-oc09/home/news/news-singleview-world-championship-2009/article/heavy-metal-on-ice.html?tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=2717&cHash=d1e397b679

Shardik

29-04-2009, 17:11

HAHAHahahahhaaaa

If they ever make a live action version of Afro Samurai, that's the guy they need to hire for Brother 3. :c261:

RexKramer

29-04-2009, 19:20

The first part of the opera is sung and as feared resp. expected Austria will have to go to the dreaded relegation round. I have just seen the last period against Latvia the game was reasonably close scorewise but essentially not much has changed. The team is defensively shaky with the key players severely underperforming. Offensively we generate only little chances and have no clod blooded sniper who puts the puck in. One could see that they try but it just did not get going. Andreas Nödl certainly lifted the second line but not enough to get really dangerous.
Thomas Vanek has to be credited that he's willng to play after a dissappointing season with a still not entirely healed broken jaw but it is obvious that he is completely out of shape. There were hardly any glimpses that this is the guy who has scored 40 NHL goals and led the world's best league in goals for a good part of the season. At his best he can explode an beat the opposing defense with a burst of speed scoring goals with his hard and accurate shot. At his best he can shake off any defenseman coming out from behind the goal for a dangerous wrap around - nothing to be seen.

A glimpse of hope was Bernd Brückler today. He had lots of strong saves and held Austria in the game a long time. Expect him to start also in the remaining games.

With Two out of three teams being relegated and the comparatively better performances of Denmark and Hungary in their groups staying up almost seems to be a distant utopia and for the case of relegation to division I some changes in the way the national team is set up have to be made. A close to fully manned Austrian offense corps like it could be iced last year is certainly above division I level but in the defense department the quality is lacking big time. Despite this fact the team management decided to go with more or less the same personnel as in the last years and leave players with good seasons in their clubs at home. I surely have no problem that a KHL defenseman like Andre Lakos who has good potential is selected and then plays brutally weak three first games. That's bad luck. But to nominate players who played bad seasons in the domestic league is not really plausible. The alternatives are surely not lightyears better but definitely worth a try I think.

This is basically what former NT player Peter Znehnalik who analyses the games for Austrian TV said after the match and he is damn right.

RexKramer

01-05-2009, 00:23

Austria has registered forward Harald Ofner (Innsbruck), defenseman Mario Altmann (Vienna) and netminder Bernhard Starkbaum (Villach) for the relegation round. Christoph Harand is out with a concussion after the hit he took against Latvia. Lars Bergström has once again changed the forward lines which will be:

Vanek-Koch-Setzinger
Trattnig-Kaspitz-Nödl
Peintner-Schuller-Ofner
Baumgartner-Schellander-Schuller

This first line is a desperate offensive experiment without any really defensive oriented player. Vanek has to be credited for good backchecking efforts so far but this combination of our top offensive players in one line just means that Bergström is convinced that the scoring draught can only be overcome with the most extreme measure. Let's see if they can crack the mighty Magyars. Btw, the last AUT-HUN game was also in Switzerland - B pool back in 1985. Austria won 2:0. I'd like to see that repeated. If it won't happen which is not unlikely at all some people have seriously to think what's going wrong.

Haxo

01-05-2009, 11:20

RexKramer

01-05-2009, 13:30

It was obvious that something had to be done with that lack of scoring, but i don´t really like the formation of our first line right now. Not only the lack of a defensive-minded winger that you already mentioned, but Trattnig is also a very physical guy who creates lots of space which should lead to chances for playmaker Koch and Vanek. Well it didnt work out so far, but i still think that this would be the best constellation. They showed some nice effort in the USA-game tho. Another thing that gives me concerns is, that Setzinger is a pretty much selfish type of player. We´ve already seen that he and Koch work well together, but i dont see him helping Vanek out of his scoring slump. But well, maybe it klicks, we will see.

What i do like on the other hand is the switch of Schuller and Kaspitz as 3rd resp 2nd line centers. Kaspitz is more offensive-minded in any ways, and with Ofner, Schuller, Peintner we really have a doghouse of a 3rd line now, they should really bring some energy and be able to play a shut-down game. I hope Schuller can consolidate his game a little with this more defensive role now, because to me he has been pretty much of a letdown so far...

