There is no way to beat around the bush, Hungary’s next game at the U-18 world championships will be hard and an exhausting 60 minutes. The U.S. is one of the top two teams in the tournament and one could argue that they are the team to beat. A year ago the Americans finished with the silver medal and are back to snatch the gold from the Canadians. Head coach Jeff Kampersal is back with a team that has a veteran backbone, the squad has three defencemen and two lines worth of forwards who left Finland last year with a bad taste in their mouths and this year they do not want to repeat that.
In their first game the U.S. took care of Russia 6-1 and it was very evident that they are a very good hockey team. They are strong skaters, excellent passers, some of the girls have shots that guys their own age could be envious of and look comfortable in the system that has installed by the coaching staff.
One common theme that came up when both the Hungarian players and coaches as well as the American players and coaches were asked what the USA strength was, was that they can shoot the puck. “Along with our skating probably our biggest strength is that have a group of unbelievable shooters, and as a coach it is a privilege for me to coach a team with this skill set.” said coach Kampersal.
Hungarian head coach Norbert Búzás has a realistic approach to the game, “they represent a different level in the world of womens ice hockey, we would like to look respectable but we are really concentrating on the game against Russia.” Team captain underlined being realistic what her coach had already brought up “realistically our goal is to have a strong defense which hopefully will pay off for us, the U.S. overall does not have just one strength, the are a well rounded team from their passing to their shooting, to their team speed.”
Hungarian assistant coach Roger Holéczy wanted to highlight a different aspect of the American game and what to expect “they are a really strong physical team and they are very aggressive, we are expecting an aggressive really intense game right off the first period, we will just have to take the punches and be able to get back up.”
Team U.S.A. forward Maliya Rodgers said that people should expect good skating along with the team speed and shooting they posses “you can expect us to work hard as we can, move our feet and shoot the puck, our team is all speed, if we can get past their defence and get it into the corners we will be fine.”
One thing that comes with having a veteran experienced team on the ice is that there is team chemistry both on the ice as well as in the lockerroom. “One of our strengths is that we have 22 leaders and 22 followers so we have great chemistry” said Kampersal before continuing on with the individual skill set of the defencemen and the centers “we are really strong on defence and our centers are really good on the face offs, we have some really good skill throughout the lineup.”