As the preseason comes to an end Fehérvár is playing their annual Gábor Ocskay memorial tournmanet. On the opening day they took on Olimpia Ljubljana.
Head coach Rob Pallin gave Frank Banham the day off and István Bartalis was out because of his knee injury, Miklós Rajna got the start in net.
Before the game there was a statue dedication of Gábor Ocskay Jr. and former team captain Viktor Tokaji did a ceremonial faceoff.
The home team got off to a quick start as the second line scored on their first shift when Bence Szirányi fired a shot from the blue line that
Halfway through the period Judd Blackwater was called for interference, the visiting Slovenian side took advantage of this as Anze Ropret defelcted a shot from teh left faceoof circle past Rajna. Two and a half minutes later the Fehérvár fans were back on their feet again when Andrew Sarauer redircted a Szirányi shot to make it 2-1. Just as the period ended and the teams were heading to the locker room the benches cleared and the teams started jawing at each other.
The second period started with a Fehérvár power play that they were not able to capitalize on. The two teams were visible slower in the second period with neither team able to convert on their power play chances. With just about five minutes left in the period Chris Franis took a pass down low from Szirányi, fed the puck to Brandon Connolly who one timed it past the keeper to give Volán a two goal lead. It took Olimpia less than a minute to get back the goal as Ales Music slipped a rebound into the empty net as Rajna was caught out of place.
The opening minutes of the third period started much like the second period, but teams looked sluggish. Francis put Fehévár back up by two when he took a pass from Connelly skated, in faked out the goalie flipped the puck past the goalie. Olimpia kept up the attack but were not able to score, Volán take some penalties that gave their opponents chances but they were not able to get closer. With just over five minutes left in the game Sarauer fired a rocket past the Olvier Roy off of an Attila Orbán pass to make it 5-2.
COACHES' CORNER
Rob Pallin: I thought we played really well, this team playes fast, and we played fast and tough today, the presence of Connonlly and Blackwater on the ice really helped us today. Them and Martinelli are black and blue players, we have skill but we needed some toughness.
Fabian Dalhem: We played a pretty good hockey game for the first thirty minutes but then we didnt keep up the pressure and did not keep up the game plan.
View from the ice
Brandon Connoly:We started a good start with Kovács scoring early I didn't really know what to expect with the fans but nothing like this. We need another great start like this against Graz like we had today.
Bence Szirányi: This the first game all preseason where we played as a team, the four lines are taking shape. Tomorrow will be a hard game against Graz but we want to keep the trophy in Fehérvár.
Graz-Skalica
In the early game of the day was EBEL club Graz taking on Slovak side Skalica who had former Hungarian national team goalie Peter Sevela on the bench. After a scoreless first period Graz opened up the scoring when Matt Fornataro scored an equal strength goal. The lead didn't last last long for the Austrian side as Skalice tied it up at one by Tomas Komienk. All the scoring took place in the second period as Graz scored their second and what turned out to by the last goal of the game when Philip de Simone took a Kevin Mitchell and slipped it past the goalie.
Coaches’ Corner
Todd Bjorkstrand- We were satisfied the way we played, we had a lot of young guys that we brought up to the team. Both teams will be a challenge for you us regardless who we play, it will be real challenge for us.