Before the last game of the "Euro Ice Hockey Challenge" in Innsbruck the champion of the tournament was already found. France defeated Slovenia 5-2 on Saturday afternoon and celebrated his third victory in three games and gained first place with eight points. In the evening game between Austria and Belarus the second place was up for grabs. Belarus snatched a 3-0 win against the hosts and finished second.

Early in the game Yevgeni Kovyrshin got Belarus on the board for the 1-0. At the beginning of the second period there was the next setback for Team Austria as Andreas Nödl was sent with a game misconduct in the locker room. As the game progressed Austria also lost Brian Lebler and Andre Lakos with minor injuries.

Belarus used this to two more goals from Andrei Stepanov on a power play (33.) and Andrei Filichkin with an empty-netter (59.). The analysis of Austrian head coach Manny Viveiros promises a lot of work before the Olympic Games in Russia. "We definitely need to improve our power play because we missed many chances in the three games. Before our first game at the Olympics we can prepare for almost ten days, that should help us."

A personal highlight, despite the 3-0 defeat, saw Johannes Reichel. The defender played his  100th game for Austria. On April 13^th 2002 the 31 -year-old had his first game for Austria. "This is quite a long time ago, but I still can remember. I am glad that I stayed so long with the national team," said Reichel.

04.-09.11.2013: Euro Ice Hockey Challenge 2013

Venue: Olympiaworld Innsbruck

Scoreboard

07.11.2013, 14:30: Belarus – Slovenia 0:3 (0:2,0:1,0:0)

07.11.2013, 18:30: France – Austria 3:1 (0:0,3:1,0:0)

08.11.2013, 14:30: France – Belarus 2:1 SO (1:1,0:0,0:0)

08.11.2013, 18:30: Austria – Slovenia 2:0 (1:0,0:0,1:0)

09.11.2013, 14:30: Slovenia – France 2:5 (0:0,1:2,1:3)

09.11.2013, 18:30: Austria – Belarus 0:3 (0:1,0:1,0:1)

Standings

1. France             3-0-0   8 Pts    10:4 goals
2. Belarus            1-1-1   4 Pts    4:5 goals
3. Austria             1-0-2   3 Pts    3:6 goals
4. Slovenia          1-0-2   3 Pts    5:7 goals

Text and Photo:Florian Russmann