The 19-year-old center knows what the young Austrians will face in the next few days, having played against the world’s best talents for the Ottawa 67s in the past two seasons.
“We mustn’t show fear. The aim is for the top nations to know where Austria is so that they don’t confuse us with Australia, ”is his motto before the games against the three medal candidates USA (December 27th, 3.30 am CET), Sweden (December 29th, 12 am, live on ORF Sport +) and Russia (December 30, 3:30 a.m.) and the Czech Republic (December 31, 8:00 p.m., live on ORF Sport +). Improve from game to game and aim for a sensational victory against the Czech Republic, that’s the plan.
“Small mistakes are punished immediately”
In addition to the more difficult opponents, there is the smaller ice surface that his colleagues have to adjust to. “The ice cream is completely different from the European one, small mistakes are punished immediately. You have less time, shorter running distances, there are a lot of duels, and then you quickly have the opportunity to have a good scoring chance. The puck is always around the goal, so it is important that we give the top nations little time, otherwise we will make it easy for them, ”said the man from Vorarlberg, describing the differences.
Even if the normally thousands of spectators in the hall and the around 250 NHL scouts are missing this time and can only be there via TV, a U20 A World Cup, especially in the motherland of ice hockey, is still the biggest event that takes place Present talents. The young Austrians should ignore that as much as possible. “It is important not to concentrate on the scouts, but on the team. That you play the right game and don’t want too much, otherwise unnecessary mistakes will result. Just play and give your best, ”was the captain’s advice.
After the World Cup to the NHL camp
For him, the tournament that starts on Friday is a farewell to junior sport and “a very big stage to prove yourself again”. After that, Rossi will go to St. Paul, where the Minnesota Wild’s short preparatory camp for the new NHL season will begin on January 3rd. The center is trusted to be one of the few talents in this year’s draft to make the leap into the strongest league in the world. Minnesota has drafted Rossi as number nine, meanwhile he has signed a three-year contract, which, according to Capfriendly.com, brings him $ 925,000 annually.
He pushes speculation and NHL dreams aside in the next few days. “After the World Cup, it’s off to Minnesota, then camp starts – that’s the only thing I know,” he said. “I always concentrate on where I am right now, that’s the national team now. Our goal is that we play well and present ourselves well, “emphasized Rossi, who should have had match practice with the adults in the Zurich Lions in the Swiss top league in autumn, but only played one game before he got a positive coronavirus test stopped.
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