Continuing with the MOL League preview series icehockey.hu is up to last seasons playoff teams. After having eight wins in four season Újpest had a bounce back season that surprised many and also brought some fresh air to the 4th District of Budapest.
Last season Újpest promoted junior coach Zoltán Szilassy to the bench of the senior team, a move that paid off as the team made the playoffs. The team pretty much relied on the first line for goal scoring and a late season addition of a solid goalie reinforced their playoff position. After last seasons success the team is financial stable and hopes to finish high in the regular season standings and a deeper run in the playoffs as well. Szilassy is a young and energetic coach who has a handful of former teammates on this Újpest squad.
THE ROSTER
The goaltending position could be the difference between UTE making the playoffs or playing in the finals. Last season József Pleszkán was the starter until the management decided that they needed someone who was more stable, Ales Sila was available and they picked him up right before the transfer deadline from Ljubljana from the EBEL. This season they are starting the season with arguably the best goaltending duo in the league, both are experienced and at the front side of their prime.
The defensive unit produced mixed results as at times they shut down the opposition's attacks but there were also games where they ended up on the wrong side of a high scoring shootout. The team went out and brought in a pair of veteran MOL League defencemen in Peter Huba and Ádám Hegyi to go along with their top two defenders, Viktor Lindgren and Dániel Kiss who had an outstanding world championships this past year. One player to watch out for is Ádám Garbacz, the 21 year old defenceman has already caught the eye of national team coach Rich Chernomaz as he was in training camp with Hungary last November.
Last season the purple and white had the top scoring line in the league as Jussi Tapio, Teemu Elomo, and Jozef Mihálik combined for 64 goals. Tapio did not resign with the team but the team could have a better offensive production compared to last season. Karol Csányi and Arnold Feil will be available for an entire season and they picked up Tamás Gröschl, Ákos Kiss and Benjámin Nemes, with last years second line basicly being bumped down to number three. What would be a great help is if Elomo and Mihálik could also stay out of the penalty box.
COACHES’ CORNER
Zoltán Szilassy-The difference between this season and the squad from last season is that we are not as top heavy, we have more of a balanced team compared to last season both on the offensive and defensive ends. We would like to cut down on the number of penalty minutes we collected last season. We do not have the budget to compete with the top Hungarian clubs but I believe we brought in great players at fair value. I think that Miskolc and MAC will probably be the top two teams and we hope have strong season, as we have said before we are building for the future, which means we would like to be in the final four.
Expert Opinion*
Last year UTE was a one line team and each game was decided on how they played and how tired or fresh they were. They tried to take care of this with their offseason signings but I don’t think they were completely able to do this. They have what it takes to make the playoffs but not enough for the finals.
*Recently retired former MOL League player
New Additions: Á.Hegyi, Á.Kiss (Ferencváros), Huba (Nové Zámky), Zs.Kiss (Trnava, Slovak U20), Dósa (Miskolc), Gröschl (Dunaújváros), Nemes (Fehérvár AV19, EBEL)
Departed: Ágoston, Fekti (Ferencváros), Durak (Skalica, Extraliga), Á.Z.Hegyi, Reiter, Tóth (Fehérvár AV19), Tapio (Podhale Nowy Targ, Poland) Bereczki, Coleman, Lőrincz (?) Szirányi, Ványi, Cs.Virág (retired)
Departed: Ágoston, Fekti (Ferencváros), Durak (Skalica, Extraliga), Á.Z.Hegyi, Reiter, Tóth (Fehérvár AV19), Tapio (Podhale Nowy Targ, Poland) Bereczki, Coleman, Lőrincz (?) Szirányi, Ványi, Cs.Virág (retired)