Hungary looked to make it 3-0 in their exhibition games before the world championships against Slovenia.
Head Coach Rich Chernomaz made a number changes in the lineup, Miklós Rajna was back in the net with Zoltán Hetényi as the backup and Bence Bálizs scratched. Also not dressing today was István Mestyán, Viktor Tokaji, Adrián Tóth, Roland Hajós, Tamás Sárpátki, Zsolt Azari and Ákos Berta. Back in the lineup was Balázs Gőz, Dániel Kiss, Ladislav Sikorcin and Péter Vincze. With the Kalamazoo Wings making the playoffs Gergő Nagy will not be with the team in Krakow.
Hungary started the game flying with great energy, on the first powerplay Hungary struck already. The power play unit was moving the puck very well when János Hári fed the puck to Balázs Sebők in the slot who shot it past Gasper Kroselj, the Slovenian goalie for the early lead. Minutes later István Sofron made it 2-0 as he skated into the attack zone and rifled a shot from the faceoff circle past the goalie. Slovenia managed to get one back as Ziga Jeglic banked the puck off of Arnold Varga’s skate.
The second period was all Slovenia as it looked they had shaken the bus out of their legs. Hungary had their chances as well but it was mostly Slovenia but Rajna played well. In the closing minutes of the second period Jan Urbas made a crisp pass to the goal mouth that Jeglic flipped past Rajna for the tieing goal.
The third period did not go any better, in the opening minutes of the third period Marcel Rodman skated through the teeth of the defence and nicely slipped the puck past Rajna. Hungary kept up the fight but they were not able to tied it up, in the end Slovenia won 4-2 on an empty net goal.
Todays Lineup
Rajna (Hetényi)
Gőz, Kiss
Metcalfe, Szirányi
Gröschl, Pozsgai
Orbán, Reiter
Varga
Kóger, Sarauer, Sofron
Bartalis, Hári, Banham
Sebők, Sikorcin, Vincze
Kovács, Erdély, Magosi
Benk
Scratched: Bálizs, Mestyán, Tokaji, Tóth, Hajós, Sárpátki, Azari, Berta
Missing: Vas M, Vas J.
Coaches Corner
Rich Chernomaz-”This was our third game in five nights, against a bigger and stronger team. We stayed on plan and didn't make individual mistakes, we didn't finish on the power play like we did the other day. It was a 2-2 game on five on five situations. We were not as effective moving the puck out of our zone. Guys played hard once we went down”
Matjez Kopitar- “ If were missing about half our final team, everything that we talked about doing before the game we didn't exactly do. I made too many mistakes, we will need to play better in the future and we will look at the positives from today.”
View from the Ice
Balázs Sebők-”In an arena like this it is easy to play against any team. The Slovenian team was a lot stronger that the Austrians, it was different to play on this line but I'm sure I can play with them in the long run, if needed”
We started well, we had a 2-0 lead and we pushed hard, we did what coach asked form us and we did the details. In the second and third I think we just got tired and lost concentration.”The Hungarian Squad
Goalies (3): BÁLIZS Bence (Miskolci Jegesmedvék) HETÉNYI Zoltán RAJNA Miklós (Fehérvár AV19)
Defensmen (11): KISS Dániel (Újpest) ORBÁN Attila, REITER Attila, SZIRÁNYI Bence, TOKAJI Viktor, VARGA Arnold (Fehérvár AV19), GRÖSCHL Tamás, POZSGAI Tamás, MESTYÁN Tamás (Dab.Docler), GŐZ Balázs (Miskolci Jegesmedvék), VAS Márton (Löwen Frankfurt, DEL2)
Forwards (22): AZARI Zsolt (Dab.Docler), BANHAM Frank, BARTALIS István, BENK András, EREDÉLY Csanád, KOVÁCS Csaba, KÓGER Dániel, MAGOSI Bálint, SÁRPÁTKI Tamás, SARAUER Andrew, SIKORCIN Ladislav, VINCZE Péter, (Fehérvár AV19), HAJÓS Roland, METCALFE Tyler, NAGY Krisztián, TÓTH Adrián (Miskolci Jegesmedvék), BERTA Ákos (Debreceni HK), SEBŐK Balázs (Hokki, FIN2), SOFRON István (Krefeld Pinguine, GER), VAS János (Slavia Praha, CZE) NAGY Gergő (Kalamazoo Wings, ECHL) HÁRI János (MODO, SWE)
Coaching Staff
Head Coach: Rich Chernomaz
Assistant Coaches: Gergely Majoross, Tamás Sille, Diego Scandella
Goalie Coach: Gary Clark
Exhibition game schedule
Sunday April 12
17:00 Hungary Slovenia (at the Tüskecsarnok)
World Championships Schedule
Sunday April 19
13:00 Hungary-Japan
16:30 Ukraine-Kazakhstan
20:00 Poland-Italy
Monday April 20
13:00 Kazakhstan-Hungary
16:30 Italy-Ukraine
20:00 Poland-Italy
Tuesday April 21-Off day
Wednesday April 22
13:00 Kazakhstan-Japan
16:30 Italy-Hungary
20:00 Poland-Ukraine
Thursday April 23
13:00 Japan-Italy
16:30 Ukraine-Hungary
20:00 Kazakhstan-Poland
Friday April 24-Off day
Saturday April 25
13:00 Japan-Ukraine
16:30 Italy-Kazakhstan
20:00 Hungary-Poland
Photo: László Mudra
View from the Ice