How the Austrian hockey team's pre-game partying has everyone up in arms

Austria lost 4-0 to Slovenia in men's ice hockey action on Tuesday, their tournament ending in the qualification round, and there's a good reason why they were beaten soundly by a country with only 900 registered hockey players and seven covered rinks: they were hungover. 

The Austrians were partying 36 hours before their game against the Slovenians, according to Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet, with some players not returning home until six in the morning after a "wet night." 

Austrian head coach Manny Viveiros, from Canada, confirmed the rumors on Wednesday when he addressed the media.

"We had a real chance to reach the quarterfinals," he said. "I don't know why this happened, especially before what is most likely the most important game for modern era Austrian ice hockey. It was a shock what happened after the game against Norway."

"I had no idea about this," Viveiros added. "I was shocked when I heard this. We knew that the players would go there and have dinner. But it was planned that they would return to their rooms immediately afterwards."

Viveiros plans to name names in the coming days, with respect to who was involved in the late-night partying scandal, and said there will be consequences. 

Austrian NHL players Thomas Vanek, Michael Grabner, and Michael Raffl apologized in a statement, again according to Aftonbladet. 

"We do not believe that [the night out] affected our performance in the match against Slovenia. But we are aware that we are role models and should have moved the celebration until after our last game in the tournament," the three players wrote.

Additional reports suggest Viveiros is especially disappointed in Vanek, who was named Austria's captain, and expected to set a better example. 

Austrian forward Daniel Welser addressed some of the rumors on Twitter, which is always a smart thing to do. 

"Let's talk about our hockey performance for a moment and put the party night story on the side," he said. "Nobody gave us a chance and we proved the people wrong," Welser added, addressing Austria's huge win over Norway on Feb. 16. 

Welser feels like Slovenia isn't getting enough credit: 

Austria finished 10th in the tournament.