Head coach Rich Chernomaz started off Tuesday's press conference by saying that he would be spending time with the U20 national team and would not be able to join the senior national team back in Budapest until the last match versus Ukraineon Sunday. In his place Tamás Sille will be in charge for the first two matches against Poland and Romania, respectively: Joining Sille on the coaching staff will be general manager Balázs Kangyal and goalie coach Gary Clark.
As well as having changes to the coaching staff there was one more change to the roster. On top of András Benk, János Hári and Nikandrosz Galanisz dropping out of the tournament because sudden injuries defensemen Viktor Tokaji took a puck off his ankle in a match a couple of weeks ago and is still not 100%. Unlike the forwards who have been replaced by Adrián Tóth, Attila Németh and Tamás Gröschl there will not be an extra defenseman being added to the roster.
"With 9 players not being back from last season's world championships this is a great opportunity for the young players," said Rich Chernomaz. He went on saying "I am open to having an open competition. I will have to be patient with the young players especially the defensemen."
Goal scoring winger István Sofron from the Krefeld Pinguine is excited to see how his development in the past couple of months will not only help the national team but how he will match up against the opponents. "The DEL is definitely a step up from the EBEL," Sofron said. "At first I was scared that I might not be able pick up the pace of the league but now I feel that I can keep up even with the best ones in the league. In fact now that I am back with the national team on the ice I have an extra second or two to make the decision so I am confident that this has been a great move for me and I look forward to going up against the opponents this weekend."
Young defenceman Balázs Gőz from Morzine-Avoriaz sounded equally confident and he credits this to his move to the French league. "The coaching staff has been slowly giving me bigger responsibilities such as being a top four defenceman and playing on the top power play unit," Gőz said. "This has given me lots of confidence that I intend to bring on the ice from now on and through the world championships."
Either way it will be interesting what happens the rest of the week and at the weekend as well with the national team.
Szabolcs Závodszky
@Zavodszky
Photo: László Mudra (MJSZ)