STAFF
Head coach: Rich Chernomaz
Coaches: Gergely Majoross , Diego Scandella, Tamás Sille, Viktor Tokaji
Goalie coach: Gary Clark
Strength and conditioning: Sándor Puskás
GM: Attila Nagy
Team leader: Lajos Imre
Doctor: Ernő Majzik
Physio: Imre Bagonya, Tamás Sashalmi
Equipment managers: József Nagy, Gábor Tornyi
The following quote is from April 21st 2015.
“It was an easier situation because Tuesday was a day off and we were able to catch up with the videos and on Wednesday we just had to go over it with the team. We were on the ice at 9:30, after which I did a quick intervew and then Toki and myself went down to the banks of the Vistula river for a quick run. The free time is useful for us as well because that gives us a chance to think about what we saw on the film and how to overcome any issue that we think might occur. After the win we stuck around to watch the first period of the Poland-Ukraine game after which myself and Rich and Diego Scandella with Tamás Sille broke down the film on Ukraine, in the end Wednesday was not a short day but this was OK.”
Gergely Majoross said this to our media partner Nemzeti Sport during last years Division 1/A world championships with regards to the 4-1 win against Italy, which was considered by everyone the game that come closest to perfection during that week. The following day we defeated Ukraine and closed out the tournament with a win against Poland as we crossed the threshold into the A-Pool.
The point of what Majoross said was the amount of people are involved in getting the most possible knowledge to the players with regards to the opponents and what they need to do. This is what the fans cannot see in person at the games or on television, yet it is a major part of the success of the team.
Gergely Majoross
Towards the end of the playing career of 36 year old Mogyi people were already saying that he will become a coach as he was a systems oriented player for being a third or fourth line center. The attention to detail has carried over to his coaching career after he retired in 2011. First he was a youth coach for MAC Budapest before being hired as the head coach of Miskolc where he spent one season and now he is back in the capital city coaching MAC. In the meantime he became a member of the national team program, first working with the U18 and U20 national teams and eventually making the move to the senior team as an assistant to Rich Chernomaz.
“I decided to give the team that I was coaching during the in-house tournament to Diego, I promised him we would win both our matches the day before and we will be in a good position on Thursday when I won't be around,” said Mogyi with regards to the Thursday EBEL meeting where the idea of MAC joining the EBEL would be decided. Mogyi was in charge of the green team during the tournament. The promise did not come to fruition as the greens ended up playing for third place.
We asked Mogyi how has the national team staff changed if at all during the recent years as well as how is everyone assigned a job or how was all of this split up.
“I don’t think the roles have really changed at all, but we will see what will happen after the roster cuts are made and we start playing the exhibition games and if any changes will be made to the usual set up. If we go with what we had in Krakow, Rich and myself mostly worked with our games and Tomi Sille and Diego would work more with the opponents, but next to this I had other tasks, since my English language skills are the best among the Hungarian coaches I would communicate the most directly between the coaching staff and the team.”
Diego Scandella
If we look at the coaching staff Diego Scandella has been working with the national team the longest. This pint sized spectacled quite gentleman has been working with the Hungarian national team program since the 2007-08 season and has worked with every national team coach since Pat Cortina, including Ted Sator and Kevin Primeau and took over the national team when Primeau was relieved of his duties for the 2012 Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
He is a background person through and through, he is the master of video coaching and breaking down film, for example the full ice press that Hungary used against Italy at the world championships was his idea based on the film that he watched. In recent years he has also worked with the Canadian and Spanish national teams including coaching against Hungary at the 2011 world championships.
His everyday job is working with the Swiss club Ambri Piotta, earlier in his career he worked in Italy where his cousin Giuliano plays, another cousin of his is Marco Scandella of the Minnesota Wild.
“We have never had this many players in camp like we do now and it is great to see, we can really take a look at everyone under a microscope and see that Hungary is moving in the right direction,” says Diego with regards to the first week of camp.
Diego also talked about how the responsibilities are split among the coaching staff and how does this happen.
"I am 52 years old, I have had a number of positions in hockey, now I am at the stage where I try to help where I can. Rich is the number one person and I am a member of his coaching staff. We do what he asks of us to make the team succeed. During camp we are always on the look out to find ways to improve, he tells us exactly what he wants and we adjust to this. We will probably stick with the same positions as we had last season Mogyi is in charge of most of the on ice sessions and sometimes myself and Tomi will help out as Rich oversees everything."
