The first real game day of the MOL League took place with three exciting games, two of which went into overtime.
DVTK-FTC 6-3
The rebranded defending champions started their title defence, in the first period after every time DVTK scored Fradi was able to tie it back up. Jesse Dudas continued where he left off from last year with two goals and one assist. Ferencváros had their own scoring defenceman as Juha Hietamaki finished with one goal and two assists. The goalies of record were Mark Guggenberger for DVTK and the veteran Krisztián Budai for Fradi.
Head Coach Péter Mayer: We achieved what we were trying to do, we had a great attacking game today and were able to keep the puck in their end. Something that we need to work on is our penalty kill. There are some things to work on, but we got the result that we needed.
DHK-MAC 4-3 OT
Debrecen opened up the season by hosting MAC who had just played the night before in their season opener. After a scoreless first period, Jeff Hayes gave MAC the lead, which didn't last long as Zsolt Wéver tied it up minutes later The action picked up in the third period where both teams scored twice, Attila Németh have the two for MAC. With the teams even at 3-3 after regulation the game went into overtime where Bronson Kovács scored the game winner. Ádám Vay and Bence Bálizs were the goalies who faced off against each other.
Winning goal scorer Bronson Kovács: The boys battled hard for 60+ minutes and we were able to come out on top, it's a great way to start the season.
Volán-HSC 5-4 OT
The Transylvanian club traveled to Fehérvár to take on one of the two new teams in the league. Fehérvár AV19 had a two goal lead in the early part of the third period but they let HSC get back into it with two Kyle Heffernan goals as he had a hat trick for the day, with the last one tied the game up with less than a 1:30 left in the game. In the overtime period Mitch Holmberg scored his second of the night to keep two out of the three points at home. Janis Kalnins and Gell;rt Ruczuj were between the posts for their respective teams
Head Coach Tyler Dietrich: We came out a little tense, didn't have the greatest first period. We really came to life in the second and controlled the puck pretty well. In the third we had a few great chances to put the game away but their goalie made some huge saves and they fought hard to tie it. It was picture perfect but we stayed focused and got the win.
Photo: Olivér Bán