After just missing the playoffs last season Fehérvár AV19 looks to have a strong regular season that will help them to make the playoffs and after that anything can happen.
Hannu Jarvenpaa joined Fehérvár last year during the season, he will be in charge of the team this year. Helping him will be long time Fehérvár assistant Lajos Énekes.
Fehérvár will be going through the season with a very strong goalie in net, Mac Carruth will get the balk of the starts in net during the season. Dániel Kornakker and Dávid Gyenes will split their time between the EBEL and the ERSTE Liga.
The team has experienced defenders on the blueline. Jonathan Harty finished the season injured last season, the offensive minded defender hopes to show what he can really do this year. Eric Meland was picked up late last season to cover for the injuries that Fehérvár had last season. Along with Meland and Harty, Ryan Glenn and Harri Tikkanen will be the other two import defencemen on the team. For both players the EBEL will be nothing new since Glenn played in Villach last year and Tikkanen in Zagreb. Bence Stipsicz is already one of the top Hungarian defenders despite his young age, he has improved every year and should be on one of the top two lines this year. Dániel Szabó is also a player still on the front side of his career. Bence Szabó is a player to keep an eye on, the 20 year old players already made his national team debut. Tamás Láday will also get playing time during the season.
For the first time in a long time a large number of Hungarian players will be responsible for the offensive production of the team. Csanád Erdély, János Hári and Dániel Kóger formed a productive line during the season. János Hári is a very skilled forward, Csanád Erdély is expected to have a big breakout season where he can become a true star. Dániel Kóger is player who is adjusting his game as he is getting older. Two Hungarian national team players have come back to Fehérvár after playing last season in Villach. Andrew Sarauer is a productive power forward, István Sofron is also back, and with the right linemates can be on of the top goal scorers in the league. Arttu Luttinen is also back for his second season in Fehérvár, he will be imports Tero Koskiranta and Anze Kuralt these forwards are expected to have productive seasons this year. Another familiar face returns to the forward unit after being away for a couple of seasons, Timotej Sille has returned from the Slovak Extraliga. Fehérvár also has a four forwards that will probably get most of their ice time in the fourth line, however they have the skill set to be able to play on a scoring line.
Fehérvár looks to have stability on the roster and the coaching staff, with this they could make the playoffs and make it past the first round of the EBEL playoffs for the first time in the club’s history.
Hannu Jarvenpaa, head coach: Our short term goal is always to win our next game, but we want to finish in the top seix of the league. We have a lot of experience on our roster, that being said we also have a lot of young players as well, which is a good combinations. We know that we will need to build our defence to be rock solid if we want to compete in the league.
Players Added: Ryan Glen, Andrew Sarauer, István Sofron (Villach, EBEL), Tero Koskiranta, Harri Tikkanen (Zagreb, EBEL), Anze Kuralt (Amiens, FRA), Zack Phillips (Nottingham, EIHL), Timotej Sille (Érsekújvár, Slovak Extraliga)
Players Who left: Antonin Manavian (Zagreb, EBEL), Ferenc Kocsis, Márk Szaller (UTE), Bence Szirányi, Péter Vincze (DVTK), David Gilbert (Ceske Budejovice CZE2), Zsombor Kiss (La Chaux-de-Fonds, NLB), Olivier Latendresse (Grenoble, FRA), Alex Music (Olimpija Ljubljana, AlpsHL), Jeff LoVecchio (retired), Joe Antilla, Juho Uotila, Brett Palin, Luka Vidmar (unknown)