After the unsuccessful 2012 Olympic Qualifying Tournament critics said the reason was most likely that Scandella is really an assistant coach and being a head coach might not be the best for him. However, every player on that team was adamant that this was not the reason why the team was not successful.
On the other hand, after success at the world championships Diego can be found getting a good night's rest as the rest of the team is celebrating since he is drained of all energy from the past week.
“I have pretty much always had the same role when I was helping Pat, at the start it was me him and Lajos. Now there are more of us but the work is still the same, we are always communicating and everyone has their opinion.”
Tamás Sille
As clear it was that Gergely Majoross would follow up his playing career with a move behind the bench this was just as clear for Tamás Sille, probably because he was still playing at the age of 43, he made his Hungarian national team debut at the age of 33.
It is not easy to get Tomi to open up for a sentence let alone an entire interview. However, he is a great person to have a conversation with. He is a man of few words but he choose them well.
Sille is responsible for the defensmen on the national team.
“Clearly because I was a defenseman I work with the blue line here but this does not mean that I do not keep an eye on the forwards as well. We are trying to help everyone where we can.”
Most of the skaters from the generation that brought home the gold in Sapparo were born in 1975-76 and then there was a generation gap until the players born in the late 1980s, with guys like Sille playing until they were 43 this transition was easier.
Viktor Tokaji
Based on seniority Viktor Tokaji is the baby of the bunch as he only joined the staff last season because of injury and officially joined the staff starting this season.
Last season he missed the world championships because of an ankle injury but head coach Rich Chernomaz wanted him on his coaching staff. This past January he decided that it might be time to retire from internationals. However, he is still playing for MAC Budapest and he is the team captain.
“The situation is a bit different this time around, this year everything is a lot more serious. I am very thankful for the opportunity that I have to work with the team. I like what I had an opportunity to try last season, and I think I have a great opportunity in front of me to work at an A-Pool world championship. Krakow was the first step from this point of view. I was really pulling for the guys and I knew that they will be able to do this. The team really came together for the goal of winning promotion.”
Photo: László Mudra
ROSTER
Goalies (5): BÁLIZS Bence (MAC Budapest), KISS Bence (DVTK-Jegesmedvék), HETÉNYI Zoltán, RAJNA Miklós (Fehérvár AV19), VAY Ádám (Debreceni HK)
Defencemen (13): ORBÁN Attila, SZIRÁNYI Bence, VARGA Arnold, WEHRS Kevin (Fehérvár), KISS Dániel (UTE), GARÁT Zsombor, MESTYÁN István, POZSGAI Tamás, STIPSICZ Bence (MAC), DUDÁS Jesse, GŐZ Balázs, SAGERT Kalvin, (DVTK), VAS Márton (Fassa)
Forwards (22): BANHAM Frank, BARTALIS István, BENK András, KOVÁCS Csaba, KÓGER Dániel, NAGY Gergő, REISZ Áron, SARAUER Andrew, SÁRPÁTKI Tamás, SIKORCIN Ladislav (Fehérvár), CSÁNYI Karol (UTE), ERDÉLY Csanád (Sioux Falls), SOMOGYI Balázs (DVTK), GALLÓ Vilmos (Linköping), HÁRI János (Leksand), KÖNCZEI Áron (Debrecen), MAGOSI Bálint (Briancon), NAGY Krisztián, TERBÓCS István (MAC), SEBŐK Balázs (KalPa), SOFRON István (Klagenfurt), VAS János (Slavia Praha)
SPRING SCHEDULE
Exhibition games
April 15th, Friday, 18.00 (Budapest): v Austria
April 16th, Saturday, 16.30 (Vienna): @Austria
April 20th Wednesday, 19.00 (Budapest): v Slovenia
April 29th, Friday, 19.00 (Budapest): v Kazakhstan
April 30th, Saturday, 19.00 (Budapest): v Russia B
World Championships, Russia
Group B (St. Petersburg)
May 7th, Saturday, 12.15 (11.15): v Slovakia
May 8th, Sunday, 12.15 (11.15): v Canada
May 10th, Tuesday, 20.15 (19.15): v France
May 11th, Wednesday, 20.15 (19.15): v Finland
May 13th, Friday, 16.15 (15.15): v USA
May 14th, Saturday, 16.15 (15.15): v Belarus
May 16th, Monday, 20.15 (19.15): v Germany
(CET)