The Under 18 division 1B world championships are taking place down in Székesfehérvár this upcoming week. After being promoted from Division 2 in 2013 head coach Glenn Williamson, his staff and team have one goal and that is to finish in the middle of the group with a shot at grabbing a medal.
“We expect that the team will finish in the middle of the field, with a chance fro a medal. Our goal is to win every game and fight hard until the end,” said goalie Gergely Arany. Joining Arany as the other goalie is Dávid Kornakker. Both goalies had an outstanding season backstopping arguably the two best U20 and U18 clubs in Hungary, MAC Budapest and Fehérvár to an excellent season.
The group of defencemen is made up of players playing exclusively in the Austrian league all but one coming from either MAC or Fehérvár with Kevin Szabad playing in Vienna.
The forward unit is probably the strength of the team with players coming from various hockey backgrounds. Attila Kovács plays for Avon Old Farms in the US, is listed as a forward but back in America he plays mostly on the blue line. Bringing the Scandinavian flavor is Vilmos Galló who plays for Linkopings in Sweden and Márk Egyed who scores goals in Finland for Jukurit. Other players playing outside of the Austrian league is Zsombor Kiss in Bern, Switzerland and Erik Keresztury in Düsseldorf.
“We have a very cohesive team, a very tight group. Our goal is to finish in the top three. This is a very strong tournament where any team can win any game. We have one of the biggest teams size wise in the tournament and we will be emphasising a physical game. We have also a very strong team from the strength and conditioning point of view as well,” said Csanád Erdély earlier in the week
Glenn Williamson had this to say when asked to analyze his team, “We have a pretty set team both mentally and physically on the ice, we have a disciplined team, that plays hard, and competes, that does not give up a lot of penalties. The special teams will make or break this tournament since the 5 on 5 situations will be very strong throughout the week.”
Williamson went on to say “one of our strengths is character, this group of boys have outstanding character. Our goal is to be the best that we can be and win the most games possible.”
Hungarian roster
Goalies: Gergely Arany MAC Budapest, Dániel Kornakker (Fehérvár)
Defencemen: Tamás Láday, Bence Szabó, Márk Szaller (Fehérvár), Zsombor Garát, Olivér Herner, Dávid Jászai, Bence Stipsicz (MAC Budapest), Attila Kovács (Avon Old Farms)
Forwards: Márk Egyed (Jukurit), Csanád Erdély, Dániel Mazzag, Krisztián Szabó, Dániel Vizi, Roland Vokla (Fehérvár), Vilmos Galló (Linköping), Máté Gáspár (Linz), Erik Keresztury (Düsseldorf), Zsombor Kiss (Bern), Kevin Szabad (Vienna), István Terbócs (MAC Budapest)
Coaching Staff: Glen Williamson, Csaba Jánosi, Rastislav Ondrejcik, Bence Svasznek
Schedule
Sunday 16:30: Hungary vs Slovenia
Monday 16:30: Hungary vs Austria
Wednesday 16:30: Hungary vs Poland
Friday 16:30: Hungary vs Japan
Saturday 16:30: Hungary vs Ukraine