I pretty much see it so as well. I think to move Setzi to the first line is a pretty much a desperate attempt. It's an all or nothing move by Bergström and I think its ok to try it. Vanek -Koch-Trattnig had their moments but still not really dangerous (shooting accuracy lacked, Dago had some good opportunities)...maybe adding Setzi helps. Nominally this line should be able to score a lot against teams like Hungary but in the current shape it's not clear. Hope Vanek lifts his game finally he's been so disappointing although one can see that he tries hard.
Kaspitz might get something going as a playmaker in the 2nd (if he doesn't get back to circling around somewhere as a means for itself) and with Nödl and Trattnig defensive stability shouldn't be an issue.
Third line we will see, Schuller was outright bad up to now, Peinti did well and although I am not a fan at all from Ofner (figure skater imho) he can't do worse than Harand who was just invisible. Baumgartner in the fourth improved from game to game I think (no surprise as Bergström called him out of the holidays I guess), Kristler and Schelle did fairly well anyway. Wouldn't be surprised if they get something going against a Hungarian fourth line which is nominally by no means impressive.

Defense will be a problem, maybe Altmann does less bad than some of the others but I don't have faith in that. Bobby Lukas played imho not so bad the 20 minutes he was on (at least he can skate with even well mobile forwards) and losing him didn't help. Without Pöck and Elick we're in trouble. That Bergström is unwilling to give a chance to some reasonably good EBEL defensmen is another story...

The image of Team AUT is at a long time low now (guys here even think we're underdogs to Hungary - maybe for good reasons I admit). Time for the team to fight for their reputation!

RexKramer

01-05-2009, 16:07

@Uros

Kopitar is indeed a different type of player. Probably one that is more valuable to a national team than Vanek. Vanek is a scorer he's never been the type of guy who gets the puck in the own zone builds up an attack sets up his teammates and so on. His part of the game is focused around the opoonents goal. There he is (when in shape) among the worlds best players. If he's in shape he can of course also score on rushes beat defensmen with nifty moves or even play a good PK and so on. But right now he's far from his best and one can see it easily. He loses the puck often without being really challenged, loses balance and has no explosiveness...

A player like Vanek plus one like Kopitar, that would be awesome for a lesser national team...
Everything else you write is very much to the point I think

Haxo

01-05-2009, 20:39

Well now....

a good game for Bergström i would say :c032:

You could go and point out several things that worked "well" today, but with hungary being really no challenge, its a little hard to judge the seen right. So lets go on with critics, thats way more fun anyway :c032::c032:

I wish the second line would´ve been accountable for some more dangerous situations, they were pretty passive imho. I am still disappointed with Kaspitz, who, contrary to schuller, didnt show any improvement imo. Some guys on eishockeyforum keep saying Schuller is an offensive minded guy, i don´t think thats true, he got no offensive skills so he is a defensive player, point. hehe... Most effective as a winger probably, but was pushed into a role he isn´t comfortable with, as a second line center. Also he improved his bully play during this year. He did better today if you ask me.

I also don´t agree with your opinion on Ofner. I think he probably was the most "blessed" of KAC´s "untalented" generation of Ibounig, the Wilfans, Quantschnig etc... but i remind him as a quite fast guy, that doesnt shy away in the corners and always brings some effort to the line. I didnt see him alot since playing in Innsbruck though.

The defense looked better today, (wow, anything contrary possible :c098: ) but still some very shaky plays from the usual candidates.

Setzes goal was amazing, but without the puck hopping a little, that wouldnt be possible i guess, you cant roof a puck thats lying on the ice like that.

hmm anything else to say? Schellander should´ve scored a goal tonight.

RexKramer

01-05-2009, 23:26

The new first line certainly did a good job, no doubt. But Hungary was not a real test today as you say. If they play like this they will be blown out in the other two games as well.

Kaspitz is indeed disappointing. His break was badly finished with a weak shot he lost the puck from his stick sometimes without anyone near him. And if he can't outmove Hungarian players with his moves it won't work against Germans and Danes either. I so much whish we had a better centerman for this line (Philipp Lukas is missing a lot). Trattnig and especially Nödl were good if they had a stronger center they could do more damage.

Third line did ok - no surprise with this lame opponent and Ofner I guess did no worse than Harand would have done. But in general I disagree with you on him as well ;-). I work in Innsbruck and watch a lot of games there. When Ofner came to Innsbruck I was very pleased with him and I wrote on this very forum that I expect him on the NT sometime. But things changed soon. He is a good skater no doubt but at least in Ibk he showed very little hockey sense and was a "puck grave" in most plays. Basically he mostly skated very fast into the corners and got taken out there after he maneuvered himself into a dead end.

Defense still managed to make shocking mistakes regularily and I think this was by far the easiest game.

