Saturday afternoon the Hungarian national team took on Team Italy for a chance to win the EIHC tournament being held in Gdansk, Poland. The Italians took a 4-2 victory but finished only second after Poland defeated Belarus similarly 4-2 and is better on head-to-heads.
Both Hungary and Italy knew going into the game that it was not going to be a cakewalk, with both squads being familiar with each other.
“The key was to stay disciplined like we did last night, because we were playing a better team,” said Hungary's head coach Rich Chernomaz after the game.
On the Hungarian side of the ice Zoltán Hetényi was back in the net after sitting out Friday night, on the Italian side Adam Dennis was starting after he also sat out their previous game. For the second game in a row Miklós Rajna dressed as the number two keeper and Peter Sevela got the day off after getting the win on Friday. Joining Sevela on the list of players missing was Krisztián Dósa, Balázs Gőz and Attila Orbán, getting back into the team was Balázs Ladányi, Árpád Mihály and Ádám Hegyi. Mihály and Tamás Gröschl were playing defence instead of their usual position in the attacking third of the ice.
“This was the first time I have ever played on D and now I have a bunch of respect for them,” said Árpád Mihály after the game. “I saw the game from a different point of view, to be honest I had a lot of fun.”
In the early part of the first period both teams were trying to feel out the opponent, about halfway through the period Zsolt Azari scored an unassisted goal to put up Hungary 1-0. The period had only one penalty when Arnold Varga was called for delaying the game, as Hungary skated a man down Italy took advantage and Vincent Rocco setup Rob Sirianni for the tying power play goal. The teams remained at 1-1 for the rest of the first period.
The second period carried a lot more action than the first as the penalty minutes piled up on both sides of the stat sheet. Sean Bentivoglio put Italy up 2-1 with a PP goal, after going 0-3 in the period on power plays Csaba Kovács and Dan Tudin got in a bit of a tussle with Tudin getting 2+2+10 with Kovács only getting two minutes for roughing.
Hungary was finally able to convert a PP as Árpád Mihály scored to make it 2-2, János Vas and Viktor Tokaj were credited with the assists.
With minutes to go in the period Italy struck again with Vincent Rocco putting the puck past Hetényi. The frustration had reached a level with Kovács as he had a bit of a fight with Daniel Sullivan as both of them got 2+2+10.
The third period was not as eventful but Hungary kept on visiting the penalty box with Tamás Gröschl and Nikandrosz Galanisz both getting two minutes during the period for tripping. With just over five minutes left in the game Christian Borgatello hammered the nail in the coffin as Luca Felicetti set him up for the fourth goal in the 4-2 Italy win.
With regards to the tournament Rich Chernomaz said: “For the most part of the three games we got great effort and I was happy with the level we competed at, but sometimes we got off our game and that is the difference between A level teams and us. A pool teams play consistent regardless of what happened, simplicity is the difference.”
Árpád Mihály said: “I think that it was a high level tournament to see where we are at what the young guys can do.”
EIHC-tournament, Gdansk, Day 3
Hungary-Italy 2-4
Goals: 9:34: Azari (1-0). 18:49: Sirianni (Rocco, 1-1). 24:18: Bentivoglio (Johnson, Helfer, 1-2). 36:04: Mihály Á. (Tokaji, Vas J., 2-2). 38:25: Rocco (Borgatello, 2-3). 54:34: Borgatello (Felicetti, 2-4)
Poland-Belarus 4-2 (0-1, 0-1, 4-0)
Final result: 1. Poland 6 points (7-5), 2. Italy 6 (7-5), 3. Belarus 3 (5-7), 4. Hungary 3 (5-7). When points were equal better head-to-head result seperated.
Words: Szabolcs Závodszky @Zavodszky
Photo: IIHF