The women’s national team fell short of expectations at the home World Cup in Klagenfurt. Anna Meixner looks back on the tournament. New domestic women’s league is being built.
There was talk of promotion to the world group for the first time before the home World Cup in Klagenfurt. The women’s national ice hockey team clearly missed this goal and ended up fourth. “In terms of sport, it wasn’t what we had planned, unfortunately that has to be made clear,” sums up Anna Meixner. But: “The interest was enormous! I’ve never received so many messages before.”The status of women’s ice hockey has definitely increased in Austria, as the latest developments show. Because the founding of the Austrian Women’s Hockey League ushers in a new era. The local association is building a new league together with the Hungarian and ICE Hockey Leagues. “The focus is on the professionalization of the existing European Women’s Hockey League and the newly launched Austrian Women’s Hockey League,” it says in one broadcast. Exact details will only be announced and play will begin in the fall. Most likely with the participation of the Salzburg Eagles. “An extremely positive development, it was long overdue. We’re in the EWHL anyway, we’ll almost certainly be a founding member of the AWHL,” says Eagles coach Eva Verworner optimistically. “Tears in her eyes” For Meixner, the long-awaited step towards professionalism: “I almost had tears in my eyes , when it was announced. As you have seen, we are still missing little things at the World Cup, but in two to three years we will have reached a completely different level.”
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