Germany outplayed Denmark today for big parts of the game (according to the highlights on DSF) so the Danes are not too mighty either. But they have a couple of very fine players (Regin's goal was brilliant and no Austrian defender could have stopped him). I see an advantage for us in goal Brückler picked up, Denamrk has the better defense imho and up front we'll see. First line will need to be sharp again.

Haxo

02-05-2009, 10:47

He is a good skater no doubt but at least in Ibk he showed very little hockey sense and was a "puck grave" in most plays. Basically he mostly skated very fast into the corners and got taken out there after he maneuvered himself into a dead end.

Yea you are absolutely right with all this, maybe i should think more of an ineffective player when you say figure skater, than an effortless guy just cruising around, cos i wouldnt consider him being the second.

I am pretty curious about the game vs. GER tomorrow, i havent seen them play even one minute, so i cant really value their strength. If they played really that weak - even more dangerous for us. Our team isn´t exactly known for good self confidence, especially in key situations, in addition to that we seem to be literally awestruck going against the "big brother". Thinking of the last game.... not beating them that day speaking values...

RexKramer

02-05-2009, 14:02

I guess the pace will be much higher than against Hungary and our defense will be much more under pressure through forechecking players. Then it's a question how thy can handle this and avoid give aways. Up to now this didn't work well at all and I think the Germans will get their share of chances just by applying pressure in our zone when we have the puck. Up front we need to do the same and I'm sure the Germans will allow good chances as well if they are pressured.
Denmark was outshot by the Germans and they also had a lot of scoring chances so they will also get them against AUT. Brückler needs to be strong again I guess.
For me it is also not so clear whether the team should give everything in this game. Denmark most likely has an easy one versus Hungary. If AUT gives everything tomorrow and wins the only gain is that we can stay up with any win vs. DEN. If we lose tomorrow we need a regulation time win on Monday but maybe it's better to save energy against GER and go well recovered into Monday's game looking for a win after 60'.
Whatever may be, it's gonna be tough. Danes have good talent and they don't have to deal with that many unavailable players. I hope Brückler plays as against Latvia basically I think he'S the better goalie than the Danish one.

Chris83ian

02-05-2009, 15:22

For me it is also not so clear whether the team should give everything in this game. Denmark most likely has an easy one versus Hungary. If AUT gives everything tomorrow and wins the only gain is that we can stay up with any win vs. DEN. If we lose tomorrow we need a regulation time win on Monday but maybe it's better to save energy against GER and go well recovered into Monday's game looking for a win after 60'.

Well, the problem could be if Austria got no points against Germany and we win against Denmark that Austria could be still out of race because of this stupid rules of the iihf. If we lose for example 5-2 against the Germans, Austria would need a win against Denmark with 3 or more goals. So tomorrow Austria have to give everything, regardless that the decided game will be against Denmark.

I hope that Hungary will play much better against Denmark and makes at least on point that this case can't happen.

RexKramer

02-05-2009, 16:01

Well, the problem could be if Austria got no points against Germany and we win against Denmark that Austria could be still out of race because of this stupid rules of the iihf. If we lose for example 5-2 against the Germans, Austria would need a win against Denmark with 3 or more goals. So tomorrow Austria have to give everything, regardless that the decided game will be against Denmark.

I hope that Hungary will play much better against Denmark and makes at least on point that this case can't happen.

Ok, you're right, at least if we expect the Germans to win also against Hungary. The second tie breaker in a three team points tie is goal difference among those only and in a group of 4 a 3 team tie can't be resolved by points from the games among them. Then, if trying to win against Germany is too costly in terms of energy for the Denmark game AUT should try to lose by 1 goal ;-)....ok, that's maybe not so easy. With that respect I think the rules work well to avoid shirking.

RexKramer

04-05-2009, 15:38

3 times in a row!!!

The next jersey for the Austrian NT gets an elevator as logo instead of the (wrong) eagle.
What can I say. On the one hand there's some frustration as AUT had a brilliant start and played for the first 30 minutes keeping the Danes from really being dangerous while getting opportunities for long break away passes. Of course, the first Danish goal should have been counted but Mr. Werenka as a proper sportsman compensated the opponent politley. I have never seen such a mistake (except the Furrer and the Sugawara maybe). Second period started with a commanding Austrian team forcing Denamrk to 3 consecuitve penalties. The first PP was very ok but when A. Lakos served the puck to Bödker for the equalizer (well done) the tide had turned. Austria was obviously shaken, the morale gone. The Danish go ahead goal was a matter of time and the subsequent Austrian efforts to come back opened the space for the 2 on 1 rush that brough the 4:2.

