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Vienna: From hockey wasteland to boom town


Dieter Kalt (left) provides leadership for the Vienna Capitals and the national team

Vienna's hockey fans had been awaiting this moment for 43 years. The 4,500 fans at the Albert-Schultz-Halle and hundreds more in front of a big video screen outside the arena broke out in cheers of joy when captain Dieter Kalt hoisted the Austrian championship trophy after the Vienna Capitals' Game 7 win over Klagenfurt April 12.

This year, the Austrian capital will host its fifth IIHF World Championship since 1967. But for decades, it was a hockey wasteland. Things hit an all-time low in 2000 with the folding of Wiener Eislaufverein, the last local team to capture a national title back in 1962. That left Vienna without a club in either the first or second division for the first time in Austrian hockey history.

But the hiatus only lasted a year. Professional hockey returned to Vienna in 2001 when an ownership group led by former hockey player Martin Platzer brought the Capitals into existence. Despite big investments, the new team did not have much to show for its efforts in the first three years.

Things changed with the arrivals of publisher and marketing expert Hans Schmid, who took the reins as president, and Jim Boni, the Italian-Canadian who became the new head coach. Within just 18 months, Boni managed to take the Capitals from dead last to championship honors. The Capitals' successful run also helped them set new attendance records with an average attendance of 3,710.

Hockey's recent boom is not limited to Vienna, though. Austria's Elite League, which was mainly a provincial attraction in previous decades, has become a big deal in the big cities. And the level of competition is more balanced than ever. All seven teams in Innsbruck, Graz, Linz, Villach, Klagenfurt, Salzburg and Vienna have received heightened interest from domestic media and fans.

Now the nation is eagerly gearing up to watch the world's finest hockey players in Vienna and Innsbruck.