Austria has been promoted to the Top Division for the first time in the team’s history, going undefeated in Shenzhen, China to secure a historic finish at the IIHF Women’s World Championship Division I Group A tournament. Denmark will return to the Top Division as well thanks to a silver medal performance.
This gold medal for Austria comes a year after a fourth place finish in Division I Group A, and two years after their last podium finish.
Goalie Selma Luggin made an immediate impression, helping Austria to back-to-back 3-0 shutouts against Denmark and China to open the tournament. One of two goalies to earn two shutouts in Shenzhen (the other being Denmark’s Emma-Sofie Nordstrom), Luggin ended the tournament with a 95.65 save percentage, 0.99 goals against average, and the Top Goaltender title.
Annika Fazokas, who made a name for herself at the 2024 World Championships, impressed yet again, earning the Top Defender honours for a second tournament in a row. She was involved in all three goals in Austria’s opening game against Denmark, scoring the first and assisting on the other two.
Fazokas made it onto the gamesheet against China as well, as did captain and Ottawa Charge player Anna Meixner (who finished second overall in tournament scoring) and 16-year-old Emma Lintner.
The third day of competition featured a head-to-head contest between the two as of yet undefeated teams, Austria and Slovakia. Meixner was the difference maker, scoring two crucial power play goals in the third period to secure a 3-2 win for Austria, tying the game at 51:04 and then scoring the game winner with 33 seconds remaining.
Austria needed overtime to beat the Netherlands, who would end up finishing last and being relegated to Division I Group B. With the Dutch up 2-0, Lintner got Austria on the board in the second period. Fazokas had yet another stand out performance, tying the game in the third period and scoring the game winning overtime goal.
France had an opportunity on the final day of competition to spoil Austria’s win streak, but was unable to capitalize on a series of power plays, their only goal of the game coming with 19 seconds remaining, resulting in Austria capping off the tournament with a 3-1 win.
Despite being second in the standings going into this final game, France ended up finishing off the podium, bumped down to fourth with Denmark taking second and Slovakia third.
France had opened the tournament in exciting…
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