In the end it is pretty obvious that this defensive perormance was insufficient. Unforced errors by experienced players helped to resurrected the Danish team. Sure also other key players, foremost Thomas Vanek, delivered much less than what they were expected. The way Vanek let himself shut down and wasted the best opportunities says a lot - despite his obvious efforts. It was not enough again. Next try 2011, maybe.

Shardik

04-05-2009, 17:45

I don't know what to think about this next clip:

MZbZ5th59lU

RexKramer

04-05-2009, 18:04

I pretty much know what to think...he's been taunted by someone outside and he didn't have the format to react as a pro should - ignoring whatever he heard.
Apart from that there's been many instances in hockey where players in this situation would have climbed the bench and started to swing their sticks or whatever. At least he kept it verbal and in proper English.

After the game against Germany he was asked by some reporter if the team would watch the tape from the game against Denmark in 2005 (yes, we were leading 2:0 and lost getting relegated) to avoid the mistakes made then. He asked the reporter if he would listen to what he was recording in that moment again in future to avoid stupid questions...

Drax

04-05-2009, 19:28

RexKramer

04-05-2009, 21:32

So, what is needed for Austrian hockey to overcome Dannish one? Stronger league? I'd say that EBEL is no worse than Oddset Ligaen.

Less foreign players in top teams in order to make more room for youngsters? I think this is too obvious a solution not to be attempted already.

More Austrians in foreign European leagues? Maybe, but the problem is the abundance of Canadian players that clog "natural" leagues like DEL or NLA where for top Austrian players could go to play on higher level than EBEL.

Danes who don't make AHL or NHL often go to Sweden. Is EBEL too cozy for Austrians so they don't look elsewhere?

I am really curious.

Ok Drax, here you get my complete analysis of the situation ;-)

By all accounts I am sure that EBEL is a stronger leage then the AL-Bank league. This is because the imports in EBEL are typically of higher caliber and when it comes up to domestic players EBEL teams draw from the pool of three countries not just one. The best Danish players typically play abroad which is only to a lesser extent true for EBEL countries (at least for AUT this is the case)....but we have discussed that before and it is not really the point

In the Austrian hockey community today after the 3rd relegation was achieved many people started to argue that we need to cut back the imports in the league. I think this is completely beside the point and nothing more than a cheap excuse.

I'll quickly line out the problems for AUT in this championship (the short term perspective):

For a small hockey nation we had a too high number of good to very good unavailable domestic/European based players. These are:

Dieter Kalt (still THE leader of the team and always good to score, normally a winger but able to play a good center as well)
Philipp Lukas (clearly our #2 centerman)
Daniel Welser (despite a not so good season he's physically strong and defensively sound)
Thomas Raffl (natural scorer, no surprise he landed a contract with Lulea)
Mickey Elick (one of the best "Austrian" defensemen in the league, very solid player)
Robert Lukas (he's known for giveaways just as the other ds but at least he's not as immobile)
(Here I list just the most prominent ones the total list of unavailable players is longer and together with the players Bergström doesn't want it has quite a lot of names on)

The first line of the relegation round with Koch, Vanek and Setzinger was basically really good maybe Bergström should have joined these forces earlier (already for the game against Latvia, then we maybe would not have been shut out). Vanek was however in total very disappointing. He assisted nicely on some goals but apart from this he was just pale. He missed chances he would convert blindly with an at least normal shape (today against Denmark...) and did not show the presence at all he was expected to. That was of course a burden.

The second line was inadequately centered by Kaspitz who was completely ineffective (despite his goals). Thus, Trattnig and Nödl (who were both at least ok) were somehow wasted, with either Lukas or Kalt this line would have been stronger in both offense and also defense because Kaspitz is not a strong defensive player anyway.

In the third line Schuller was misplaced from the start as centerman and although he improved later on he was a weak point with lots of horrible mistakes. Harand was invisible the games he played, Ofner who replaced him did better but has not the caliber to make a difference. Peintner played up to expectations imho.

The fourth line did an ok job although they youngsters Kristler and Schellander still have to learn. Baumgartner in this line was called out of the holidays midway through the preparation camp and played under his level accordingly.

Alltogether the forward lines were considerably weaker than last year in Innsbruck. Bad luck.

