With the Stanley Cup being won by the Los Angeles Kings the book has been closed on the 2013-14 hockey season. Much like in other corners of the hockey world the Hungarian ice hockey season had its ups and downs both on and off the ice. The highlights of the season not only include professional senior mens player but also, the youth teams and women's teams. This is Part 1 of our review of the season.
The MOL League had all seven clubs representing three countries returning this past season.This was arguably the most balanced and exciting season the MOL League has had. Aside from Újpest who finished at the bottom of the table the other six teams were not only in the playoff hunt when the transfer window closed but Ferencváros, who finished sixth, was not eliminated from playoff contention until the second to last week of the season.
The playoffs brought excitement as well with the top seed DAB being eliminated in the first round and Brasov making an unexpected run to the MOL League finals before losing to Nové Zámky. The league had a number of former NHL draft picks, and a couple of ex NHL players, and one world champion in Marek Uram who played for Nové Zámky.
For three days straight in early December ice hockey fans withstood freezing temperatures during the highly successful winter classic that was held in city park. Fehérvár played host to Salzburg and Klagenfurt on Friday and Sunday with Miskolc playing Dunaújváros on Saturday. The stands were full all three days that not only had great atmosphere with the floodlights dancing off the ice but also exciting hockey. One can only hope that this winter classic will become a Hungarian hockey tradition.
The Erste Bank Eishockey League (EBEL) Fehérvár was starting the season with Marty Raymond at the helm in hopes to bring along the young Hungarian players as well as trying to make it into the playoffs. Fehérvár had their ups and downs as both goalies Miklós Rajna and Bence Bálizs had a number of injuries which led to the club bringing in Zoltán Hetényi when he became available to be the number one netminder.
After the regular season Fehérvár was in the bottom half of the table and would need to play almost mistake free hockey in the middle section of the season if they wanted to make the playoffs, and they did. They ended up leaping to the top of the bottom half of the league and grabbing the number 7 spot in the playoffs. They ended up being swept 4-0 in the first round to eventual champions Bolzano.
Marty Raymond and his coaching staff had a great season to build off of for 2014-15. Even though Fehérvár did not win the EBEL they did not finish the season empty handed as they won the two-game Hungarian Super Cup against DAB during the Olympic break.
Once Fehérvár was eliminated from the EBEL playoffs and the MOL League finals did not contain a Hungarian team the Hungarian Cup Final Four was held in Miskolc. Miskolc had qualified as the host team and Fehérvár was the defending champions, the remaining two spots were filled by Ferencváros and DAB who made through a qualifying round by beating Újpest, Vasas, and Debrecen in a round-robin format.
After an exciting weekend where all four teams played against each other DAB came out victorious and ended their season on a highnote be winning at least one trophy during the season.
Words: Szabolcs Závodszky
Photo: László Mudra