Big surprise for Great Britain! Austria defeated 4:2 and says goodbye to the tournament in full glory

The last game of the tournament was played by Great Britain, who enjoyed it to the full. Austria managed to defeat Austria 4: 2 and they are leaving the tournament with full glory. The Austrians, on the other hand, missed a unique opportunity to advance to the quarter-finals.

The group stage is coming to an end and today we witnessed Austria vs Great Britain. The Austrians were still holding on to their hopes of progressing out of the group thanks to their win over Finland, who were successful against Denmark.

The cards were clearly dealt, Austria had to beat Great Britain and at the same time hope that the Finns would not lose a point against Switzerland tonight. In contrast, the Brits wanted to say goodbye to the tournament victoriously, as they will be playing a step down next year.

The first period didn’t offer us many good opportunities and it was only in the second period that the game really started. In the first minute of the second period, Zwerger got to a deflected puck, but instead of shooting into the open net, he was fouled.

The goal came two minutes later and it was Unterweger, who shot from between the circles and burned everything in his way. Half a minute later, Wukovits hit the bar and it seemed that our neighbour’s team would go for a quiet victory.

However, an incorrect substitution sent Great Britain into a 5-on-3 power play and O’Connor took advantage of it to give his team hope for points. This moment brought Austria to their knees and the stress of a needless loss began.

The British, on the other hand, came back and took the lead at the start of the third period. It was Perlini who took advantage of a bounce of the puck off a defender and fired a shot into the open net.

It got even worse for Austria at 50:52 when Mosey beat the lying goalie. It was already clear at that point that Finland could enjoy the advancement. There was no turning back this time.

The Austrians had to call off their goalkeeper, which proved fatal. With less than five minutes to go, Dowd decided the British victory and even though Huber reduced the score to 4:2, Great Britain added three points to the table, which will not prevent their relegation.

Source: 2024 World Cup of Hockey