But the department that by all accounts prevented success against Denmark is the defense. It is clear that the Austrian potential in this department is very low so in the short term there's not much room for improvement By league affiliation we basically have only two high profile defensemen: Pöck (NYI) and Andre Lakos (Chelyabinsk). Pöck was not available which has to be accepted as all comparable teams lack the one or the other of few NA based players. Andre Lakos was however one literally big disappointment - he made one mistake after the other and took lots of very unnecessary penalties. His brother played better than expected but that is mostly due to expectations being very low. Unterluggauer was ok imho but far from from where he was at his best. Rebek was one big source of danger for AUT playing absolutely disastrous. Werenka is known for his lack of speed but normally knows what to do with the puck - ironically his absolutely hilarious give away turned the game today. Oraze had fine moments and also big mistakes. Werenka
Put together there was a d-corps overwhelmed by the speed of international competition and partly insufficient support by the forwards (yes, it takes all skaters to play good defense). AUT played a very good PK and one could see that the guys tried hard. But this worked out only in static boxplay situations as soon as attacks were fast with lateral movements of the opposition the lack of speed and agility of the defense was immediately obvious just as the weak performance from the point on the power play (which is usually a strength of this defense).
That said, with such a weak performance of the whole defense it is no surprise that we could not get past Denmark. If the key players like Lakos, Werenka and Rebek had at least played in normal shape and with Robert Lukas and Elick on the team things might have been different. At least Bergström would have had options to replace the biggest dropouts.

Goaltending was solid by Brückler. Maybe he reacted wrongly on the first goal of the Danes but overall he had four very good games (LAT, HUN, GER, DEN). Nothing to complain here.

In the past Austrian teams had apparent problems with discipline off the ice and spirit in the locker room. I think this has not been an issue here. But the team was far second to Denmark with respect to handle giving up goals. The seond period began with Austria being in command and having consecutive PPs. These were not used and each was played worse then the one before. With Lakos serving Bödker the puck for the equalizer the confidence was visibly gone and the mental battle lost.

Put together, bad perfromance of an in general not very strong defense plus the absence of too many key players together with the fact that it was 1 out of 3 instead 2 out of 4 was too much to overcome.

In the mid to long term the only way to improve consistently is to focus on player development. EBEL as it is now did fairly well to integrate young players in the last two seasons. I even have the fear that the point rule will overemphasize young players such that they will lack competition and have an too easy way of going pro without having to invest enough in their skills.
Where Austria loses ground to countries like Denmark and Norway is not integrating young players but bringing enough high quality players up. That's the fundamental problem. We don't have enough clubs with top notch youth programs. Austria nevertheless produces very good players sometimes but in total it is not enough. If we want to improve this is the way to go. EBEL is imho not a part of what has to be changed - at least not fundamentally.

jokke_wiberg

04-05-2009, 21:55

great analasis.

just my 2 grosch

ebel = div1 league
aus, hun, slo, cro :)

RexKramer

09-05-2009, 09:48

After the third strike in a row the newspaper "Kleine Zeitung" published certain details about the weak organisation and insufficient management of the national team by the Austrian federation:

After more and more players became unavailable during the preparation campain the team leadership wanted to call Salzburg forward Manuel Latusa who had a pretty good season for the Red Bulls (and many observers wondered why he was not selected). Latusa was basically willing to join the team but he had already booked his holidays in the Caribbean and the federation refused to pay for the cancellation fee which was as high as 2.400 Euro.-

The Austrian team was the only squad without an off ice team uniform - the federation claimed it couldn't afford one because a sponsor has withdrawn his committment.

The players were left without any information about how they would be compensated for taking part in the campain. Only after they directly demanded to be informed they were told to be paid a little under 3.000 Euro.

That financial difficulties are related with the insurance payment for Thomas Vanek. As Vanek is one of the best paid players in the NHL the federation had to pay extra for his insurance. Basically I'm happy that he joined in and that this money was spent but unfortunately he played very different than what one would expect from a NHL top earner.

In total this doesn't shed a good light on how the national team is run and maybe explains why some usually well performing key players did so lousy.

RexKramer

20-06-2009, 00:32

The Austrian federation announced tooday that the expiring contract with the senior men's national team coach Lars Bergström will not be extended.
Bergström now shares the fate of his predecessor Jim Boni who also took over on the division I level, achieved promotion, could not avoid the team to be relegated the year later and subsequently resigned.

Crucial for the decision was of course the fact that the national team reached none of the two main goals which were set for this season. In February the Olympic qualification was missed with a narrow defeat against the qualifier tournament host Germany. The revenge against the Germans followed at the world championships in early May but nevertheless Austria was relegated from international hockey's belle etage for the third time in a row because the Germans have their spot at IHWC 2010 guaranteed by hosting the event.

