Team Austria has not fared well in its first two games of the Olympic qualification tournament despite contributions from Montreal Canadiens prospects David Reinbacher and Vinzenz Rohrer.
Team Austria’s Olympic qualification tournament experience in 2024 is off to a rocky start.
The team was defeated 2-1 early today in a contest against Kazakhstan and lost by the same margin yesterday in a match against Slovakia.
It is not for a lack of effort that the Austrians lost, nor a lack of contributions from two Montreal Canadiens skaters who are on the 25-man roster: defenseman David Reinbacher and forward Vinzenz Rohrer.
In today’s match-up, Rohrer had a chance to tie the game with the puck on his stick down a goal in the final frame. After a penalty shot was called against Kazakhstan, Rohrer accelerated with the puck at center ice. He streaked in on goal, attempting to pull the puck to his backhand and elevate it. He ran out of ice, however, and the opposing goaltender Andrei Shutov denied him any wiggle room.
The forward would avenge himself later on in the period. Rohrer found some open ice near the right face-off dot in the offensive zone and drew a defender toward him. He laced the rubber over to teammate Raphael Herburger to tie the game at 1-1.
Reinbacher got on the stats sheet in the game against Slovakia. Off of a faceoff draw with time winding down in the second period, Reinbacher took the puck and sent over a one-time pass to teammate Marco Kasper, who blasted a shot into the back of Slovakia’s net on the power play.
Reinbacher is shooting for a roster spot with the Canadiens this September, but he will have to battle it out with numerous other competitors in training camp. He does not have much North American hockey experience, having appeared in just 11 games for the Laval rocket last season. He scored five points during that span.
