18-05-2025
Austria-Slovakia Shootout Ends in Controversy
Austria and Slovakia were tied 2-2 after 65 minutes of hockey, meaning their IIHF World Championship Group A game had to be decided in a shootout.
Each team had scored once in the first four shootout rounds, and then Peter Schneider scored a brilliant goal on Austria's fifth shot to take the lead. Slovakia's Michal Krištof had to score to keep the game alive, and then …
'I had an empty net and suddenly I was on the ground, so I don't know,' said Krištof, who was reportedly much calmer in the mixed zone than he was on the ice. 'Then I watched the replay on the scoreboard.'
Ukázkový faul. Nedivím se, že byl Krištof v pozápasovém rozhovoru hodně kyselý. Rakousko porazilo Slovensko 3:2 po nájezdech.
— Eliška (@eliska_tweetuje) May 12, 2025
In an attempt to poke-check Krištof, Austrian goaltender David Kickert tripped him. If referees had judged that the trip had occurred before Krištof had completed his shot attempt, he would have been awarded another shot. But that's not what happened.
Dominik Dubovči of got post-game reactions from the mixed zone and, not surprisingly, opinions differed along team lines. The Slovak fans booed and whistled loudly throughout the post-game ceremonies.
'Yeah, I can confirm that, the whole arena was yelling at me pretty loudly,' Kickert smiled bitterly. 'I can only describe it from my perspective ... I didn't mean to trip the Slovak player on purpose, I just wanted to move behind the puck and I needed to finish the hand movement to do that.
'But of course I'm glad he didn't get to do the shot over.'
'In my opinion, it was a clear infraction – it definitely looked like it,' said Slovak center Miloš Roman. 'But the referees made their decision and we can't do anything about it. They had another meeting and I asked them if they would go and watch the video. But they apparently agreed that nothing happened, that the shot was completed and the situation was over.'
KHL Team Angry Over Slovak Player's Departure; Threatens Legal Action Slovak center Michal Krištof, 31, signed a contract to play in Switzerland for the SCL Tigers through the end of the current season,
the National League club announced on Thursday.
'I think he still managed to finish, to complete the move – even the referees explained it that way,' said Austrian captain Thomas Raffl.
'I asked the referees, they said they saw the shot first, then the fall,' said Slovak coach Vladimír Országh, also more composed than he was on the bench at the time. 'But we lost this game mainly in the first period, we can't blame that on the referees. We had power plays and again come up with nothing.'
Austria led 2-0 after one period on goals by Schneider and Marco Kasper of the Detroit Red Wings. Calgary Flames prospect Samuel Honzek scored for Slovakia in the second period and captain Matúš Sukeľ tied it midway through the third.
After three games each, Austria now has its first two points after narrow losses to Finland and Sweden. Slovakia has four points after a loss to Sweden and a win over Slovenia.
Filip Forsberg: 'You Can Talk [Crap] About Austria As Much As You Want, But They're Good' After a dominant 5-0 win over Slovakia in their opening game of the 2025 IIHF World Championship, the Swedes had more trouble with their second game against Austria, needing a late comeback to win 4-2. Swedish media didn't seem impressed with the team's performance in the second game, but when asked about it Filip Forsberg was full of praise for the Austrian team.
