MOL League Week 18 Review

Arguably one of the craziest and most unpredictable weeks in this season MOL League has come to a close. There were a number of upsets and teams missed an opportunity clinch playoff spots. For the first time since the start of the season Brasov has moved up to third place and the only thing that is a given is that Csíkszereda has missed the playoffs for a second straight season.

Going into the weekend Miskolc had a three point lead over DAB.Docler, in their opening game of the week travelled to Nové Zámky who at that point was sitting in third place, the two teams played an exciting overtime game in which Miskolc won in a shootout, Keegan Dansereau finished with two goals and Tyler Metcalfe scored the winning shot. In their other game of the week Miskolc hosted second place DAB.Docler, a win would give them enough breathing room over the SteelBulls to let them coast to the finish line. Dunaújváros came to play as they won 3-1 as Janis Kalnins stopped 38 out of 39 shots he faced. With DAB.Docler taking six out of six points and Miskolc only picking up two DAB has a one point lead with five games left, it looks like this will come down to the wire.

In their first game of the week Dunaújváros hosted Ferencváros, FTC was still holding on to a small chance of making it into the playoffs. Fradi had 3-0 lead after the first period but a goal by Tamás Pozsgai and Ville Eskelinen cut it to a one goal lead. With only second left in the second period Imre Peterdi tied it up and 4-4, the third period was all DAB with Nathan Martine scoring the winner for the 5-4 win. Even though they lost it gave confidence for Fradi for later in the week.

After taking one point in the overtime loss to Miskolc Friday night they followed it up with a lackluster showing against Ferencváros who played great again as they needed point to stay in the playoff picture. Like last week Attila Rajaj played great against Nové Zámky with two goals in the 5-2 FTC win. Thing have gotten worse for NZ as off ice issues have come up, Slavomir Chlebec has stepped down as head coach because of health reasons has been replaced by Lubomir Hurtaj, who has not played in the last four games, also Robert Brandis has been suspended by the team after getting busted for a DUI.

WIth Nové Zámky slipping up Brasov went out and picked up five points, ideally the team had a chance at nine points but they can take what they can get. Brasov had a one goal lead against Újpest and Debrecen going into the third period in both games but gave up the lead in both. On Saturday Brasov was up by two going into the third on goals by Magor Petres and Árpád Mihály but UTE scored twice in the third with Karol Csány tieing the game up with three seconds left on the clock, Jozef Mihalik scored the winner in overtime. Brasov played an exciting back and forth game against Debrecen, the home team jumped out to an early two goal lead but DHK quickly tied it up, Árpád Mihály gave Brasov the lead in the opening minutes of the third period but Áron Könczei made it 3-3, the veteran Balázs Ladányi scored the winning shot in the shootout. Brasov had only two points at home against two teams that can be found behind them in the standings. In the last Transylvania derby of the season Brasov took care of Csíkszereda 4-1 with Jaroslav Obsut scoring twice.

Debrecen has been playing in no mans land for weeks no, not being close enough to catch up to Brasov or Nové Zámky and UTE and FTC being far enough to be a real scare. On their road trip to Romania they beat Csíkszereda 4-1 with Savva Borodin stopping 24 out of 25 shots in the win.

With Csíkszereda having nothing to play for and UTE having everything, Gellért Ruczuj got the start for HSC, UTE was not able to take advantage of the young goalie. With the loss this kept the door open for Ferencváros to get back into the playoff picture. On Wednesday night the two Budapest teams faced off against each other for the last time this season. If Fradi would be able to upset cross town rivals UTE they would be just two points out of the playoffs. The young forward Illés gallo stepped up in a great way as his two goals ended up being the difference in the 4-2 Fradi win.