Since the closing of the Division 1 A World Championships a lot has happened in Hungarian hockey, not only here within the borders but also with players abroad.
In case you have forgotten the Hungarian national team finished 3rd at the world championships held in Budapest this past April.
There was exciting news among all the Hungarian teams both in the MOL League and the EBEL, it seems like every team had new acquisitions who will bring improvement to their respective clubs. Some of the teams have brought new coaches, others have called up some talented players from their youth systems.
League moves
In case you were worried the fun was not just for the adults or the top clubs. There were a number of skills camps and youth camps for the players under 18. The youth international squads had their coaching staffs set for the next season: for instance national team head coach Rich Chernomaz taking over at the U20 team.
The Hungarian Hockey League "pyramid'' has also been set up with the top finishing Hungarian team in the MOL League will be crowned national champion, just like last season, as OB1 has been incorporated into the MOL League. What is new is that due to the low number of applicants OB2 will be suspended this coming season, OB3 and an OB4 will carry on as amateur leagues.
More and more youth club teams are joining competitive leagues and Patriot Budapest is back again in the Russian MHL just like Sapa Fehérvár AV19's main, U20 and U18 teams in Austria's corresponding leagues which has accepted several other Hungarian U-teams, as well.
Transfer moves
There were a number of national team players moving to teams outside of the country as well as some making the jump back home. The summer transfer season kicked off when C/D Márton Vas decided to join the German third tier club Löwen Frankfurt which will be coached by national team assistant and former Miskolc head coach Tim Kehler with national team HC Chernomaz taking over as sports director. RW István Sofron also made the long awaited move abroad joining Vas in the move from Fehérvár to Germany. Sofron, though, will be lacing up his skates next season for the top flight team Krefeld Pinguine.
Two other national team players left Fehérvár, as well, the grizzled veteran D Tamás Sille, 43, decided to hang up the skate and to turn his full attention to coaching where as D András Horváth made the move back to the capital to play for Újpest. LW Balázs Ladányi also made the move back to a former club, making the switch from Bolzano to the team that he grew up with, Dunaújváros.
Some of the other offseason moves that involved national team players was that young defenceman Balázs Gőz went to Morzine-Avoriaz in France, RW/C János Vas stayed in France, however he made the switch to Rouen Dragons. A player who has played in France in the past, now went from the MOL League to the EBEL as D Bence Szirányi transferred from Miskolc to Fehérvár.
The youngest player on the national team this past spring, 19-year-old C Krisztián Nagy has an eye out for playing big time college hockey but his first stop will be playing juniors next season in the NAHL with Minot Minotauros.
C/LW Gergő Nagy stayed in the MOL League but switched countries, going from Miskolc to Érsekújvár in Slovakia. And there's a chance he might move again soon as his agent talked about an offer from the CHL.
One player who was not on squad in April but is one of the top Hungarian forwards, RW/LW Dániel Kóger has decided to stay in North America by signing with the Toledo Walleye of the ECHL but will be in training camp with an AHL team.
The last two transfers that involved national team players took place up north in Europe, G Zoltán Hetényi went back Finland after one season in the U.S., he will be between the pipes for Tappara. C/LW János Hári will be in Finland as well, playing for HIFK after spending the last couple of seasons with MODO in Sweden.
Other transfers with regards to the MOL League and the EBEL will be covered in the write up about those leagues in the near future.
Learning from the best
This past summer aspiring hockey players born between the years of 1996 and 2001 had a fantastic opportunity to sharpen their skills but taking part in a number of skills camps throughout the summer that was put up by the federation. There was a general camp hat concentrated on core conditioning and improving basic fundamentals for both skaters and goalies.
There was also camps specifically for forwards, defencemen and goalkeeprs as well. What was special about these camps that youngsters had not only got the opportunity to be instructed by the coaches of the national youth teams, Tibor Márton, Roger Holéczy and Gergely Majoross but also by current national team players as well, like Krisztián Nagy and Márton Vas.
After on off season such as this both the teams and the fans are ready for the puck to drop and the season to start!
Szabolcs Závodszky
@Zavodszky
Fotos: László Mudra, Ferenc Modla