Austria also wins its third game at the World Championship in Zurich and Freiburg, beating Latvia 3:1. Now the neighboring duel against Switzerland on Wednesday (4:20 p.m.) turns into a top match.
19.05.2026, 19:15
19.05.2026, 23:04
SDA
The Swiss, who are also still undefeated, will face an opponent in their fourth preliminary round game who are not lacking in confidence. The Austrians, coached by Swiss Roger Bader, started the tournament with the aim of staying in the top flight and can dream of reaching the knockout phase, just as they did a year ago. Back then, Austria qualified for the quarter-finals for the first time since 1994, but then had no chance in their clash with Switzerland (0:6).
In Zurich, the Austrians have now started a World Cup with three wins for the first time. After the 5:2 win against promoted Great Britain and the 4:2 win against Hungary, they were not even stopped by Latvia. Tim Harnisch (28th), Benjamin Nissner (45th, on the powerplay) and Vinzenz Rohrer (60th, into the empty net) continued the winning streak with their goals. The Latvians, for whom ZSC forward Rudolfs Balcers tied the game at 1-1 with his fourth goal of the tournament at the start of the final period, recorded almost twice as many shots on goal.
In the evening game of the Swiss group, Hungary celebrated their first victory of the tournament with a 5-0 win against Great Britain, who are still without points.
Slovakia lose points in a must-win game
In contrast to the Switzerland/Finland/Austria trio, only record world champions Canada still have a clean sheet in Group B in Freiburg. Slovakia were on the verge of a third win against Slovenia before the underdogs equalized for the third time 31 seconds before the end of regulation time.
Nevertheless, the young Slovaks secured the extra point after a 4-4 draw after 65 minutes in the penalty shoot-out. Slovenia narrowly missed out on a second surprise after their overtime win against the Czech Republic.
Newly promoted Italy suffered their third defeat in their third game with a 4-0 loss against Norway, who have now won twice, and their second without scoring.