Bergström is without any doubt a high profile hockey expert but a number of decisions he made this year could hardly be understood by almost all observers. He refused to even consider a number of well performing players from this EBEL season and instead nominated a row of players for the first part of the preparation including the friendlies aganist Russia that were obviously inadequate and soon cut afterwards. This policy together with the federation's apparent mismanagment of the team were surely not the lone reason for the failure of Bernne and Kloten but certainly had their effect.

Concerning the next coach speculations are already running high. Because of the federation's apparent lack of funds hiring a full time coach seems quite unlikely so that a plausible solution seems to be appointing an EBEL head coach to take over the national team as well. This might even be an improvement comaperd to Bergström's spell as he was not hired full time as well but worked in Sweden (Lulea) and thus presumably had a not so easy time to keep up to date with the players in EBEL. Given such a solution is implemented KAC coach Manny Viveiros seems to be a likely candidate. Should a full time coch be hired one can not expect an internationally reknown man but rather a domestic or nearly domestic solution like TV expert and former Graz coach Peter Znenahlik or the Austro-Canadian coaching legend Greg "who's the fu**** topscorer" Holst.

Whoever it is going to be the new coach will apparently not have to cope with the pressure Boni and Bergström had to cope in their respective first seasons. 2006 as well as 2008 the immediate repromotion was the aim formulated by the federation and every time this task was flawlessly achieved. For the division I tournament next year in the Netherlands team manager Giuseppe Mion said that priority is given to initiate a generational change and build a largely new team around a small number of veterans. Mion who is also managing the EBEL team of Villach said that the new coach and his staff shall get the chance to implement their vision of team AUT with young players. If this is the guidelin for the new coach that for Bergström and his team apparently must have been to give as many VSV players as possible a stint in the national team....

How the aim of generational change shall be achieved as especially in the notoriously vulnerable defense department there is also an apparent lack of upcoming prospects remains to be seen. Among the forwards a number of young candidates are to be seen but for the defense this is unfortunately just whishful thinking.
But even in the light of this player development shortcoming talking down the goal to get back to the elite pool right away seems more a tactical manoevre than common sense. Despite three downward elevator rides in a row the two consecutive upward rides indicate that team AUT is likely to be too good for division 1. With declining Ukraine and Japan as main contenders a normally manned Austrian squad should be the favourite for the gold medal in Tilburg next April.

RexKramer

08-07-2009, 11:56

In a recent interview with laola1.at federation president Dieter Kalt sen. spoke out about the future of the senior men's national team future.

After Lars Bergström's contract was not extended a new coach has to be found, preferably latest with the start of the new EBEL season (10th September). Kalt explicitly repeated that immediate re-promotion is not the goal and will not be a clause in the contract for the new coach whose mission will be to build up a young team around a core of 2-3 veterans. To do so the national team will use both international breaks (November and February) to compete in tournaments. In November Austria will take part in a tournament in Minsk featuring only "A-pool" countries, in February the team will appear in Asiago/Italy.
Kalt admitted that there is a certain attraction to go for immediate re-promotion from division I and the subsequent IHWC by using experienced players but conceded that among those some had developped a wrong attitude towards the national team over the years.

I just wonder which players the new team shall consist of. Especially on defense the alternatives to the established players are low in numbers. Obviously for some d players it's time to say goodbye (Rebek, Werenka...) but for e.g. a guy like Andre Lakos although he has played a disastrous tournament in Switzerland there is no adequate replacement if he is in at least a normal shape.
In the forward department there's quite some choices if there's no injury bug like this year but on d it looks just pretty dire if the plan is to drop the current players.

RexKramer

14-08-2009, 16:29

Earlier than expected the Austrian federation announced who will succeed Lars Bergström behind the bench of the senior men's national team: Bill Gilligan current coach of EBEL side Graz 99ers. Gilligan will lead team Austria beside his duties with Graz.
The new coach is no stranger to success, from 1984 to 1988 he achieved four consecutive Austrian championships with Klagenfurt, later on three Swiss national titles with NLA powerhouse Bern followed. Last season the 55 year old American returned to Europe but despite an offer from SCB not to the Swiss but instead to the Styrian capital city of Graz where he took over the struggling 99ers and immediately lead them to play-off qualification, an achievement the team had not seen in years.
Gilligan who coached Switzerland to a 4th place in the world championships in 1992 is supposed to implement the planned rebuilding of the national team which was demonted from the top level of international hockey this spring for the third consecutive time.

Haxo

14-08-2009, 16:51

RexKramer

14-08-2009, 20:31

Gilligan was the only guy the AT federation spoke to, and i think they (and we) can be very happy that he accepted. He for sure is an excellent specialist and the double-function as nt-coach and coach of the 99ers primary makes him affordable for the OEHV. For sure he can´t compensate the lack in other scopes of AT hockey, since he ain´t no magician (or is he maybe?), but imho the best possible solution for Austria atm.

