Player of the Week: Ádám Vay

This last match week there was not that much up for grabs except for fourth place and home ice in the first round. Debrecen needed one point going into their last game of the season if they wanted to beat out UTE.They did this with a shootout win against MAC Budapest as Ádám Vay backstopped his team by stopping 57 out of 59 shots in regulation and overtime as well as stuffing both MAC shootout attempts, because of this he is this week’s player of the week.

Ádám Vay comes from Budapest where he started his youth hockey with Ferencváros and the Budapest Stars before moving on play his junior hockey in five different leagues. Vay defended net with Slovan Bratislava, Székesfehérvár in the Hungarian and Austrian Leagues, Patriot Budapest in the MHL before moving across the ocean to the U.S. where he spent the past two season in the WSHL in El Paso, Texas.

Vay played 10 games in the MOL League with Fehérvár during the 2010-2011 season, but needless to say he has improved statistically since then as he has a goals against average of 2.75 in 39 games with a save percentage of 92.6%. Ádám talked to icehockey.hu about the past season.

How important was the fourth place finish for Debrecen heading into the playoffs?

We thought that it was very important for us to finish in fourth place, but either way we have to beat Újpest, regardless if it's on home ice or on the road. I hope we are able to do this since we know how good UTE is.

What was the reason that you signed with Debrecen for this season?

I don’t really know how to answer this, but after I really got to know my teammates and a great environment was developed in the locker room. When I came back to Hungary Debrecen was the only team that gave me the chance to show what I can do. I also knew what the goalie situation was with every team so was kind of hard to find a team but luckily everything worked out.

What was it like in El Paso Texas?

It was pretty simple,.two practices a day and 1000 degrees. I really liked living there, and I made a number of friends.

What was the reason that you decided to go play in the WSHL?

I was hoping to be able to start to build my career and I was also able to learn a new language. May it would have been better to go before I was 18, but I did not have that chance at that time.