Rich Chernomaz and the U20 Hungarian national team hope to move back up a division after winning Div. 2/A this coming week in Lithuania.
Two years ago on home ice in Miskolc the Hungarian U20 national team won this group, last year things didn't exactly work out as planned and were relegated from Div 1/B in Dunaújváros. There are seven players still on the team from two years ago who know what it will take to get back to Div. 1/B.
The coaching staff took time out of their schedule before the tournament to break down the team and what they are expecting in Lithuania.
Goalies
Gergely Arany is going on his third U20 world championship, in the preview two years he had always split time with the other goalie but this time around Arany is the number one goalie. The back will be Bence Kiss, both Arany and Kiss are playing in the MOL League but the experience at the international level gives Arany the advantage. Goalie coach Gary Clark gave his opinion about the two goalies. “Arany is the experienced guy who has stepped up the professional team and he we feel quite confident in him, Bence Kiss has also shown that he can play and has been practicing with the MOL League team in Miskolc, and if we need him he can play as well. We feel confident in both players, but Gergely is the number one guy but we will go game by game.”
Defenseman
Roland Vokla, Bence Stipsicz and Zsombor Garáth are back for their third world championships with Márk Szaller for his second, that gives Chernomaz four solid defenseman and if need he can work two lines late in a close game. Oliver Herner brings size to the unit and Dávid Jászai, Attila Kovács and András Herszényi have all appeared in the MOL League this season giving Hungary one of the more experienced defensive units at the tournament. “We are in the lucky situation that we have a balanced unit among the defencmen with players who have become established MOL League players in the early part of the season.” said assistant coach Bence Svasznek, “We will be looking at what form they are in and not where they have been playing during the season. I think we will have problem with the defenceman, I hope with will help in the attack but also keep in mind their main duties on the ice.”
Forwards
The team will be looking towards team captain Csaná Erdély who is on his four U20 World Championships to score when it is crunch time. Vilmos Galló who is playing in one of the top leagues in the world in Sweden can seemingly score at will if needed as well. Both Galló and Erik Keresztury or on their third U20 worlds with Dániel Mazzag and István Terbócs playing with second tournament at this age level. A couple other players to keep an eye on are Máté Gáspár and Martin Sági as well as Norbert Antal and Zsombor. This gives Chernomaz three scoring lines with the fourth line going up against the opposing team's top line. “We will be playing an aggressive style and forcing our pace on the opponent, we will be playing for sixty minutes straight regardless who the opponent is.” said assistant coach Dávid Kiss
Head coach also talked about what he has planned and how the team will be attacking the tournament. “We can't take anyone lightly, Lithuania is the second seeded team and they are the home team so that will be a tough game. If we stick to the game plan regardless of what the score is we will be fine. if we go off plan like we did in the first game against austria, we will be in trouble. Guys did not stick to the game plan which lead to breakdowns and goals scored against. We will be sticking to our game plan from game to game but we will be doing some minor tweaks from game to game. We want to plan an aggressive style with an offensive zone forecheck with a third guy high, if we loose pucks in the offensive zone then we always have three guys back and we are not giving up any odd man rushes, we will need to be disciplined in critical areas of the ice.”
Team captain Csanád Erdély sounded very confident on what he expects from himself and his teammates. “We can not take any of the teams lightly, we will have to play our best if we want to win. In today’s hockey you can't take anyone lightly because they will come back to hurt you. We know everything that we need to win this tournament both in knowledge and skill.”
Stats, schedule and all other information about the world championships can be found here.
Roster
Goalies(2): ARANY Gergely, (MAC Budapest), KISS Bence (DVTK)
Defensemen(8): SZALLER Márk, VOKLA Roland (Fehérvár AV19) HERNER Olivér, HERSZÉNYI András, JÁSZAI Dávid, KOVÁCS Attila, STIPSICZ Bence (MAC Budapest), GARÁT Zsombor (Seacoast Prep, USA)
Forwards(12): BÖDÖK Bence, TERBÓCS István (MAC Budapest) GÁSPÁR Máté, SÁGI Martin, (Black Wings Linz, Austria), MAZZAG Dániel, SZITA Donát, VÍZI Dániel (Fehérvár AV19), GALLÓ Vilmos (Linköping, SHL), KISS Zsombor (HC Davos, Switzerland), ANTAL Norbert (Borlänge HF, Sweden), KERESZTURY Erik (Düsseldorf EG, Germany), ERDÉLY Csanád (Sioux Falls, USHL)
Coaching Staff:
Head Coach:Rich Chernomaz
Assistants: Bence Svasznek, Dávid Kiss Gary Clark
Schedule
Hungary vs Korea: Sunday December 13th 16:30
Hungary vs Netherlands: Monday December 14th 13:00
Hungary vs Estonia: Wednesday December 16th 13:00
Hungary vs Croatia Friday December 18th 16:30
Hungary vs Lithuania Saturday December 19th 20:00