After playing an overtime thriller Saturday afternoon against Austria, the Hungarian national team was back at it on Sunday against Slovenia.
After the being the number two keeper for game one against Austria, head coach Rich Chernomaz decided to go with Zoltán Hetényi in the net with Miklós Rajna on the bench and the first game’s starter Peter Sevela not dressing. Along with Sevela also being scratched was Benjámin Nemes who was the center on the fourth line, and defenceman Balázs Gőz.
The first period started with two quick penalty kills during which Hetényi helped kill with some outstanding saves. The game continued with strong rushes by both teams, however, the game was also relatively defensive. Slovenia did outshoot Hungary 16 to 4, but that had mostly to do with Hungary being shorthanded twice and not really taking advantage of their one power play opportunity in the period.
The second period was much like the first as in it was a solid defensive battle. Slovenia missed on a wide open goal and the game stayed deadlocked at 0-0. Hungary on their first power play was moving the puck very effectively but could not score. With a second power play in the period Hungary was cycling the puck around, Bence Szirányi teed up for shot from the blue line that was deflected back out of the zone, Csaba Kovács was a step slow in getting back and Tomaz Razingar picked up the loose puck and skated in on Hetényi unchallenged, he pulled the puck left and waited for Hetényi to go down then roofed the puck for the 1-0 lead.
Hungary kept up the pressure but it was evident that the team was starting to get tired from the past week of intense practices.
“We were very tired, I feel that the first and second periods went great but we didn't look that great during the third period, we could really feel the past weeks hard training in our legs,” said Hetényi after the game.
Hungary started the third period with some urgency as they knew the had to score if they wanted any chance to stay in the game. Just as Slovenia had killed another shorthanded situation Ales Music found himself in front of the goal one on one with Hetényi who saved the initial shot from point blank as well as the second shot but the third one slipped through the pads.
Hungary kept on shooting themselves in the foot by taking ill timed penalties. With just under ten minutes left in the game Slovenia made it 3-0 when Jan Mursak took a shot from high in the slot that made it past Hetényi into the cage.
With 7:29 left in the period Hungary had great chance to break the shutout. János Vas took a feed from János Hári and touched passed it to Kovács who missed the wide open mouth of the goal to keep it at 3-0.
In the last minutes of the game Miha Verlic tried to wrap the puck around but couldn't quite finish it off but luckily Rok Leber was there to put the puck in to make it 4-0.
Coaches’ corner
Rich Chernomaz on his team’s performance: “We just were not good on the power play. Slovenia was more active and we did not cycle the puck. It was our second game in two days and Slovenia is a much stronger opponent then the Austrians, and the rink was very warm, these all had an effect on how tired the team was.”
Goalie coach Gary Clark on Hetény’s performance: “I think that the greatest thing was that he really battled and took over in the second half of the game. He is slowly turning into an elite goalie. He made key saves throughout the game to keep it close. It is clear that Zoli will be the number one keeper.”
Roster moves
After the game Coach Chernomaz had some decisions to make to see who will be traveling to South Korea and who will be staying.
Since a team is allowed to name two goalies and an emergency keeper all three goalies will be traveling with the team. What also complicates things is that Márton Vas and Gergő Nagy are still on the roster with both players’ club teams still in the playoffs. Vas will be on the team no matter what but if Nagy’s team advances into the second round he will not be joining the team and the roster is set. However, if Quad City does lose in the first round of the CHL playoffs then Nagy will be joining the squad and someone will become a mere attendee in South Korea.
What is known at this time is that forwards Benjámin Nemes, Attila Németh and defenseman Balázs Gőz will not be making the trip.
Hungarian roster
Goalies: Zoltán HETÉNYI (SAPA Fehérvár AV 19), Miklós RAJNA (SAPA Fehérvár AV 19), SEVELA Peter (DAB.Docler)
Defencemen: Tamás GRÖSCHL (DAB.Docler), Adrián HÜFFNER (DAB.Docler), Árpád MIHÁLY (SAPA Fehérvár AV 19), Attila ORBÁN (SAPA Fehérvár AV 19), Tamás POZSGAI (SAPA Fehérvár AV 19), Bence SZIRÁNYI (SAPA Fehérvár AV 19), Viktor TOKAJI (SAPA Fehérvár AV 19), Arnold VARGA (SAPA Fehérvár AV 19), Márton VAS (Löwen FRANKFURT)
Forwards: Zsolt AZARI (DAB.Docler), István BARTALIS (TROJA Ljungby), András BENK (SAPA Fehérvár AV 19), János HÁRI (HIFK Helsinki), Dániel KÓGER (ELMIRA Jackals), Csaba KOVÁCS (SAPA Fehérvár AV 19), Bálint MAGOSI (SAPA Fehérvár AV 19), Gergő NAGY (QUAD CITY Mallards), Krisztián NAGY (EL PASO Rhinos), Balázs SEBŐK (Karpat Oulu), István SOFRON (KREFELD Pinguine), János VAS (HC ROUEN)
Divsion 1A world championships
April 20.: Hungary-Korea
April 21.: Hungary-Ukraine
April 23.: Hungary-Slovenia
April 24.: Hungary-Austria
April 26.: Hungary-Japan
Words: Szabolcs Závodszky @Zavodszky
Photo. László Mudra