#big #ÖEHV #squad #puzzle #Canada #duel
Last test match for Austria before the A World Championships: Canada, a highly attractive opponent, is coming to the (sold out) ice sports center in Kagran. For Team boss Roger Bader There are still some personal details to be determined:
Canada took a long time to officially announce the squad, even though they trained in Vienna on Thursday. GM Rick Nash named 22 players to the World Cup squad, all from non-playoff teams in the NHL or Macklin Celebrini, a player from Boston University who will almost certainly be selected No. 1 in the next entry draft.
The hopes of Viennese ice hockey fans to see Sidney Crosby live were not fulfilled. In the young squad of the Maple Leaves, Connor Bedard stands out, who will probably soon be the winner NHL-Rookie of the Year. Not all 22 men are on site, expect one or the other to fill the squad Europa-Legionnaire. Hopefully defender Jamie Oleksiuk (Seattle Kraken) is not there, his two meters and 116 kilos would be a huge test for the already fragile Viennese ice.
All of this doesn’t matter to Roger Bader and his coaching staff, they still have some squad decisions to make themselves.
The door for Nickl remains open
The troika is over in the goal David Madlener, David Kickert and Thomas Höneckl. It is not yet clear whether Madlener, who goes into the World Cup race with an advantage, will be in the box on Sunday or will get a day off.
There are still ten cracks in the defense, at least one of whom will not be making the trip to Prague. The possible World Cup debutants Paul Stapelfeldt and Ramon Schnetzer recently impressed in preparation, Nico Brunner and Philipp Wimmer are fighting with them for the last one or two tickets. Dominique Heinrich and Clemens Unterweger are set in the power play.
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Bader is still leaving the door open for Thimo Nickl: In the best case scenario, his season would end on May 10th, but only if his Wheeling Nailers lost their playoff series against Toledo in four games (current score: 0-1). The latest ending for the series would be May 14th.
The same applies to Marco Kasper in attack: his season could also end on May 10th. However, only if his Grand Rapids Griffins losing their final two games of the best-of-five series to Rockford. Even with a win, the World Cup is no longer an issue for Kasper.
Experienced players are set
But there are no major personnel problems in attack anyway, after the two permanent starters Peter Schneider and Vinzenz Rohrer (newly crowned Swiss champions with ZSC) came in on Friday.
The center axis is there Marco RossiBenjamin Baumgartner, Benjamin Nissner and Ali Wukovits, Lukas Haudum or Rohrer could then move into the middle if necessary.
veterans like Thomas Raffle or Manuel Ganahl are just as well placed as Mario Huber or Dominic Zwerger, who is in better physical shape this year than a year ago.
That would be eleven strikers, there is a scramble for the remaining two to three places: Paul Huber has already won two World Cups and also has the physical volume required at A level. Lucas Thaler played a very good season and usually stands out positively in the national team.
As well as Luke Kainz and Emil Romig were there from the first day of preparation and collected some plus points. The same applies to Ian Scherzer, who at 18 is still the team’s baby and perhaps has the worst cards given the convincing competition.
Is Bader moving away from his principles?
The oversupply of interesting forwards could for the first time dissuade Bader from his usual principle of naming the final squad with nine defenders and 13 attackers. That will depend on Nickl on the one hand, but also on whether the eight defenders stay fit, which would be a fragile scenario.
One thing is clear: Austria is traveling to Prague with 25 players and will activate 20 skaters on the first match day against Denmark, leaving two places still open.
Even with only three training sessions and an incomplete squad, Canada will probably be a formidable opponent on Sunday. Even if the game is close, it won’t be easy for the shaky candidates to make a big impact, which won’t make the selection any easier for Bader and his coaching team…
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