Austria overwhelms South Africa in Group C
South Africa battled the Austrians hard in the second and fourth quarters, but Austria totally dominated the first and third, and came away with a 10-1 victory. The Austrians scored three times in the first, including a buzzer-beater on the power-play. Then in the third, they outshot the South Africans 15-0 and scored four more goals. South Africa broke the goose-egg early in the fourth quarter, but it wasn´t nearly enough.
| Game no. 5 • bC1 • Sun 19/6/2011 • 17:00 • Schedule and results | ||
|---|---|---|
Rep. of South Africa |
1:10 |  Austria |
| (0:3, 0:1, 0:4, 1:2) | ||
| Berger(Bock)- Marais, Birrell, Du Plessis, Mathews - Ashworth, Watson, Valadas, Engelbrecht - Miller, Magmoed, Jevons, Eeckhoven-Lyon, Jones | Schillcher(Reiter)- Altmann, Reiner, Baumgartner,Quinz- Schweda Peter, Walshoffer, Draschkowitz L., Draschkowitz Ch., Niec, Kugerl, Dorazil, Riegler | |
| Goals and assists: 37. Marais (Du Plessis, Birrel) - 4. Niec (Kugerl), 8. Riener (Draschkowitz Ch., Walschofer), 12. Riener (Niec, Riegler), 16. Draschkowitz Ch. (Walschofer, Kugerl), 25. Riegler (Kugerl, Niec), 28. Quinz (Reiner, Baumgartner), 30. Baumgartner (Schweda, Niec), 30. Draschkowitz Ch. (Draschkowitz L., Schweda), 44. Niec (Riegler, Dorazil), 46. Altamnn (Riener, Baumgartner) | ||
| Shots: 15:41
(4:12, 5:5, 0:15, 6:9).
Penalties: 6:5.
PP goals: 1:3.
SH goals: 0:1. Refferees: Druga (SVK), Ulehla (CZE). Audience: 50. |
||
 Live coverage on onlajny.cz | ||
Game report
If one looks at the statistics from Sunday´s game between Austria and South Africa, they might see an interesting difference in quarter totals.
In the first and third quarters, the display on the floor in Pardubice could hardly have been called a contest. Just in those 24 minutes of hockey, the Austrians outshot the South Africans 27-4 and outscored them 7-0. Austria had possession of the puck for an overwhelming amount of time and did not allow their opponent to get a scoring chance of any quality whatsoever. It was a complete mismatch.
Mind you, in the second and fourth quarters, Austria was still the better team. However, the team from South Africa put forth much more respectable efforts. The shots in these halves was only a difference of 14-11, and the score was 3-1.
Clearly, the first period is where the real damage was done. Andre Niec, who led the team offensively with 2 goals and 3 assists and was named the team´s best player of the game, opened the scoring in the fourth minute. Late in the quarter, it was a pair from Youssef Riener, who also finished the game with 5 points. It was his blast from the point on the power-play that barely beat the buzzer, that put the Austrians firmly in the driver´s seat.
"I am happy that I could be there. For me it´s really a wonderful experience," Niec said after the game. "The opponent was from the weaker category, but it was nice to see the guys come out and fight hard anyway."
In addition to Niec and Riener, Austria also got 3 points each from Gregor Baumgartner and Christoph Draschkowitz.
"We were undone by a better team," said South Africa´s Andre Marais, who scored their lone goal. "Austria has more experienced players than us. We can only build on today´s performance in the next games."
Marais´ tally came in the opening minute of the fourth quarter, when he converted a pass from David Du Plessis. It came on the heels of a disastrous third quarter, and was the first indication that they would not be pushed around as badly for the final 12 minutes.
Indeed, they weren´t.
Author: Derek OBrien
Game reactions
Gavin Smith (head coach of South Africa): We picked up way too many penalties. That cost us a game. We definitely need to improve this for the upcoming games, then it should be okay.
Jurgen Leibig (head coach from Austria): Today we played a game with a quality opponent, and even so I´m glad we had this mastered. We quickly developed leadership, which we were able to maintain. I must say that our players took control of the game and really enjoyed it.
