One half of the U18 squad hit the road as they traveled to Slovakia as the team that stayed in Budapest had their final two practices sessions before the start of the four nations tournament.
With both U18 squads having their last practices before their games on Thursday icehockey.hu managed to catch up with two players and guest coach Balázs Ladányi as they talked about what they expect in the next couple of days.
Kristóf Rácz: I can’t wait to face Slovakia and Belarus since they are probably the two strongest teams here and of course we really want to win the tournament. The environment within the team is great and everyone is getting along fine. We have a lot of different type of forwards and I think we have everything covered.
Árpád Lőczi: We are expecting a united team with some hard work, we hope to have a successful tournament. I personally really want to play against Slovakia since I think they are the best team and are a real hockey nation. We will be able to compare ourselves to them and to see how far off we are from them, to see where we need to improve to if at all. We have been really worked the past couple of days but I think we will be ready for the games.
Balázs Ladányi: I was brought in as a guest coach for the beginning of the week and Glen asked me to stick around for the remainder of the week. I am hoping to pick up the most knowledge as possible and do anything that he ask me to do. With me here the work is being split four ways now and everyone on the coaching staff has something to do.
Budapest Roster
Goalies (3): GALLÓ Olivér (Vallentuna, SWE), SZELES Martin (Ifj. Ocskay Gábor Jégkorong Akadémia), TÓTH K. Balázs (Blackwings Linz, AUT)
Defencmen (8): BALAJTHY Dániel, FEKETE Botond (Ifj. Ocskay Gábor JA), BLAZSEJ Krisztián, MOLNÁR András, POKORNYI Dávid (UTE), DRUJA Benjámin, SEREGÉLY Máté (MAC Budapest), KISS Tamás (Debreceni HK)
Forwards (12): DÉZSI Bence, MADÁCSI Benedek, VÉRTES Nátán (Ifj. Ocskay Gábor JA), GALÁNTAI Richárd, LŐCZI Árpád, TÓTH András (MAC Budapest), HORVÁTH Ákos, KOVÁCS Sebestyén, SZALMA Zsolt (UTE), MAKOVICS Bence (Rosenheim, GER), PÁKOZDI Bálint (Okanagan Hockey Academy, UK), RÁCZ Kristóf (Debreceni HK)
Head Coach: Glen Williamson
Assistant Coach: Szabolcs Fodor
Zvolen Roster:
Goalies (2): FARKAS Gergely (Vasas SC), SÁGI Máté (MAC Budapest)
Defencemen (8): EGYEDI Zsolt, HORVÁTH Olivér, SZABÓ Zsolt (UTE), FUTÓ Máté (DVTK Jegesmedvék), HALASI Máté (Fehérvár AV19), KRUPPA Nándor, TÜRMER Gábor (MAC Budapest), TÓTH Krisztián (KMH Budapest)
Forwards (12): GÁSPÁR Soma, PÁTERKA Bence, SELMECZI András (UTE), HORVÁTH László (Győri NEMAK ETO), KEDVES Richárd, KORCHMA Bence (MAC Budapest), PÓS Bertalan, R.SZABÓ András (DVTK Jegesmedvék), SZEGHALMI Kevin, TAKÁCS Noel (Vasas SC), SZIGETI Máté (Debreceni HK), VARGA Balázs (Pesterzsébeti HC)
Coaching Staff
Head Coach: András Horváth
Assistant Coaches: Imre Peterdi
August 25-28., Budapest - Tüskecsarnok
August 25.
16:00 Belarus – Slovakia
19:15 HUNGARY – Poland
August 26.
16:00 Slovakia – Poland
19:15 HUNGARY – Belarus
August 27.
12:00 Poland – Belarus
15:15 Slovakia – HUNGARY
Zvolen
Thursday
Hungary U18-Zvolen U20
Friday
Hungary U18-Zvolen U18