After winning gold in 2014 Győr ETO came up short this year in an overtime loss to Villach in the finals of the Austrian league.
The Győri ETO HC team travelled to Austria this past weekend to take part in the Austrian Inline league. The Hungarian team won the gold last year and hoped to defend their title this year. This Győr team was not the same that played in last years tournament as national team player István Bartalis is still recovering from a knee injury he picked up during the ice hockey season. However the team did add some new players since their second place finish in the Bauer Hungarian Cup. Balázs Gőz, Zoltán Pál and Nobert Fekecs joined from Marczi Skate, Attila Rafaj from Rokko and István Terbocs from MAC Budapest. The surface that the tournament was played on was not the traditional inline surface that the national team will play on at the world championships, but instead it was on concrete, said Norbert Fekecs. “However this was great as a team building event” he continued.
Győr had a grueling weekend as they played four games on Saturday and three on Sunday. They had a close game against WEV Lions but had a two goal win in their second game against Steindorf. They played a real nail biter against one of the favorites Villach who had Michael Raffl of the Philadelphia Flyers on the squad, they came up short 6-5 in a shootout lose. The Hungarian team did end the first day on a high note as they put a beating on Zeltweg with a 19-4 win.
On the second day of competition Győr closed out the group stage with a win as Krisztián Budai and Bence Bálizs combined for a shutout against Klagenfurt. Budai and Bálizs split the time 50/50 throughout the tournament with the veteran Budai starting and Bálizs getting the second half in each game.
In the semifinals ETO beat Steindorf for the second time but this time they won by eight goals. In the finals they faced the only team they lost to all tournaments and again the game had to be settled in extra time with Győr coming up short again, this time with a 6-5 overtime loss.
Veteran national team player Zoltán Revák talked about the tournament and how it was good for the upcoming world championships as well. “The backbone of this team also makes up the national team for us, thus this weekend was great for our preparation for the upcoming world championships. I think this was great for the guys to come together and become closer as a team, there was a great atmosphere around the team. Aside from losing to the eventual champions we beat everyone else that we faced. The final game was an exciting back and forth match, Villach was able to tie the game up in the closing minutes and they managed to win in overtime. We can’t be disappointed in the loss as Villach had players like Markus Peinter and Michael Raffl on their team”
Group Stage:
WEV Lions-Győri ETO 2-3
Győri ETO-Steindorf Wölfe 6-4
Győri ETO-Villacher Adler 5-6 SO
EV Zeltweg-Győri ETO 4-19
KAC Dragons-Győri ETO 0-5
Semi Finals:
Győri ETO-Steindorf Wölfe 13-5
Finals
Győri ETO-Villacher Adler 5-6 OT
Győri ETO HC: Bence Bálisz, Balázs Bartalis, Krisztián Budai, Arnold Feil, Norbert Fekecs Ákos Halász, Ákos Kiss, Tamás Lencsés, Ákos Méhes, Zoltán Pál, Attila Rafaj, Zoltán Revák, István Terbócs