PRAGUE, 25 April 2004 — Austria got their world championship campaign off to a perfect start on the first day of the tournament, thrashing France 6-0 in their Group D encounter here yesterday.
Austria looked in complete command throughout the first period with their skipper Dieter Kalt scoring the opening goal immediately after the initial face-off just nine seconds into the game.
Matthias Tratting added a power-play goal nine minutes later to give his side a comfortable 2-0 lead before the first intermission.
After the interval Austria dominated the game but managed to score only once, when Tratting netted his second of the match at 25:27 to increase his side’s advantage. Austrian defenders Gerhard Unterluggauer and Robert Lukas and forward Raimund Divis added one apiece in the third to round off the rout.
Meanwhile the 2002 world champions and last year’s bronze medal winners Slovakia experienced few troubles in their opening Group B match, outscoring Ukraine 2-0 at the ice rink of Ostrava.
Slovakian forward Marian Gaborik opened the score with a shorthanded goal at 4:06, while striker Marian Hossa hit past Ukraine’s goalie Konstantin Simchuk with 22sec remaining before the break on power-play to put their team 2-0 up.
