The favorite from the start, showing his power
From the first contact of the puck with the surface, there was no doubt who was the favorite in this game. The Canadians took complete control of the match, which they quickly translated into goals. Already in the 7th minute, Dylan Cozens collected the deflected puck near the goal and put it into the net from his wrist, and a moment later, after playing from the sacristy, Kaiden Guhle repeated this movement from the circle LEFT.
The Austrians were able to react quickly to the second hit of the “Maple Leaves”. After the action, Paul Huber tried twice from the right flank, and each time he was stopped by the goalkeeper. Due to the failures of his colleague, Benjamin Nissner acted: he hid under the goalkeeper and, pulling the rubber behind his back, directed it towards the target. However, it was one of the few flashes of Danube hockey players in the first parts of the match.
Near a pogrom
Canada added one more goal before the break. In the 15th minute, Bowen Byriam shot from the blue and the puck he sent bounced off the defender and past David Madlener. The second part, although started promisingly by Austria, quickly turned towards the hockey hegemon. Three minutes after the restart of the match, Canada extinguished the enthusiasm of their rivals – Jared McCann passed the goalkeeper and cleverly, behind the goal, pushed his tire behind the fence.
In the 31st minute, Connor Bédard added another goal. However, the talented “Rookie” of the last NHL campaign was significantly helped by Madlener, who miserably missed a seemingly harmless shot from an acute angle. At the end of the second period, the Maple Leafs scored their sixth goal. In the 38th minute, Pierre-Luc Dubois was the most conscious in the area in front of the goal, scoring from close range.
Start of renovation
It started quietly. In the 44th minute, Peter Schneider intercepted the puck and, rushing with it down the left flank, scored a pass for Benjamin Baumgartner, who only had to add his stick to the final score. Immediately afterwards, another goal arrived – this time Schneider hit the crossbar almost directly from the goal line. However, no one took these warnings seriously. Even the Austrian commentators celebrated the consolation goals with subdued joy…
Over time, however, others began to arrive. The action was followed by a phenomenal robinsonade from Madlener, who, like Tomas Fucik in a parallel match played in Ostrava, stopped the Canadian striker, and Dominic Zwerger fired a shot from the wing, surprising the goalie. It was already 6:4 and Austria was getting more and more excited by the minute. The North American players couldn’t believe what was happening. And the worst was yet to come for them.
“It’s possible!”
In the 56th minute, Schneider, brilliant on the pitch, found himself face to face with the opposing goalkeeper and, keeping his cool, gave his team contact. The Austrian majority of the audience went crazy, while the rest rubbed their eyes in amazement. “It’s possible!” – shouted the Alpine journalist, unable to control his emotions.
From hell to heaven and back… in less than a minute
With 48 seconds left, Marco Rossi took possession of the puck around the goal. Taking advantage of the free space, he positioned himself directly under Jordan Binnington’s nose and then wrapped Bacchand’s rubber. The rubber slammed into the net and the scoreboard showed a draw. The Austrians’ dream had come true, and Canada still didn’t understand how they had let three points slip away. And there were still overtimes ahead of the teams, during which anything could happen…
However, the Austrians were quickly lowered from the sky to dry land. After only fifteen seconds of play, John Tavares, visibly frustrated with the progress of the game, ran alone with the puck, making his way between the three defending opponents. The Toronto Maple Leafs player ended his rally with a goal that gave Canada the victory.
But the heroes of the evening were the Austrians who, despite their despair, decided to fight, giving their opponents a hard time.
Canada – Austria 7:6 (3:1, 3:0, 0:5, d. 1:0) 1:0 Dylan Cozens – Andrew Mangiapane, Kaiden Guhle (06:34) 2:0 Kaiden Guhle – John Tavares, Brandon Hagel (09:21 ) 2:1 Benjamin Nissner – Mario Huber, Thomas Raffl (10:11) 3:1 Bowen Byram – Olen Zellweger (13:29) 4:1 Jared McCann – Michael Bunting (22:57) 5:1 Connor Bedard – Dylan Guenther, Colton Parayko (29:22) 6:1 Pierre-Luc Dubois – Brandon Hagel, Owen Power (37:56) 6:2 Benjamin Baumgartner – Peter Schneider (43:14) 6:3 Peter Schneider – Dominic Zwerger, David Wolf (44:08) 6:4 Dominic Zwerger – Thimo Nickl (50:41) 6:5 Peter Schneider – Dominic Zwerger, Marco Rossi (55:56) 6:6 Marco Rossi (59:12) 7:6 John Tavares – Pierre-Luc Dubois, Colton Parayko (60:15, 3/3)Penalty minutes: 4-4Shots: 49-21The viewers: 14174Canada:J. Hofer (J. Binnington) – O. Power, C. Parayko, B. Hagel, P. Dubois, J. Tavares (2) – B. Byram, J. Oleksiak, D. Guenther, N. Paul (2) , C. Bedard – K. Guhle, D. Severson, B. Tanev, J. McBain, D. Mercer – O. Zellweger, M. Bunting, J. McCann, D. Cozens, A. Mangiapane.Austria: (D. Madlener) – T. Nickl, D. Heinrich, T. Raffl, B. Nissner, M. Huber – D. Wolf, C. Unterweger, P. Schneider, D. Zwerger, M. Rossi (4) – D . Maier, S. Strong, M. Ganahl, L. Haudum, B. Baumgartner – P. Stapelfeldt, N. Brunner, A. Wukovits, V. Rohrer, P. Huber.
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