LAOLA1: On Monday, you played an exhibition game against the VSV U18 / U20 team. How important was it to get one more exhibition game in before the World Championship, and what key takeaways did you get from it?
Matzka: It was extremely important for us to get into real game situations again. Even though we didn't play against another nation or a women's national team, the test was extremely valuable. Those were VSV U18 and U20 players, so there is physically a difference to us, which we will probably also feel at the World Championship. In that respect, it was also very good preparation for us. Overall, the game gave us confidence too.
LAOLA1: Why?
Matzka: Because you don't know what to expect when you play against 18- or 19-year-old boys. The last time I played against a team like that was many years ago, but it will be similar at the World Championship. It's been over eight years since we played against Czechia. We've played Germany a few times in recent years, but otherwise we can only imagine what awaits us without knowing for sure. And that's how it was in the exhibition game too. I think we can surprise ourselves and keep up with a physical style of play with fast players. We were all able to gain confidence in ourselves, but also in the whole team and in the system we trained and will be playing.
Wenn man auf die Weltrangliste schaut, ist Deutschland sicher das Team, das es zu schlagen gilt. Unserer Einschätzung nach sind wir an ihnen am nächsten dran und wollen in diesem Spiel definitiv Punkte holen.
LAOLA1: In what way can you surprise yourselves?
Matzka: We've had the last year and a half to think about facing the USA, Czechia, or Switzerland. I don't want to say we have self-doubt, but the respect is so great that you might underestimate yourself, put the opponent front and center, and forget what we're actually capable of. In the exhibition game, we were able to prove to ourselves once again that at the World Championship we won't just have to defend, but can also create things ourselves, hold onto the puck, and get our chances.
LAOLA1: Olympic champions and world champions USA stand above all other nations in the group. Do you think you have a chance against Germany, Czechia, or Switzerland?
Matzka: Looking at the world rankings, Germany is certainly the team to beat. In our assessment, we are closest to them and definitely want to pick up points in that game. Czechia and Switzerland have been extremely strong in recent years. Switzerland won Olympic bronze, and Czechia has finished third several times at the World Championships in recent years. Nevertheless, we aren't going into any of these matchups expecting a heavy defeat. We go in with the mindset that we could and want to get points.
LAOLA1: Austria is the underdog in this group. Could it possibly be an advantage that Czechia and Switzerland in particular have almost no reference points against you and might underestimate you accordingly?
Matzka: I do think we can go into the games as underdogs. That's also a role you like to be in. You know you have nothing to lose, and the pressure and expectation to win lies with the opponents. On paper, all four teams should beat us. But we believe that won't be the case. We hope to cause a surprise.
LAOLA1: Do you know how many World Championships this will be for you?
Matzka: I calculated it recently, it should be my tenth World Championship.
LAOLA1: Exactly! Is there anything better than celebrating this anniversary on the biggest possible World Championship stage?
Matzka: No, that's really cool!
LAOLA1: At just 13 years old, you were already playing adult ice hockey for Sabres Wien. Your teammates back then included Esther Väärälä, Anna Meixner, and Janine Weber. Were you even aware of the stature of these players at the time?
Matzka: It was totally formative to be able to play alongside such big names in Austrian women's ice hockey at such a young age. I keep talking about it: I was so lucky with how I was welcomed and supported by those players. I really think back often to how it was the greatest and best thing for me just to be able to go to practice. That was incomparable. When I think about ice hockey, how much fun this sport gives me and how much passion is behind it, I love looking back at that time. I couldn't have asked for better role models. They are such great players, but also personalities where you could tell they recognize talent and want to foster it. I was very lucky to grow up in that environment.
LAOLA1: How did your parents react to you being allowed to play with adults at such a young age?
Matzka: They reacted quite well. They were always very supportive, but never got overly involved and left the decisions to me as to whether it was the right thing for me or not. But they saw that it was absolutely the right thing for me, that I looked forward to every practice and came home glowing. The only difficult thing was that practices were often at 9 p.m., I wouldn't get home until after 11 p.m., and I had to go to school again the next day.
