Austrian Penguins Prospect Scores in Historic Win
An Austrian native in the Pittsburgh Penguins pipeline scored a huge goal in a historic win at the IIHF World Championship.
PITTSBURGH – There is plenty of Pittsburgh Penguins representation at the IIHF World Championship tournament, including players in their pipeline. 22-year-old defenseman Thimo Nickl spent the entire 2023-24 season with the Penguins ECHL affiliate, the Wheeling Nailers, appearing in 66 games.
As a native of Austria, Nickl is representing his home country at the World Championship and just played a significant role in a history-making game. With a little over 10 minutes remaining in their contest against Team Finland, Nickl scored to tie the game two.
Austria roared back from allowing two goals in the opening period. Nickl’s goal tied the game before Benjamin Baumgartner scored with under a second left to seal the win. This is the first time Austria has ever beaten Finland at the World Championship.
Nickl’s goal was a perfectly placed shot from the point that beat Finnish goalie Harri Sateri cleanly. Austria isn’t a favorite to win the tournament, but they’ve made noise for themselves.
With this historic win over Finland and a five-goal comeback against Team Canada, Austria isn’t going down easy.
Nickl has a goal and an assist through the start of the tournament.
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