The two national youth teams are in training camp at the Ice Palace for a three day span with 130 players stepping on the ice under the watchful eyes of Rich Chernomaz, Glen Williamson and a number of other coaches.
This is the third year that the federation has organized the three day training camp which is held for players born between 1996 through 1999. The invited players which this season was around 130 were split into six teams with a proper coaching staff assigned to each squad.
Each team would play five games in a three day span with a number of fitness tests and presentations also during the camp.
Senior national team general manager Attila Nagy gave an indepth explanation on what the young hockey hopefuls get to experience during the three days. “Every player here is starting with a clean slate, it doesn't matter where you come from and what have you accomplished in the past. We have a list of players that are playing abroad and we ask them to participate if they can, and we have the list of recommended players from the Hungarian clubs, this way we can see if the clubs are working together or are on the same page as the national program. The coaches that are here during the three days are not only paying attention during the games and the on ice session but also during the off ice tests and training as well as during lunch to see how the players are from the hockey smarts point of view, physical fitness and social skills as well. After the three days the coaches grade each player on what they saw, on a scale of A, B, C or X. A-the player is ready for the national team for that age group, B-could be called in for the national team training camp, C-is not at that level at this time, X-did not see the player. This helps us see where everyone is at and have an understanding of what they need to work on, we have not only the on ice being graded but also what they do during the fitness aspect as well. As an example of a U20 player who gets straight A-s they are ready for the national team and if someone is all A-s with a couple of B-s then we know where we have to work, it is always interesting when there is someone who has 3 A-s and 3 C-s. If someone has fitness issue we give him a plan to get into shape for the August training camps, also if he has to improve on the ice. If he is lacking in the mental or social areas one of the coaches sits down with him and explains the issues with is attitude.”
This was the first year that Senior national team coach Rich Chernomaz was able to attend the camp, this was great opportunity to get a jump on the work that we will be doing with the U20 national team next season. “Its a nice way to close off the season from the federation's perspective, it gives guys a chance who had a missed timed season, people who are back on the radar who missed part of the season for whatever reason.” said Coach Chernomaz “this allows the coaches to do some final testing so when the guys come back in August it is good to see who is committed to do their off season programs, this gets things preorganized for August when the process starts up again.”
Someone who participated the first two year in the camp but had to sit out the games was Csanád Erdély, he was able to give an interesting point of view since a couple year ago he was one of those 15 year olds and this past April played at the World Championships with the senior team. “There is clearly a difference between a 15 year old and a 19 year old but these three days are not for the 1996 players or Bence Stipsicz and the 1997 players that have have played on three or four age group world championship teams. This is also when they can feel that they are important as Glen Williamson was here and Rich Chernomaz is here, I remember when I was 15 and I knew that the national team head coach was watching me and that gave me an extra boost, this can give some ambition to the 1999ers” said Erdély, he also thinks there the future looks bright with regards to the future of Hungarian hockey. “There are some players in the 1998 and 1999 pool that have the talent that we did and also there is a larger number of them than we had, because of this they will have to compete harder and have the chance to become better than maybe we were but they have to put in the hard work as well.”