Yep, I guess Gilligan is a very good choice but honestly neither Bergström nor Boni were bad choaches either so maybe the problem is somewhere else to be located. A hint where it could be (at least partially) is that the 99ers have announced that their OK for Gilligan taking over the NT is not yet given as only a basic agreement has been found so far. Talks to reach a definitive agreement between the federation and Gilligan's employer still have to take place. I guess someone at OEHV was a little too quick...:c239: hope this doesn't spoil the deal.

Haxo

16-08-2009, 11:25

...the 99ers have announced that their OK for Gilligan taking over the NT is not yet given as only a basic agreement has been found so far. Talks to reach a definitive agreement between the federation and Gilligan's employer still have to take place. I guess someone at OEHV was a little too quick...:c239: hope this doesn't spoil the deal.

Well that is, for sure, not the most professional move of the federation (surprise, surprise!), but they were in desperate need of some good headlines :c008: . I don´t think the deal will burst, i pretty much think Pildner-Steinburg is looking for some sort of compensation for his club. Maybe he will impend with a pullout again if he doesn´t get his arrears (or was that the caps? :c075: )? Too bad he has a decent team this year :D

buzz31

11-11-2009, 15:21

Is there any link in order to see the schedule of the next games af the Austrian NT ?

Toni

11-11-2009, 18:31

Is there any link in order to see the schedule of the next games af the Austrian NT ?

Voilà!

http://www.eishockey.at/735.html

buzz31

11-11-2009, 21:13

Voilà!

http://www.eishockey.at/735.html

Thank you very much, I need to get to see Bill again, these days.....

RexKramer

27-03-2010, 11:39

As Graz dropped out early in the EBEL Play-offs Bill Gilligan immediately started the preparations for the upcoming division I IHWC tournament in the Netherlands. In the last week players from Graz, Klagenfurt and Villach plus Thomas Raffl (Lulea) as the only player from aborad were practising together in Graz until yesterday. Among this first selection were a couple of youngsters that have never been involved with the senior men's team before.
Monday the camp will relocate to Klagenfurt and also the players of the Vienna Capitals will join in. The Caps don't have too many NT candidates on their squad but Rafael Rotter when keeping up his stellar shape of the play-offs will also be outstanding and very exciting to watch on the national team.

On Wednesday the first exhibition game will be played when the Austrians meet Croatia in Zagreb. This game was organised on short notice as Bill Gilligan wanted to have one more early game to not let the players out of the play-offs with their club teams have a too long gameless period. Whether players from abroad apart from Raffl will join the team already now is still unclear. The obvious candidates are of course goalkeeper Jürgen Penker (Rögle, still involved in Eliteserien qualification), defenseman Thomas Pöck (Rapperswil) and forward Oliver Setzinger of Davos who have both finished their club team seasons already. From North America the only player that can be expected is I guess defense prospect Stefan Ulmer (Spokane WHL, Lugano next season). When the EBEL finals between Linz and Salzburg will end (game #4 next Thursday, game #7 a week later) a bulk of players will come in and the team take on it's final set up. I excpect around 6-10 players from these two teams combined.

RexKramer

27-03-2010, 11:39

Ouellette

28-03-2010, 15:16

Is roster that will play against Croatia known ?

RexKramer

28-03-2010, 16:20

Is roster that will play against Croatia known ?

To Bill Gilligan and Giuseppe Mion yes, I'd say ;-)
The greater public can only speculate up to now. There were news about the camps the team had so far but only some names of players involved were dropped (debutants for instance). If it comes up to guessing who's gonna be playing vs. CRO it's I guess easier to start by excluding those who won't (Red Bulls & Black Wings players, all exports apart from Thomas Raffl). If players from the Capitals are already in (Rotter probably also Ofner, the un-unselectable Lakos and Darcy Werenka whom Gilligan wants to test despite that he hasn't played since December) I don't know.

So we can only wait until Wednesday and see . I think that from the roster against CRO maybe 2 lines will be on the final team. How about Croatia, full strength already reached?

Here's btw the dates for the remaining test games:

9.4.2010, Budapest/HUN
Norway – Austria, 19.00 Uhr, ICECENTER

10.4.2010, Budapest/HUN
Austria – Hungary, 18.00 Uhr SPORT ARENA (monarchists might ask themselves who the opponent is going to be ;-)

16.4.2010, Tilburg/NED
France – Austria, 20.00 Uhr

Ouellette

28-03-2010, 18:31

.

