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hockeyis66 · 04-04-2016, 02:59 PM

Although Austria was coming into the S27 IIHF tournament with low expectations, the feeling around the locker room was upbeat with the additions of several new players â€“ Winger Don Pellegrino fresh from his rookie season in Hamilton, winger Sekkusu Gan who finished his last season in the SMJHL with Halifax, defenseman Johnny Cahill who also finished his last junior season with St Louis, winger Xavier Lane who joined juniors after the draft and juniors rookie Marc-Andre Malkin. These players joined second year IIHF vets in Feist, Wachter, Vader and Berger and joined the much more seasoned vets up front in Kinsler, Brojled, Flamel, Bursyuk, and King and Pomery on the blueline.

Canada

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The first game was going to be a tough test right out of the gate as Austria played host to Canada. Austria would actually be up 2 to 1 after the first period behind goals from Kinsler and Wachter while Canada got a goal from Zerchai. Unforetunately for Austria, those would be the only two goals they would score in the game as Canada added two more goals in the second period and two more goals late in the third period to win the game 5 to 2. Berger made 22 saves in goal. The positive Austria took out of the game is the close was close for over 55 minutes and those two late goals skewed the final score. Cahill and Lane each had assists in their first games for Austria.

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Austria was the road team in game 2 of the tournament as they played the United Kingdom. Brojled would give Austria a 1 to 0 lead after the first period but the UK would score two goals in the second period to take a 2 to 1 lead and then Burch would add an early third period score to put the UK up 3 to 1. However, Kinsler would score his second of the tourney to pull Austria back within one goal with a little over five minutes left in the game. However, Austria would not score again and lose their second straight by a score of 3 to 2. Berger made 27 saves.

Canada

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Game 3 was the return match with Canada already in what would turn out to be a pretty exciting game. The teams exchanged goals in the first period as Wert scored for Canada and Brojled for Austria. The two countries would do the same thing in the second period, but Austria would score first behind Pellegrinoâ€™s first ever IIHF goal and then Zerchai would score his 3rd of the tourney (all against Austria so far too). Austria would outshoot Canada in the third period, but neither team would score as the game went into overtime. Just over a minute in, Horvatâ€™s shot would find the back of the net and Canada would win the game 3 to 2 in overtime. Berger had a huge game in goal with 32 saves as Austria musters their first point of the tourney.

Finland

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Still in search of their first win, Austria played host to Finland. The Fins would jump out to a 3 to 0 lead with two goals in the first period and the first goal in the second period before Austria would get on the scoreboard as Chamas scored his first right before the second period was over. Finland would hold Austria scoreless in the third period while adding another goal to win the game 4 to 1. Berger faced a lot of rubber in the game and made 30 saves on 34 shots while his offense didnâ€™t help him out much by only getting 22 shots on goal.

Usa

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The halfway point of the round robin schedule had Austria facing off against the USA. Austria would take a 2-0 lead in the first period behind goals from Chamas and Bursyuk and then double their lead in the second period as Brojled scored both goals for Austria. Crutchfield would ruin the shutout bid with a little more than six minutes left in the game with USAâ€™s only goal, but King would put an exclamation point on Austriaâ€™s first win of the tourney with his first as Austria won the game 5 to 1. Berger stopped 28 out of 29 shots he faced. King, Bursyuk and Brojled all had multi point games in the win.

Usa

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So, as great as the last game was against the USA, the next game against them was equally as bad. Crutchfield scored the only goal of the first period as the USA went up 1 to 0, but it was the second period where Austria fell apart as both Fleming and Knight scored two goals each while Austria got two goals from Bursyuk as the USA took a 5 to 2 lead into the third period. Jesster would add one more goal early in the third period for the red, white and blue as the USA won 6 to 2. Berger didnâ€™t have his best stuff tonite as he stopped 11 of 15 shots while Kubicky came in relief and made 12 saves on 14 shots. Bursyuk and Brojled each had two points in the loss.

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After getting hammered by the USA, Austria faced the UK for the second time. Only one goal was scored in the game through the first two period and that was by the UKâ€™s Killington just 27 seconds into the game as the goalies were stealing the show. Austria would tie the game at 1 to 1 just over a minute into the third period as Flamel scored his first, but the UK would respond with not only one goal, but two goals within six minutes after the Austrian goal to win the game 3 to 1. Berger was once again solid in net by making 27 saves.

