Hungary took on Slovenia on the first day of the U18 world championships in Székesfehérvár. Based off of last years performance, Slovenia was relegated down into this group whereas Hungary won promotion last season. Slovenia have seven players returning from last years team where as Hungary skated out ten players from last years team.
Glen Williamson and his coaching staff decided that both goalies would start at least two games during the tournamnet but it was not yet determined who would get a third game, Dániel Kornakker was tabbed the starter for the first game with Gergely Arany being the number two keeper.
Hungary came out strong and was able to pick up the pace that Slovenia had set, this might have caught them off guard as Hungary took a 1-0 lead halfway through the first period as István Terbócs took a pass from Kevin Szabad and took a shot from the slot that found its way into the back of the net. Both teams kept up the back and forth hockey with Slovenia scoring when a shot from Zan Jezovsek squeezed through the pads of Kornakker.
In the closing minutes of the period Hungary was on the power play when a Krisztián Szabó shot took a lucky bounce and ended up behind the Zan Us, the Slovenian keeper. After the first twenty minutes of an exciting game Hungary had 2-1 lead against one of the tournament favorites.
In the second period Slovenia picked up two early penalties and 5:32 into the second stanza of hockey Hungary converted another power play when Csanád Erdély put a shot into the back of the cage to give Hungary a two goal cushion. In the second half of the period Hungary collected eight penalties, of which all eight were killed, a large part of the penalty kill was the outstanding work by Kornakker who did not let in a goal during the middle twenty minutes.
In the third period everything came together for Hungary as they played great, worked the puck and kept up the pressure on Slovenia which payed off as they scored three goals in the period. Roland Vokla made it 4-1 to give his team some breathing room. A minute later Erik Keresztury shut the door on them making it 5-1, in the closing minutes of the game Máté Gáspár set the final score at 6-1 to complete the crushing upset win for Hungary in the first game of the world championships.
“It was a very good game that had a high pace. After their first goal we took over the game, we took advantage of the power plays, and killed penalties, we tried to do what the coaching staff asked us to do,” said Kornakker after the game.
“This was the type of game we expected in this game, we have played against Slovenia once already this season. The key to victory was our goalie who played great back there and the forwards played great,” said forward Krisztián Szabó.
Hungary will face Austria on Monday at 16:30 to try to stay undefeated and to have a chance at winning promotion.
Coach’s corner
Head coach Glen Williamson was very satisfied with what his team accomplished on the ice: “Slovenia has a number of talented and strong players, the game had a great pace. We did pick up a couple pointless penalties, in the future we need to be more disciplined. What I liked the most is that we played power hockey, we physically brought what we had to. The players knew that this is a high level world championships and that we have to play great in every game. We just have to concentrate on one game at a time.”
U18 Division 1/B world championships
Day 1
Standings
Japan 3 points
Hungary 3 points
Austria 3 points
Ukaine 0 points
Slovinia 0 points
Poland 0 points
Leading scorers
Points: 4, Two tied
Goals: 2, Two Tied
Assists: 3, Kazuya Ishida, Japan