How about Croatia, full strength already reached?

Today team had a traning match, between whites and blues. Whites won 6:1, Kanaet scored three goals, dunno other scorers.

There are some minor injurys, so in this game defenders Brumercik and Novosel and forwards Novak and Marko Lovrenčić did not participate. Team is still waiting for Petar Trstenjak whose Slovan is losing 1-0 against Dubnica in semifinal of U18 Extraleague. Next game is in tuesday. Series is "best of two", so hope for another win of Dubnica.

As from what I heard coach is still mixing lines, only one line is fix one, Kanaet - Blagus - Rendulić. Those three were great at U20 Division1 this season.

RexKramer

31-03-2010, 00:16

Austrian roster for tomorrow:

Tor:
Weinhandl (99ers), Swette (KAC), Starkbaum (VSV)

Verteidigung:
Oraze, Klimbacher (99ers), Reichel, Kirisits (KAC), Unterluggauer, Elick (VSV) Werenka, Ph. Lakos (Vienna Capitals) Altmann (Örebrö/SWE)

Sturm:
Christoph Harand, Patrick Harand, Stefan Herzog, Markus Peintner (99ers), Manuel Geier, Stefan Geier, Gregor Hager, Thomas Hundertpfund, David Schuller (KAC), Roland Kaspitz, Andreas Kristler (VSV), Thomas Raffl (Lulea), Rafael Rotter (Vienna Capitals)

Ouellette

31-03-2010, 00:19

RexKramer

03-04-2010, 17:46

If I understood well, my german is not good at all, Michal Raffl is out of NT because of discipline ?

I read that he's out but not because of discipline but rather because of a hip injury. But maybe the two reasons go together...last year Raffl was out some time because he hurt himself being drunk at some festivity in Villach :c098:
For the team it is a pity, he was very good this season but even worse is that Rafael Rotter (THE player of the semi-final between Linz and Vienna) will apparently also miss out because of a pulled muscle suffered in the thest game against Croatia.

RexKramer

06-04-2010, 00:04

The Austrian team is currently training in St.Pölten from where they will move on to Budapest for the three team torunament with Hungary and Norway. The present roster includes also the NLA players Setzinger and Pöck. Whether the players from Linz and Salzburg will already join in for Budapest I doubt even if the EBEL finals should be done tomorrow (which I don't hope ;-).
Villach's youngster Andreas Kristler was scratched from the team after he was involved in a disco fight last week (stupid kid).

Goal:
Rene Swette (KAC)
Bernhard Starkbaum (VSV)
Fabian Weinhandl (G99)

Defense:
Gerhard Unterluggauer (VSV)
Mickey Elick (VSV)
Darcy Werenka (VIC)
Sven Klimbacher (G99)
Martin Oraze (G99)
Philippe Lakos (VIC)
Johannes Reichel (KAC)
Johannes Kirisits (KAC)
Thomas Pöck (Rapperswil)

Forwards:
Thomas Raffl (Lulea)
Roland Kaspitz (VSV)
Gregor Hager (KAC)
Patrick Harand (G99)
Thomas Hundertpfund (KAC)
Stefan Herzog (G99)
Christoph Harand (G99)
Markus Peintner (G99)
Oliver Setzinger (Davos)
David Schuller (KAC)
Markus Pirmann (KAC)
Harald Ofner (VIC)

Still missing players in order of probability to be selected (my guess) are:

Goal:
Jürgen Penker (Rögle)
Reinhard Divis (retired from NT already but will be reactivated as it seems so that the third netminder will be one of the youngsters in the list above)

Defense:
Robert Lukas (BWL)
Andre Lakos (RBS)
Jeremy Rebek (RBS)

Stefan Ulmer (Spokane, don't know if he's considered, but imho he should be)
Michael Mayr (well, that's a longshot but he'd deserve it ;-)

Lukas and Lakos will I think be called more or less for sure, Rebek ( a complete disaster last year, even worse than Andre Lakos) is playing well right now so I guess he'll be in as well.

Forwards:
Thomas Koch (RBS)
Philipp Lukas (BWL)
Mathias Trattnig (RBS)
Daniel Welser (RBS)
Gregor Baumgartner (BWL)
Manuel Latusa (RBS)
Marco Pewal (RBS)
Martin Grabher-Meier (BWL)
Martin Ulmer (RBS)

From this list I expect at least 5-6 players to be selected for sure, maybe even more so that the squad will undergo major changes after the Budapest tournament.