Benjamin Baumgartner: For Austria “It’s frustrating”

It was a wild ride for Austria at the 2024 IIHF World Championship that came to a disappointing end on Tuesday with a 4-2 loss to Great Britain in the last game for both teams.

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“It wasn’t pressure, we just had a bad game,” said Benjamin Baumgartner, barely above a whisper. “We couldn’t switch into the fight mode. The energy was a little bit low in the second period and we couldn’t fight back in the third.”

Baumgartner was at a loss to explain how his team could take Canada to overtime and beat Finland but lose to Great Britain with so much on the line.

“I really don’t know,” he shrugged. “Maybe we were too sure we were going to win. A lot of times, we play well against the top opponents, but then we play badly against teams we should beat. I don’t know what’s missing, but this isn’t the first time. It’s frustrating.”

If the Austrians had won this game and then lost out on the quarterfinals because Finland beat Switzerland this evening, that would be one thing. But to lose the game that was under their control against a team that, on paper, they should beat is tough to take.

“We didn’t know what would happen this evening,” said Baumgartner. “Maybe it wouldn’t matter if we won this one, but right now, it’s tough.”

It’s tough partly because there were so many positives. In the past two World Championships, the Austrians were all smiles after their last game because they’d stayed up. This time, the normally accommodating Peter Schneider could only muster the strength to politely shake his head at interview requests as he walked past reporters.

“We did a lot of positive things the past week, but right now, there are more negative emotions,” said Baumgartner. “I think it’s going to take a few hours to recognize what we’ve done here – how many positive emotions we brought to our country. But right now it’s tough.”

Baumgartner himself provided one of Austrian hockey’s great moments, scoring against Finland with less than a second remaining in regulation time to win 3-2. Earlier, there was the comeback from 6-1 down against Canada to force overtime. And throughout, there was the groundswell of support from the Austrian fans.

“For sure, how we represented as a team, the friendships that we made here …” Baumgartner acknowledged before trailing off.

The names Marco Rossi and Vinzenz Rohrer were brought up, mentioning the bright future that Austrian hockey has if they can develop into stars. Baumgartner himself, a New Jersey Devils draft pick in 2020, is still only 24 and coming off the first Worlds where he played a prominent role on the team.

“We have a lot of great young players who can play for the national team in Austria. Hopefully, we can take advantage of that in the next few years and build a good team,” said Baumgartner.

Next year will be the fourth straight year that Austria will play in the top flight – a great improvement for a nation that went up and down every single year tournament between 2005 and 2018. It was suggested to Baumgartner that the Austrians might dare to dream bigger in 2025 after this experience.

“No, I think for next year it’s the same goal – to stay up,” he reasoned. “We have to stay up a few more years before we can really consider ourselves an A-team nation. But if the team stays together and keeps bringing positive results in the Olympic qualification, that’s for sure going to raise our confidence and spirit.”