The U20 national team left to the airport to fly to Sweden after a one hour morning on ice practice session. Head coach Rich Chernomaz, as well as Kevin Szabad, Kristóf Dobos and Botond Erdély talked to icehockey.hu about the upcoming U20 Super Challenge.
Rich Chernomaz: We are playing against teams that are better than us, the results won't be important but how are able to adapt to the skill level, more importantly how the younger players are able to play. I believe if you are able to prepare at a particular level, for us the Division 1/B level, then you should be able to play at that or even at a higher level. In situations like this we need to be able to make decisions quicker than what we are used to, and I think we can pick up a medal at the World Championships. This is a philosophy both Glen (Williamson) and myself both share, that play as many games at the highest level possible, this way it is easier to see what we need to work on.”
Kevin Szabad: We are going to high level tournament, where we will be facing great opponents, we hope to be able to keep the pace with them. In the last couple days it hit me that with Stipsicz and Garát not being on the team it will be my responsibility to be more of a leader than before. There are a lot of guys who have experience and that will make things easier for me.
Kristóf Dobos: This tournament is good to gain experience heading into the World Championships in December. We have a chance to play against opponents that play at a high level than us. The coaching staff has not told us yet how they will split up the games for us goalies.
Botond Erdély: First off I’m really happy that I made the team, I missed the cut the last time around, I learned from my mistakes and now I am going full steam ahead into Sweden. There will be a number of scouts there and we will have a chance to prove ourselves. We will be facing some great teams from who we will be able to learn from. I think we are tall, we shoot well, play a physical game and we will try to play a good game.
U20 Super Challenge Cup Schedule:
2016. August 24.
19:15 HUNGARY – Norway
2016. August 25.
15:30 HUNGARY – Riga
2016. August 26.
15:30 HUNGARY – Biel
2016. August 27.
15:30 HUNGARY – Austria
2016. August 28.
14:30 HUNGARY – FBK
Roster
Goalies (3): NAGY Péter (Debreceni HK), BORS Gergely (Fehérvár AV19), DOBOS Kristóf (MAC Budapest)
Defencemen (10): ERDÉLY Botond, IMRE Patrik, SZABÓ Dávid, TAKÁCS Bence, VAS Márk (Fehérvár AV19) FEJES Nándor, TÓTH Gergely (MAC Budapest), VILLÁS Bálint (Ogden Mustangs, WSHL), BUKOR Rajmund, OROSZI Álmos (Vasas)
Forwards(15): JANCSÓ Dávid Zsolt, MOLNÁR Dávid (Debreceni HK), ERDEI Zoltán, GYURGYEV Miklós, KISS Patrik, NAGY Ákos, TÓTH Renátó, VIZI Dániel (Fehérvári AV19), NAGY Zoltán (KeuPA, FIN), KREISZ Brúnó, MAJOROSS Barnabás, SZIGETI Ákos (MAC Budapest), SÁGI Martin (DVTK Jegesmedvék), HORVÁTH Bálint (Rögle, SWE), SZABAD Kevin (Vienna Capitals, AUT)
Coaching Staff:
Head Coach: Rich CHERNOMAZ
Assistant Coaches: SVASZNEK Bence, KISS Dávid
Goalie Coach: Jukka KONTSAS