After both the “Whites” and the “Reds” losing on the opening day of the U18 tournament that is being held in Újpest, the two Hungarian squads were back on the cice for another day of action packed hockey.
Reds-Whites 5-4 OT
In the opening game of the day for both teams the two Hungarian teams faced off against each other. The Reds had Máté Garbacz in net, Kristóf Nagy as the backup with the Whites starting Balázs Tóth and Martin Szeles as the backup. The Reds scored first with a power play goal by Rajmund Bukor, less than two minutes later the the Whites had tied it up when Florián Sándor out the puck past Garbacz. The Reds took back the lead on a Roland Kiss but again the Whites managed to tie the game back up when Bálint Horváth scored. In the second period the Reds took back the lead again as Ákos Szigeti made it 3-2, but the Whites scored two unanswered goals to have a one goal lead, thanks to Richárd Horváth and Brunó Kreisz.
Whites-Ukraine 9-3
For the second game of the day for the Whites Marten Szeles was in net with Boldizsár Győri as the backup goalie. Hungary scored first when Brúnó Kreisz was unmarked in front of the net when he took a pass from Ákos Nagy and banged it home. Ukraine tied it up later in the first period, but Hungary took back the lead when Árpád Lőczi took a shot from the left faceoff dot that went between the goalies legs. With only four seconds left in the period and Hungary on the power play Donát Szita banked the puck off the goalie from behind the net to make it 3-1 after the first. Hungary started where they left off in the second period when Kreisz and Bálint Horváth combined for a two on one with the latter scoring on the tap in. Later in the period Ukraine cut the deficit to two, however this did not last long as Hungary had a two man advantage, on the 5 on 3 Bence Korchma took a snipe from the left faceoff dot. Hungary really stuffed Ukraine in the third period when they scored four unanswered goals, with three being scored in just over a two minute span. Nagy scored from the slot on the power play, Barna Majoross stuffed home a rebound and Nagy, Kreisz and Bálint Horváth combined for a nice tic-tac-toe play with Horváth lighting the lamp. With Hungary up 8-2 Miklós Gyurgyev scored the ninth and final Hungarian goal, Ukraine still scored a third goal off of a rebound.
Whites coach András Horváth: We played hard this afternoon and I'm very happy that we finally won after two close loss. The Ukrainians played back to back so the result does not reflect them completely. I asked the boys to send a message to them, I'm sure Ukraine will remember this game.
Red-Poland 3-2
In the late game the Reds were playing for a spot in the gold medal game, Kristóf Nagy got the start in net with Dávid Márk Kovács as the backup. Hungary the lead in the second minute on a goal from Patrik Kiss who scored from the slot. Hungary doubled the lead with 10 seconds left in the period when Ákos Szigeti banged a rebound into the empty net for the power play goal. Hungary made it 3-0 on a second Patrik Kiss goal. In the third period Poland ended Kristóf Nagy’s shut out early in the third period. Poland made it a one goal game when they scored on a 5 on 3.
Reds coach Szabolcs Fodor: In the early game the two Hungarians played a pretty well the Reds battled to tie the game and then pull in the win. It is great to see that we have 40 players like this. We were able to bring the fighting attitude into this afternoons game as well, except for a couple of minutes we played well.