Hungary took on Germany in a game where if they won they would punch their tickets for the 2017 A-Pool World Championships, a loss would mean their fate rests in the hands of France.
Head coach Rich Chernomaz and the coaching staff stuck with what worked in the game against Belarus. Zoltán Hetényi and Zsombor Garát were scratched as was Frank Banham who joined the coaching staff behind the bench. Miklós Rajna started between the pipes with Ádám Vay serving as the backup.
The game opened up with an István Sofron break away which set the tone for the opening minutes of the game as Hungary created scoring chances, however Germany was also playing pace. Just before the midway point of the first period the teams were playing 4 on 4 hockey when Hungary struck first. István Bartalis brought the puck into the zone, nicely dished it off to István Sofron who put it past Greiss, from the slot to make it 1-0. The balance of the game started to tilt in the favor of Hungary as the first period wound down.
Hungary killed a penalty to open the second period, and the Germans had control of the game in the second period as they kept Hungary to one shot for most of the second period. Germany was able to tie the game up on a power play in the second half of the period, with two seconds left on the man advantage Hager centered the puck that went off of a diving Báint Magosi and past Rajna for the goal. Germany looked like the stronger team throughout the period. Late in the middle twenty minutes Hungary did have an opportunity to take the lead after a scramble in front of the German net, however Greiss stood his ground.
At the start of the third period Germany had possession of the puck, during a scramble in front of the Hungarian net Rajna lost his stick as the puck squirted out and Denis Ruel sent a shot through the traffic and into the Hungarian net to give Germany their first lead of the game. Minutes later Hungary dumped the puck around the boards where Bálint Magosi put the puck up to Kevin Wehrs on the point who sent an absolute rocket that Greiss ad no chance of stopping to tie it up 2-2. Later in the period Germany pinned Hungary in their own end, Rajna made a number of timely saves until the next break in action. This looked to come at the right time Hungary managed to regroup and get some offense going. Late in the period Hungary was stuck in their own this time Germany scored with a shot from the left faceoff dot. Hungary will their goalie with 80 seconds left, Germany hot the post on the empty net. With 33 seconds left Germany scored an empty netter to lock up the win.
Lineup
Galló, Bartalis, Sofron
Kóger, Sarauer, G.Nagy
Erdély, J.Vas, Benk
Kovács, Sebők, Magosi
K.Nagy
Szirányi, Wehrs
Sagert, Dudás
M.Vas, Stipsicz
Mestyán
Rajna (Vay)
May 7th, 12.15 (11.15): Slovakia–HUNGARY 4-1
May 8th, 12.15 (11.15): HUNGARY–Canada 1-7
May 10th, 20.15 (19.15): HUNGARY–France 2-6
May 11th, 20.15 (19.15): Finland–HUNGARY 3-0
May 13th, 16.15 (15.15): USA–HUNGARY 5-1
May 14th, 16.15 (15.15): HUNGARY–Belarus 5-2
May 16th, 20.15 (19.15): German-HUNGARY 4-2
HUNGARIAN ROSTER
Goalies (3): HETÉNYI Zoltán, RAJNA Miklós (Fehérvár AV19), VAY Ádám (Debreceni HK)
Defencemen (8): SZIRÁNYI Bence, WEHRS Kevin (Fehérvár), 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), MAGOSI Bálint (Briancon), NAGY Krisztián (MAC), SEBŐK Balázs (KalPa), SOFRON István (Klagenfurt), VAS János (Slavia Praha)