LAOLA1: Was it difficult to combine being an athlete with school?
Matzka: Definitely! That's why I made the decision to move to the US at 15. I transferred to a boarding school with dorms and an ice rink right on campus. On the one hand, with the goal of getting a college scholarship and being seen by coaches to secure a spot. On the other hand, also because the training conditions and environment in Austria weren't conducive to balancing sports and education. It happened quite often that I was too tired to go to school for the first period. My parents would let me sleep in an hour longer. But letting your education and school slip isn't right either. That was definitely a factor in my career path and in my decision to move to the US.
Den Vergleich, den ich den USA bekommen habe, wie man Sport und Studium bzw. Schule vereinen kann - da ist Österreich noch sehr weit hinterher. Österreich ist aber auch kein Sportland.
LAOLA1: Would you say that it's still just as difficult today?
Matzka: Definitely. My teammates and all the women who are still in school, studying at university, and playing ice hockey at this level manage to pull it off because they've learned to be so well organized and schedule their days down to the minute. Sometimes you look back and think to yourself: I can't believe I did all of that today and managed to juggle it. Comparing what I experienced in the US in terms of combining sports with school or university studies — Austria is still way behind. But Austria isn't a sports-driven country either. If I go to my university professor in Vienna and say that I won't be in lectures for three weeks and have to reschedule exams because I'm playing at the World Championship with the Austrian national ice hockey team, I don't know how much understanding I'll get. In the US, it was taken for granted that it was a huge opportunity and that you had another really important thing going on in your life. There, they accommodated you so you could do both as best as possible. I consider myself very fortunate that I was able to do that in the US.
LAOLA1: So seeing in the US that sports and school or university studies can indeed be combined was a positive kind of culture shock.
Matzka: Absolutely! I was very positively surprised when I saw that you could go to school in the morning and then walk five minutes to practice at the rink. In Austria, I attended a sports high school up until 9th grade, but the name was actually misleading. It only ever caused me problems when I missed PE classes or afternoon lessons for ice hockey. It was definitely not a school for competitive athletes. I was once told that I should attend the gymnastics elective instead of going to hockey practice because gymnastics wasn't my strong suit. Austria definitely still has catching up to do in that area.
LAOLA1: You spent a total of nine years in the US. You played for five years for the College of the Holy Cross and the University of Vermont, and at the end of your time there you even played a year in the PHF, the predecessor to today's PWHL, for Buffalo. How did that time shape you?
Matzka: It shaped me tremendously. I became self-reliant and independent. Not just from my parents, but also in the decisions I make. In my self-confidence and the path I take. I learned to take responsibility for myself early on there. I really carried that personal growth with me, and overall I had amazing experiences. Whether in high school, at both colleges, or during my final year in the US in the PHF. Everywhere I went, I had a great support network and was welcomed really well. Not just by the hockey teams, but also among people outside of hockey, I felt right at home immediately. I still appreciate that welcoming culture in the US. The experience was extremely positive, and I still fly to the US every summer to maintain those relationships because they were truly valuable.
Ich bin aufgewacht und hatte keinen Job, keinen Lebensmittelpunkt mehr, der zu diesem Zeitpunkt die USA war.
LAOLA1: In 2023, you returned to Austria. Why did you decide to return home rather than staying abroad?
Matzka: That was a wild story. In the PHF, I had signed a contract in spring 2023 for another year in Buffalo. Over the summer, I was home in Austria, and then sometime overnight in June or July news broke that the league was shutting down and all contracts were terminated. I woke up and had no job and no home base anymore, which up until then had been the US. I had an apartment there with all my stuff that I intended to move back into after the summer. Then they said there would be a new league in the US, but there was so little information. It was known that the league would start in January 2024, with tryouts in November 2023. That felt like too long of a road full of too many uncertainties. I wanted to get my life sorted out as quickly as possible and make a decision.
LAOLA1: What happened next?
