For the first time in club history the Miskolc PolarBears have won the MOL League title in a four game sweep of HC Nové Zámky with game four being a dramatic come from behind overtime thriller.
Going into game four Miskolc had the momentum after they scored a late goal in game three to be up 3-0 with a chance to clinch the title on home ice, in front of an overflowing crowd. Game four was a true battle as both teams were fight for each puck and not willing to give an inch to the other. At first it looked as if the age and wisdom of Nové Zámky, who dressed four players over the age of 40 would get the better of Miskolc. As as it looked that Miskolc would be able to kill the first powerplay of the game the veteran Marek Uram pulled trick out of his bag and flipped the puck off of goalie Bence Bálizs’ back from behind the end line, a truly veteran move. Miskolc worked out scoring chances but Pavel Krajcovic stood tall in the Nové Zámky net.
At the start of the second period Marek Uram was on his toes again, sixtyfive seconds into the second period Uram put the defending champions up 2-0 buried the puck past Bálizs, who was voted as the top goalie by the coaches. Three minutes later Albin Podstavek took a mid range shot that got past Bálizs, the goal took some air out of the fans who up until then had been screaming their heads off. Péter Klobucnik made it 4-0, at this point people were looking around saying that now they know what they will be doing Monday night that is when game 5 was scheduled for. In the closing minutes Miskolc had 5 on 3 powerplay and they knew that they had to score if they wanted to get back into the game. MOL League defenseman of the year Jesse Dudas fired a rocket past Krajcovic end his shutout, but the team still had a lot of work left.
In the third period Nové Zámky visible looked to get tired and started to take unnecessary penalties. In the early part of the period one of the strangest goals of the season was scored, as he was falling down onto the ice Zach Cohen somehow wrapped the puck past the goalie to make it 4-2. This was the make or break point for Nové Zámky, with renewed energy Miskolc kept on crashing the net and peppering Krajcovic. On the other side Zámy was aóunable to get the puck out of the end. It was not a matter of time before the PolarBears would score their third goal. With another powerplay Miskolc set up and cycled the puck around until Keegan Dansereau would end up being voted MVP, put a wrist shot in the back of the net to suddenly make it a one goal game. The arena was rocking as the fans were pushing their team on for every last inch. Dudas was set up for a second slapshot goal to tie the game up at 4-4, minutes later he was called tripping and all of Miskolc was biting their nails to see if they can kill this penalty and hold on till overtime. Tyler Metcalfe had a chance to score a shorthanded breakaway goal, but Krajcovic snuffed that out and the game went into overtime.
In the previous two rounds Nové Zámky had won an overtime game after they were up 3-0 and left the other team come back. Smartly the referees did not call any penalties in the extra time but Dudas struck again after he took a feed from Zach Cohan and put it behind the goalie for the series winning goal. Miskolc had made the incredible comeback to win on home ice and win their second trophy of the year, adding the MOL League title next to their Hungarian title. Head coach Gergely Majoross had won a MOL League as a player five years ago with the Budapest Stars, and Tiham;r Becze is on only player on the squad that had one a MOL title in the past, with HSC Csíkszereda in 2011.
Gergely Majoross- “We spent a lot of time and energy on building a winning team, a winning environment. We never took the easy way out of tough situations, never had excuses. This is what helped us in this last battle, to hang in there, to keep believing, to get back in the game. After the 2nd I told the players that we have been playing well, but made three stupid mistakes and the other team scored three goals, but we were able to control the puck, we had tons of chances, so keep playing the same way, keep it simple, work even harder and we will climb back. No need for anything spectacular, just keep doing what you have been doing with a little better execution.”
Jesse Dudas-”This is the best feeling in hockey that I have had in a long time, we were down and the boys fought back, this was unbelievable, in the locker room we said that we need to stop, and start playing our game, the fans are on our side, everyone came together and was pumped to get out for the third period.”
Lubomir Hurtaj- “It was a really good game, for the first 35 minutes we played our system until we fell apart, they were the best team all season, they played a great game all season, they have a great coach and great players and they deserved to be champions”
Erik Caladi-“They played good hockey, even though we were up 4-0 but we knew that it was not safe, we took stupid penalties and their powerplay was great. We started to play scared at the end and we started to get tired, it was Dudas’ game he played perfect.”
Game 1: Miskolc-Nové Zámky 5-0 (forfeit)
Game 2: Miskolc- Nové Zámky 7-0
Game 3: Nové Zámky-Miskolc 2-3
Game 4: Miskolc-Nové Zámky 5-4 OT
End of season awards
Goalie of the year: Bence Bálizs (Miskolc)
Defenceman of the year: Jesse Dudas (Miskolc)
Forward of the year: Teemu Elomo (UTE)
Playoff MVP: Keegan Dansereau (Miskolc)
AllStar team: Janins Kalnins (DAB.Docler), Jesse Dudas (Miskolc) Pavel Kowalczyk (Nové Zámky) Keegan Dansereau (Miskolc) Tihamér Becze (Miskolc) Teemu Elomo (UTE)
Photo: Olivér Bán