Normally that a 19 year old signing with a MOL League team and their U20 side would not be that big of a deal, but that Norbert Hári, the younger brother of national team player and MODO forward János Hári is newsworthy.
Norbert has been playing in Sweden and climbing the youth ladder since the 2005-06 season, and because he had not played in Hungary since such a young age he is not eligible to play for the Hungarian national team in any IIHF tournament, this includes the U18 and U20 national teams as well.
It has been an ongoing struggle between the Hungarian Federation and the IIHF to get Norbert Hári eligible to play for the country that he was born in and his older brother, János Hári represents. The IIHF said that the only way Norbert Hári could play for the Hungarian national team would be if he played the required amount of time for a Hungarian club, which is 16 months.
Norbert Hári playing in Hungary looked like stretch since he had been playing for the youth sides of elite Swedish clubs and was rumored to be going to the USHL for the 2014-15 season. Hári had been without a club since last season where he had 18 points in 46 games for Örebro’s U20 team.
The new MOL League team Debreceni HK who’s U20 team in the Slovak league have decided to sign him and the clock starts on the two years.
Words: Szabolcs Závodszky