Matzka: It was then pretty quick and painless for me to choose Vienna. I really love living in Vienna, I've always loved the city in the summer, and I had already moved back and forth so much during my years in the US. I could have pictured both: living in the US, but also living in Vienna. I also knew I didn't want to look for a roster spot in Sweden or Switzerland because living out of a suitcase constantly was becoming too much for me. I knew I wanted to move my primary center of life back to Vienna. Around that time, Sabres St. Pölten was being rebuilt, and I saw it as an opportunity to be part of that rebuilding process and complete that full-circle moment of returning to the Sabres.
"Guten Morgen, du bist arbeitslos."
LAOLA1: When you read the news of the league folding, what feeling hit you first – was it disappointment, anger, or fear that your livelihood was threatened?
Matzka: Those existential fears were immediately there. My best friend, who I also played with in Buffalo, texted me: "Good morning, you're unemployed." You lost your job. And the first thing I thought of was: How am I going to earn money now? Then sadness set in pretty quickly because I knew I had to make a big decision now. My life in the US, which I really loved, wasn't going to exist in that form anymore. It made me very sad that a next chapter was coming. I was confident I'd work it out and things would be okay. I was also looking forward to a life in Vienna, but I still miss the US. It wasn't easy leaving that life behind.
LAOLA1: Even so, how happy were you in that moment that you had completed a degree in the US, which made job hunting in Vienna easier, so you didn't have to start entirely from scratch?
Matzka: That is extremely important and gives all of us a lot of security and confidence in ourselves for exactly those scenarios. What I also find very important: us women, who are all completing an education and preparing for professional life, already know what interests us and what we want to do. I think it's difficult if you never get into the situation of playing ice hockey and getting an education at the same time, because from age 18 you're a professional, get your high school diploma, and then only play hockey. You might not even know what interests you. Knowing which direction I wanted to go gave me confidence. I trusted myself to step into professional life.
LAOLA1: So the negative side of having to juggle work and sport also has a positive aspect, because you get to build a second foundation early on and experiment with what you actually like?
Matzka: Definitely. My job is also a good distraction for me. It's also nice that my self-worth doesn't depend solely on ice hockey. If things aren't going so well in hockey, I dive into work and can celebrate successes there. It's good for you personally when you have two different areas where you can test yourself. Balancing work and sport only becomes difficult when you have 16-hour days several times a week, are exhausted, and have to put too much effort into that balance just to manage your life. But in principle, I'm not unhappy that I work and play ice hockey at the same time.
LAOLA1: Is it difficult at times to maintain motivation?
Matzka: The motivation is definitely there, because I love playing ice hockey so much and sharing it with the people I get to play with. That applies to both the national team and the Sabres. I really treasure the time with my teammates, and that motivates me too. But I often feel mentally drained. Not at all because I'm physically exhausted, but there is so much organization and logistics involved. Sometimes you feel like your head is about to explode because you have to keep so many things running and organized at the same time. Right now, we're with the national team for three weeks and we're happy we don't have to worry about meals. I don't have to think about what to pack in Tupperware for dinner on the train ride for the fourth time this week. It's constantly about how I can organize my life as best as possible. It's nice to take a break from that for once.
Wir befinden uns definitiv in diesem Prozess, der auch noch seine Zeit dauern wird. Wir spüren den Willen von Verbandsseite.
LAOLA1: Finally, let's touch on the dispute between the national team and the federation. During your appearance on ZIB2, you said that trust with the federation needed to be restored. Has that happened yet?
Matzka: We are definitely in that process, which will also take some time. We feel the willingness from the federation's side. The last two camps show that things are moving in the right direction, that we were heard, and that real improvements have happened – and will continue to happen. It feels now like we are working together, with us players also being included in discussions on how to improve women's ice hockey in Austria.
LAOLA1: You mentioned in a podcast that you might have had a beer before your ZIB2 appearance. Is that true?
Matzka: (laughs) Yes, I enjoyed that one beer, and it was quite important, too. But as soon as I was in the studio, I had already completely forgotten about it. Then it was just excitement and nervousness.
LAOLA1: Thank you for the interview and good luck at the World Championship!
