Austria relegated for 2024 world juniors, will be replaced by Norway
Austria’s journey at the top level of the World Junior Championship has come to an end after losing 4-2 to Latvia in the second relegation game.
The 2024 tournament will mark Austria’s first in the second-tier tournament since earning promotion following the 2020 tournament. Austria had just managed to avoid relegation from DIA three years in a row prior to that. They finished last in 2021 and 2022, but no relegation took place.
The Austrians can bring back 14 players to the Division IA tournament next year, including Montreal Canadiens draft pick Vinzenz Rohrer and 2023 draft prospects Ian Scherzer and David Reinbacher.
Latvia, who was only promoted to the top tournament last year after Russia and Belarus were banned, will play in the top division for the third time in a row, something they have never done before.
After winning the first relegation game 5-2 on Monday, Latvia kept things running smoothly on Wednesday. Bogdans Hodass scored the only goal of the first at 6:40, rushing into an open slot to score on a pass from Rodzers Bukarts.
Austria played much better in the second, outshooting Latvia 13-6, but the Latvians expanded on their lead instead. Girts Silkalns won a race for the puck at 36:12 and jammed it past Thomas Pfarrmaier. Then, just under two minutes later, Boston Bruins prospect Dans Locmelis scored off of a pass from Anri Ravinskis to make it 3-0. At that point, the Austrians were no match for the Latvian attack. Sandis Vilmanis scored on Latvia’s first shot of the third period to make it 4-0.
That was Latvia’s only shot of the period, though, as Austria took control in the third with a pair of goals with the extra man. At 55:16, Luca Auer knocked in Vinzenz Rohrer’s pass for the 4-1 goal. Two minutes later, Finn van Ee did good work in front of the net and knocked in the feed from Ian Scherzer, making it 4-2. Unfortunately for the Austrians, a late penalty killed any chance of a comeback, with Latvia holding on for the win.
Austria will be replaced by Norway, who won the Division IA tournament in mid-December. The team can bring back up to 14 players, including goaltender Markus Røhnebæk Stensrud, who was dominant in the crease last month. Norway has played in the top tournament three times, immediately getting relegated each time. In 2017, they were relegated to Division IB before returning to DIA.
The 2024 tournament will be held in Gothenburg, Sweden.