Austria came out timid and lost grip of the game during the first shifts. USA came out scoring with James Wisniewski and Brett Sterling respectively. After giving up two quick goals the Austrians seemed to gain a little control and matched up pretty well for the next twenty minutes.
The second half of the game was strictly one-way traffic and resulted in a blowout victory for the US. Devils draftee Zach Parise was the king of the rink completing his hat trick at the 12 minute mark of the third period.
- This is the first time were playing together, but it was a good game for us. There are lot of players that have played with each other and I believe that will help us during this tournament, Parise commented on the game.
The games will get tougher for Team USA. Next up is Slovakia which coming off a joyous tie with the Russians. Russia didn't manage to break up the Slovakians neutral zone trap but Parise seemed confident.
- Slovakia is next up for us and they are a much tougher opponent. They'll try to trap in mid ice as we saw against Russia today. We'll have to dump it in and keep up speed so they won't succeed against us.
Head coach Mike Eaves was very happy with the result, as he should be. USA has to play more disclipined hockey to get wins when the going gets tougher, stupid penalties result in bad goals against.
- On the whole I'm satisfied with our opener, but you have to keep in mind that this was just the first step of a long journey. The big thing is to concentrate on the next game, Eaves commented.
The US got an easy start, getting used to international play. Slovakia will provide a much better test of Team USA's chances in the tournament. Austria will struggle to score even a single goal in the round robin games. Goalie Mathias Lange shone and kept his team from getting blown out even worse. Extra props to Lange for not giving up in the final period.
- We have to learn by doing, game by game. I'm sure we'll be much better in the most important games for us, Austrian coach Herbert Pöck commented.
