Hungarian national team coach Rich Chernomaz has announced a preliminary roster of 31 players for the upcoming Division 1A world championships that will be held in Goyang South Korea. Hungary will be looking for a repeat performance from the last time the team was out in Asia. The roster is made up of 4 goalies, 11 defencemen and 16 forwards.
In 2008 in Sapporo Japan the Hungarian national team won qualification to the A Pool. From that team there are are seven players in the squad, but not among them is Balázs Ladányi, however making it back and not appearing in the world championships since Sapparo is Tamás Gröschl who will be trying to make the team as a defenceman after being a forward for most of his career. Also playing on the blue line will be forwards Márton Vas and Árpád Mihály, Vas had played defence at last years world championships and Mihály played the position for the first time at the EIHC four nations tournament earlier in the year.
Also listed on the squad are all three players who spent the season across the ocean, Gergő Nagy from Quad City of the CHL, Dániel Koger from Elmire of the ECHL and Krisztián Nagy who played in the Western States league.
János Hári might not be available if he decides to go with surgery that he has been putting off till the off season.
Fighting for the two spots on the roster and the one emergency goalie spot will be the usual names of Miklós Rajna, Bence Bálizs and Zoltán Hetényi from Fehérvár, all three have been the number one keeper at a previous world championships but joining the race will be freshly nationalized Peter Sevela from DAB.Docler.
Joining the experienced forward group will be four young players who all debuted in the national team in the past year, Attila Németh, Benjámin Nemes, Tamás Sárpátki, and Balázs Sebők. There is a chance that not one but two of these young bucks can make the team.
Joining Rich Chernomaz on the staff will be assistants Diego Scandella,Gergely Majoross and goalie coach Gary Clark. The will probably be made up of two goalies, seven defencemen, and thirteen forwards.
Goalies: Bence BÁLIZS (SAPA Fehérvár AV 19), Zoltán HETÉNYI (SAPA Fehérvár AV 19), Miklós RAJNA (SAPA Fehérvár AV 19), SEVELA Peter (DAB.Docler)
Defencemen: Balázs GŐZ (Morzina-Avoriaz), Tamás GRÖSCHL (DAB.Docler), Péter HETÉNYI (SAPA Fehérvár AV 19), Adrián HÜFFNER (DAB.Docler), Dániel KISS (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), Árpád MIHÁLY (SAPA Fehérvár AV 19), Gergő NAGY (QUAD CITY Mallards), Krisztián NAGY (EL PASO Rhinos), Benjámin NEMES (SAPA Fehérvár AV 19), Attila NÉMETH (SAPA Fehérvár AV 19), Tamás SÁRPÁTKI (SAPA Fehérvár AV 19), Balázs SEBŐK (Karpat Oulu), István SOFRON (KREFELD Pinguine), János VAS (HC ROUEN)
Upcoming games
EIHC Hockey Gala
April 12- 16:00 Hungary-Austria
April 13- 18:00 Hungary-Slovenia
Divsion 1A world championships
April 20-Hungary-Korea
April 21-Hungary-Ukraine
April 23-Hungary-Slovenia
April 24-Hungary-Austria
April 26-Hungary-Japan
Szabolcs Závodszky @Zavodszky