In the Austrian U20 league,or better known as the Erste Bank Young Stars League (EBYSL) three Hungarian teams started the season competing for the league title, Vasas, MAC Budapest and Fehérvár AV19. MAC and Fehérvár finished one and two in their group and made it to the playoffs, both of them advanced to the semi finals in a best out of three series this past week.
Fehérvár AV19-EHC Blackwings Linz 2-0
With having the best record on their group Fehérvár had the option of choosing to face Linz or Znojmo, it looks like they chose wisely as they knocked off the Austrian club with ease, winning the series two games to zero. In the first game at home Volán let Linz score the opening goal but wore them down as the game progressed. Balázs Varga tied the game up at 1-1, with Tamás Sárpátki, Martin Pillok and Benjámin Nemes scoring in the second period to pretty much take the victory. In the third period for good measure Krisztián Szabó a fifth goal to make it 5-1, Dániel Kornakker was in net for the win.
In game two coach Tyler Dietrich gave Korankker the start between the pipes. This time Fehérvár took the early lead and did not look back as Dániel Mazzag and Szabó each scored a goal in the first two periods as Volán had a 2-0 lead going into the third period. Szabo completed his brace in the opening minutes of the third period with Ferenc Kocsis scoring a power play goal with ten minutes left, Kornakker would shut the door on Linz in the 4-0 shutout win. Fehérvár has home ice advantage in the best out of three semifinals series against Olimpija Ljubljana that will start on Wednesday.
MAC Budapest-HC Orli Znojmo 2-1
The series between the Budapest club and the Czech side was a tight hard fought battle from start to finish. Game one started well for Znojmo as they jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the opening minutes of the first period. Znojmo was up 3-0 early in the second before Kristóf Schmál scored a nice goal after some nifty stick work. Before the period was out Kristóf Majoross and Arnold Silló and brought MAC back even 3-3. After a scoreless third period the game went into overtime but MAC only needed an extra 1:30 as Silló scored the game winner.
In game two in Znojmo, Gergely Arany got the start in goal for MAC Budapest, in the first period István Tebocs gave MAC the lead but it didn’t last long as Znojmo was able to flip the score before the period was over. In the end they were able to hold on to a 2-1 win as the series headed back to Budapest.
After the first two games being so close the third game was bound to be a tight one as well. Coach Bob Dever stuck with what had worked all season as Arany started game three in net as well, unlike game one this time MAC opened up with a quick 3-0 lead in the first period. Terbócs scored in the opening minute of the game with Schmál and Uros Bjeloglic scoring the other two. Znojmo got two goals back in the second as the game was 3-2 going into the third period, goal in the third period tied the game up at 3-3, just as in game one the game went to overtime. This time the first twenty minute overtime period went into the final minute when Silló skated in a breakaway and beat the goalie for his second overtime goal in the series. MAC will take on RedBull Salzburg in the semi finals, game one will be Wednesday in Salzburg.
Photo: Attila Soós