Die Strafe war komplett unnötig.
Another 70 seconds later, Slovakia added a second goal, and then things got even worse. Vinzenz Rohrer was ejected from the game for a major penalty, a cross-check to the neck. "The penalty was completely unnecessary," Bader said bluntly.
Slovakia scored twice during the resulting power play. "When you take a five-minute penalty against a team like that, you have to expect a goal or two to go in. Things like that simply get punished, that's something we really need to learn," said the Swiss coach.
Why goalscoring is proving so difficult
The consolation goal by Ali Wukovits shortly before the second intermission was a desperately needed sign of life, while also finally breaking the team's tournament goal drought after nearly 100 minutes.
Die Spieler sind es einfach gewohnt, viel mehr Zeit zu haben.
Why goalscoring is proving so difficult for Austria is easily explained by the head coach: "We generally struggle internationally when our absolute top scorers aren't there. The players are simply used to having much more time."
At this high level, however, that time doesn't exist. Bader: "That's why we miss the target so often, because we simply take too long setting up the puck before taking the shot. We also don't take enough direct shots."
The Swiss coach sees the short preparation time as the cause. "During World Championship preparation, we have five weeks with nine or ten games where we get better week after week and are ready when the tournament comes. Here, we had two training sessions."
More fire in the final period
In the final period, the ÖEHV squad showed significantly more intensity, creating several top chances to make it 2-4 through Lucas Thaler (43rd, 50th) and Simeon Schwinger (49th).
Haudum said: "We told ourselves that we needed to show a bit more fire. We can't just wait for what they do. We did that better at times." Bader added: "We fought back well."
Nevertheless, Slovakia sealed the 1-6 final score with two late goals. "The last period was good, we really shouldn't lose it," said the head coach.
Unterweger says there is still a lot to learn from the game. Specifically: "We can't play so complicatedly; even in our own zone, we can keep it much simpler. We don't always have to find the playful solution, we have to use our speed. We did far too little of that."
Bader wants to see "our best game" against Latvia
One final game remains on Sunday morning (11:00 a.m.) against Latvia, where Austria finally wants to bring the successful virtues of recent years onto the ice.
"I want to see us play our best game," says Bader. "That we use our bodies right from the start, that we've understood the message of this tournament. Everything is much faster and more physical, and we have to do that against Latvia as well."
Regardless of the outcome, Bader emphasizes: "We want to play against opponents like this, even if it hurts when you lose."
