The Hungarian national team played their last pre-world championship game against the Russian ‘B’ team in preparation for the World Championships. The fans were also given the chance to say farewell to Viktor Tokaji.
Head coach Rich Chernomaz gave Zoltán Hetényi the start in net with Ádám Vay as the backup, not playing today was András Benk, Krisztián Nagy, István Terbócs, Jesse Dudás, István Mestyán, Bence Bálizs and Miklós Rajna.
The game started off at a fast pace with both teams creating scoring chances, Russia had two early power plays that Hungary managed to kill however managed to capitalize on their first powerplay of the game. Kevin Wehrs took a pass from the corner and fired it past the Russian keeper to make it 1-0 and to score his first national team goal. It looked as if Hungary started to play more open as the period continued on.
The fast paced game continued on in the second period, Hungary was not able to score on their second power play of the day. However Russia was not able bring the puck out of the zone, István Bartalis brought the puck around and centered the puck to István Sofron who used a Russian as a screen and doubled the Hungarian lead. Minutes later Russia scored a power play goal of their own when a shot from the point was redirected, past Bálizs. As planned Hungary switched goalies with Vay coming in for Bálizs. It didn’t take long for Russia to score against Vay and tie the game up on a redirected shot.
The balance of the game in the third period was started to tip in the favor of the Russians, as The balance of the game in the third period was started to tip in the favor of the Russians, as they were visible in control, however Hungary stood their ground. Ádám Vay made a number of great saves in net. The game stayed tied until the closing minutes of the game, with nine seconds left in the 2-2 game Hungary called time out, neither team managed to score. In the extra session again both teams had chances however neither was able to score in the extra session so the game went to a shoot out.
In the shootout János Vas missed his attempt with his brother making it, however Tokaji missed the last shot to give Russia the shootout win.
Photo: László Mudra
ROSTER
Goalies (4): BÁLIZS Bence (MAC Budapest), HETÉNYI Zoltán, RAJNA Miklós (Fehérvár AV19), VAY Ádám (Debreceni HK)
Defencemen (10): ORBÁN Attila, SZIRÁNYI Bence, WEHRS Kevin (Fehérvár), KISS Dániel (UTE), GARÁT Zsombor, MESTYÁN István, STIPSICZ Bence (MAC), DUDÁS Jesse, SAGERT Kalvin, (DVTK), VAS Márton (Fassa)
Forwards (16): BANHAM Frank, BARTALIS István, BENK András, KOVÁCS Csaba, KÓGER Dániel, NAGY Gergő, SARAUER Andrew (Fehérvár) ERDÉLY Csanád (Sioux Falls), GALLÓ Vilmos (Linköping), KÖNCZEI Áron (Debrecen), MAGOSI Bálint (Briancon), NAGY Krisztián, TERBÓCS István (MAC), SEBŐK Balázs (KalPa), SOFRON István (Klagenfurt), VAS János (Slavia Praha)
SPRING SCHEDULE
Exhibition games
April 15th, Friday, 18.00 (Budapest): Hungary-Austria 4-0
April 16th, Saturday, 16.30 (Vienna): Austria-Hungary 1-3
April 20th Wednesday, 19.00 (Budapest): Hungary-Slovenia 0-3
April 29th, Friday, 19.00 (Budapest): Hungary-Kazakhstan 2-3
April 30th, Saturday, 19.00 (Budapest): Hungary-Russia 'B' 2-3 SO