Switzerland started the Ice Hockey World Championships in Finland and Latvia with a resounding victory.
The team around NHL-Striker Nino Niederreiter swept the newly promoted team Slovenia 7-0 (2-0, 1-0, 4-0) off the ice in his first game of group B. In front of 3,260 spectators in Riga, the attacker was the Winnipeg Jets once successful, Denis Malgin from the Colorado Avalanches contributed two goals.
France defeats Austria in overtime
For Austria, on the other hand, the second World Cup after promotion at the green table because of the exclusion of Russia and Belarus began with a defeat. The team around young star Marco Rossi lost in German Group A in Tampere against France 1:2 (0:1, 0:0, 1:0, 0:1) after extra time. Former NHL professional Thomas Raffl equalized in front of 7,626 visitors in the final third, Florian Chakiachvili made the decision in favor of the French after 39 seconds in overtime.
On May 19, Austria is the fifth preliminary round opponent of the German national team, which started the tournament with a 0-1 loss against Sweden on Friday.