Norbert Fekecs recaps the past weekends tournament with the national team, the 2016 inline season as well as what he sees as the future of inline hockey, for icehockey.hu.
This past weekend the Hungarian National Inline team successfully captured gold at the tournament in the Czech Republic where Norbert Fekecs also picked up the MVP award. Aside from his success with the national team during the season he also finished second in the Hungarian Championships with Marczi Skate and brought home a first place finish with Győr in the Austrian inline league as well.
How was the tournament in the Czech Republic different from the usual World Championships that used to be organized this time of the year?
During the World Championships we play one game a day, after the group stage we also have consolation games as well. Here we had two games each day, with the World Championships also being played at a faster pace.
How much was this tournament a worthy replacement to the World Championships?
There were two very skilled teams that played at a high level, there were some truly professional inline players as well. The World Championships are a stronger faster tournament, this was great to play some games. This was a stronger field than what we can find in the Hungarian league and it was better than playing four-five games against each other. There were also a couple of players that easily play at the level of the elite world championships, who were great skaters with soft hands. They really forced us to raise the level of play.
Was there a secret to your personal success during the weekend?
I was lucky that the puck always just happened to bounce in my favor. The team played well and we were always able to take an early lead which let us play with less pressure on us.
How was your relationship with your linemates, your forward partner Szilárd Sándor also had a prolific tournament as well?
There were players that I had played with during the Hungarian league and others from the Austrian league, with them it was easier to form a chemistry. I was teammates with Szilárd during the season, even though we were not on the same line at the time we managed to work on the same wavelength and the goals started to come.
What do you see for the sport of inline hockey in the near future in Hungary?
I am predicting a positive future for the sport in Hungary, the games are high scoring and fast paced. Unfortunately now the IIHF is organizing the World Championships only every other year, however the sport is developing more and more in this country from year to year, we now have a youth league for the U12 and U14 age groups. We can now found more and more ice hockey players from the national team also playing inline during the offseason.