Sweden

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Game #8 would be the first game of the tourney against Sweden in a back to back situation. Sweden would score a late power play goal in the first period off of the stick of Eriksson for a 1 to 0 lead, but at the time, no one would know that would be the only goal of the game for the Swedes. Late in the second period, Wachter would tie the game at 1 to 1 with Gan and Malkin getting the assists and their first ever IIHF points. In an exciting third period, Berger would stop all 10 shots he faced while assisting on Flamelâ€™s power play game winning goal about halfway through the period as Austria won the game 2 to 1. Berger made 24 saves in picking up his second win of the tourney. For his efforts, Berger was named the number one star of the game.

Sweden

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Oddly enough coming into game 9 of the schedule, Austria was still mathematically alive in making the top 4 even though they were in last place. Not only did they basically have to win their last two games, they needed the countries above them to gain nothing more than a point. Things didnâ€™t get started as Austria liked as Lidstrom scored just 27 seconds into the game, Flamel tied it up shortly after that as the period ended in a 1 to 1 tie. Austria would take control in the second period as Bursyuk netted his 4th of the tourney and Gan would score his first IIHF career goal to give Austria a 3 to 1 lead going into the third period. Flamel would score his second of the game early in the third period to give Austria a 4 to 1 lead before Sweden would get one back to make the final score 4 to 2. Austria would fire 44 shots on goal in the game compared to 31 for Sweden and Berger would stop 29 of them. Pellegrino, Kinsler and Flamel each had two points in the win. However, even with the win, Austria would be eliminated from medal contention since the countries above them also gain victories.

Finland

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For as much success Austria had against Sweden, Austria could find little success against Finland and it showed in the last game of the tourney. The two teams did exchange goals in the first four minutes of the game as Linna scored for Finland and Flamel scored for Austria, but that is about where the game stopped being competitive as Finland ran all over Austria the rest of the way. Salmon scored two more goals in the first period for Finland as they went up 3 to 1. Anrikkanen scored the only goal of the second period as the Fins increased their lead to 4 to 1. Then Thomaz, Ruutu and Onoprienko added to the Finnish total with goals as they won the game going away 7 to 1. Berger did his best in goal with 22 saves on 28 shots and was replaced by Kubicky who made 8 saves on 9 shots. Lots of minuses besides players names on the Austrian side after this one.

Austria finishes 6th in their group with a 3-6-1 record good for 10 points, an improvement over last yearâ€™s tourney at least. They only scored 22 goals while giving up 35 for a difference of -13. Austria was led by Flamel in both goals and points as he had 5 and 9 respectively. Kinsler and King each had 6 assists to lead Austria in that category. Nobody on the team was a plus, while Kinsler and Vader each had 10 penalty minutes to be tied for the highest on the team. Berger was 3-6-1 during the tourney with a 3.47 GAA and .887 save percentage in playing the majority of minutes over the course of the 10 games.

For the younger players, it was a tough learning experience as Pellegrino had a goal and two assists, Wachter had two goals, Gan had a goal and an assist, Cahill, Vader and Malkin each had two assists and Feist and Laine each chipped in with an assist. However, many of these players were facing a higher level of competition for the first time and gained some invaluable knowledge about what it takes to make it at the next level.

With a new season now upon us and international transfer now open again, the Austrian National Team would like to announce that the #1 faceoff specialist in the world has decided to transfer to Austria and team up with his pal Cahillâ€¦..

Alexander Charlyb'y!!!!!!!!

Alexander will take over the 3rd line duties and allow Austria to move around wingers back to their wing spots as well as adding another active member to the LR. Austria did get one commitment from a free agent who joined the SMJHL after the draft in Aronne Zamloch who is also a center and will hopefully stay active and keep updating. The team will also be on the search for another defenseman, at this point unassigned, to bump one of the inactives out of the starting lineup and more than likely pair with Malkin on the 3rd grouping.

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r1c3bowl22 · 04-04-2016, 03:48 PM

You took my bbp away from me :(

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