With the Stanley Cup being won by the Los Angeles Kings the book has been closed on the 2013-14 hockey season. Much like in other corners of the hockey world the Hungarian ice hockey season had its ups and downs both on and off the ice. The highlights of the season not only include professional senior mens player but also, the youth teams and women's teams. This is Part 2 of our review of the season.
There was great excitement surrounding the men's senior national teams they headed to South Korea to play in the Division 1A World championships where along with the host nation they faced Japan, Ukraine, Austria and Slovenia. The national team is going through a bit a of a generation change under the watch of head coach Rich Chernomaz and his staff, there were some young players that impressed and some veteran forwards that made the move to the blueline. In the end after a hard fought tournament Hungary missed out on being promoted to the A level for 2015, finishing 5th.
After winning promotion into the Division 1B in 2013 Hungary's women's team not only achieved the goal of staying in the group but ended up with the bronze medal and will be trying to win promotion to the next level up in 2015. The backbone of the team was the skill level that was brought by the players from the U18 team.
Hungary had the pleasure of hosting the Women’s U18 worlds this spring. Unfortunately after staying in the group the year before they were relegated but will be looking to get back as soon as possible. A number of the young ladies from the team are getting looks from NCAA schools, who hopefully will be leading the Hungarian women's program to newer heights.
The future looks bright not only for the Hungarian womens team but also the mens as both the U20 and U18 teams won their respective tournaments as the host nation. In Miskolc, Hungary won the U20 Division 2A championships and the U18 Division 1B championships in Fehérvár the year after moving up, which is a great feat in itself. These are the first fruits that have been seen since Glen Williamson has taken over as coach of the youth teams. A number of the players from the two teams look to make a move to the U.S. and Canada to play juniors and college hockey in years to come. Among these players are Csanád Erdély, Tamás Láday and Roland Vokla just to name a few.
There have been Hungarians plying their trade abroad for a number of years and this year a number of them had excellent seasons. Gergő Nagy started his season in Nové Zámky of the MOL League and finished up with a guaranteed AHL contract with the Chicago Wolves thanks to an outstanding season with the Quad City Mallards in the CHL. In France shutdown defenceman Viktor Szélig brought his usual form as being the leader in French champions Briancon. Also playing in France was János Vas who had a solid season in Rouen scoring 31 points in 25 games. János’ brother Márton lead German side Lowen Frankfurt to promotion to DEL2 as a point per game defenceman. Meanwhile István Sofron picked up the speed of the DEL nicely in his first season with Krefeld.
Overall one can say the past season of Hungarian hockey was not bad and there were areas where small steps were made, other areas where it was leaps and strides.
One can only hope that the sport can build on the successes of the 2013-14 season and have an even better 2014-15.
Words: Szabolcs Závodszky
Photo: László Mudra