In the two final games of the Euro Hockey Challenge 2019, the German national team will face Austria in Regensburg and Deggendorf. Over the past few days, both national teams have been preparing for the two encounters in Deggendorf in summer temperatures. First they meet on Thursday in Regensburg (live on MagentaSport) and on Saturday in Deggendorf (live on SPORT1 and MagentaSport). The national team has already visited Regensburg four times, and tickets for the fifth duel are still available at the usual Eventim ticket offices or at the box office. In Deggendorf it is the third game in German international history, and this game is already sold out.
The last victory of the German team against the Austrian national team took place on September 2, 2016. At that time, the national team celebrated a 6-0 victory in Riga. The international match record against the neighboring country is also positive: In a total of 43 meetings between the two nations, the German team won 28 times, while Austria left the ice as winners eleven times. Four matches also ended in a draw. Special feature: 18 games between Germany and Austria ended with only a one-goal difference.
National coach Toni Söderholm: "We expect a fast-paced team that will play with a lot of bite. Ultimately, however, we have to focus on our own team and our own game. We have to grow together as a team and continue to implement our system. I expect an emotional game, after all, we are talking about a derby - the players will hardly be able to wait for the game."
The opponent's squad:
60 DUKE Luke GK
30 KICKERT David GK
33 MÜLLER Stefan GK
91 HEINRICH Dominique D
19 JAKUBITZKA Daniel D
7 CHURCH BUGS Erik D
77 LINDNER Philipp D
14 MAIER David D
90 PALLESTRANG Alexander D
18 PAYR Julian D
63 SCHLACHER Markus D
15 VALLANT Thomas D
8 WOLF Raphael D
10 BALTRAM Florian F
26 BAUMGARTNER Benjamin F
94 CIJAN Alexander F
17 GANAHL Manuel F
21 HAUDUM Lukas F
37 HÄUSSLE Stefan F
89 HERBURGER Raphael F
23 HOFER Fabio F
96 HUBER Mario F
67 KOMAREK Konstantin F
71 MACIERZYNSKI Kevin F
13 COLONEL Patrick F
5 RAFFL Thomas F
9 RAUCHENWALD Alexander F
22 ULMER Martin F
16 DWARF Dominic F
History of the opponent:
The Austrian national team celebrated its greatest successes at the end of the 1927s. In 1930, the team won the European Championship without losing a single game. In 1931, the Austrian national team was also the first European team to defeat a team from North America. A year later, the team became European champions again and at the 1932 Ice Hockey World Championship, the team achieved third place behind Canada and the United States. Two silver medals followed at the European Championships in 1933 and XNUMX.
The Austrians won the bronze medal at the 1947 World Championships. Then relegation and participation in B and C World Championships. They were promoted back to the A nations class at the 1992 B World Cup in their own country. Since the home World Cup in 2005, the Austrians changed classes every year until 2016 - relegation from the top division was always followed by promotion from Division IA the following year. The Austrians' last promotion came at the World Cup in 2017. At last year's tournament, their country's neighbors secured relegation.
Ice hockey is still the most popular team sport in Austria after football. The Austrian national team is currently in 17th place in the world rankings. With Michael Grabner, Michael Raffl and Thomas Vanek, three Austrians are currently active in the NHL.