Background on the MOL League

The questions that people ask with a slight surprise is “is there hockey in Hungary?” and once they get the answer of YES the next question is “and is it any good?” Well is not the NHL but nothing really is. For five seasons now the top hockey league in Hungary has been running under the name of MOL League. The MOL petrol company has been the main sponsor of this multinational league. Much like the EBEL (Erste Bank Elite League) in Austria which is made up of teams from five different countries, the MOL league is made up of teams from three countries this season (with an eye to expantion). In the past the number of the teams in the league has fluctuated anywhere from seven to ten. The 2008-09 season was the first year of this multinational league with ten teams and the league could not have pictured of having a better inaugural season. The league had four teams from Romania, two Csikszereda teams, HC Csikszereda, and SC Csikszereda, Steaua Bucharest, and Progym Hargita and six from Hungary with three being located in Budapest, Újpest (ÚTE), Ferencváros (FTC) and the newly former Budapest Stars. Rounding out the league was Dunaújváros Acélbikák (DAB), Miskolc Jegesmedék (MJSE) and Székesfehérvár II (the farm team for a team playing in the EBEL). 

That first season was a rather exciting one in which ice hockey fans in Hungary had the opportunity to see teams play in a league that they had not really seen before. That first season was won by HC Csikszereda with a very talented and multi ethnic team.
The next season, 2009-10 the number of participants in the league dropped down to seven teams. The two Csikszereda teams merged to form HSC Csikrszereda, Bucharest and Hargita decided to only play in the Romanian league, on the Hungarian side Székesfehérvár decided to not enter a team since they thought they were streched too thin with playing in the Austrian EBEL as well. However not all was lost, a team from Brossó in Romania was formed to have the seven team league. The league title went to the Budapest Stars who after the regular season had finished third but ended up upsetting the heavily favored team from Dunaújváros. The Stars picked up a number of players down the stretch.

The third season proved that this league was on the right track; all seven teams from the previous season were back along with two teams that had sat out the last season. Bucharest was back but rebranded as the Bucharest Rangers and Székesfehérvár’s farm team was back as well. The nine team league title went to HSC Csikszereda, which still had a number of players from the HC Csikszereda team that had won the first title. Unfortunately signs began to show that financially not all teams were on the same level. UTE before the season decided to almost go with a complete amateur team with most of the players either still being students or having a job on the side. The idea was to build up a roster of homegrown talent for a couple of years.
Before the start of the fourth MOL League season there was some shocking new to the Budapest hockey community, the Budapest Stars have decided to stop operating their adult (the youth system was left untouched) and the league would be down to eight teams. The league was won by DAB who that season decided not only to play in the MOL League but also in the Austrian 2nd division with an eye on the EBEL in the future. In the past DAB had in the most consistent team through out the history of the league but had yet to win the title, this was finally accomplished after a grueling season where they made the playoffs in the Austrian 2nd division as well.

As we are on the cusp of the start of the playoffs for this years MOL League we can notice that hockey in Budapest is bit on a down slide with both ÚTE and FTC missing the playoffs. However there is some good news in that the league has expanded into a third country, Slovakia. This season the league was down to seven teams, Bucharest again decided to sit out the season and Székesfehérvár thought that they would be stretched too thin with their younger players already playing in the Austrian U20 league. To keep the league at seven, Nové Zamsky Ice Tigers from Slovakia have joined the league and made it to the playoffs. This season the playoffs is a final four with the Ice Tigers playing Csikszereda and with MJSE and DAB making up the other semi final pairing.

Check back for more news on the MOL League playoffs

Szabolcs Závodszky
@Zavodszky

Names in italic were under contract and played match for teams in the MOL but never dressed for a MOL League match.

Photo: László Mudra (dabdocler.hu)