Hungarian Preview

For the last number of World Championships the goaltending position has been a stable point on the roster. This year both Bence Bálizs and Miklós Rajna have backstopped Hungary as the number one goalie in the past. This will be the third World Championship for Bálizs with Rajna playing in his fifth World Championship. Who ever is between the pipes for Hungary will be in safe hands. “Rajna reads game really well and has good instincts with Bálizs being technically solid and a strong goalie who moves well for big goalie and is able to get behind the puck easily.” said goalie coach Jukka Kontsas.

On the blue line Hungary might look like a young team as four defencemen are under the age of 25 yet none of them have played in the World Championships in the past, in fact the two youngest players, Zsombor Garát and Bence Stipsicz played in the A-Pool a year ago. Arnold Varga and Balázs Gőz missed last year but both are coming off of a solid seasons with their club teams and will play a simple but smart style of hockey. Kalvin Sagert and Kevin Wehrs are also playing in their second World Championships however the two naturalized players bring stability and also have the North American style that Rich Chernomaz is looking for. The leader of this unit is Bence Szirányi who in the last couple of seasons has grown up and is now latest name to be added to the long list of outstanding defencemen that Hungary has had such as Kangyal, Szélig, Sille, Tokaji and Vas.

If everything goes as planned Hungary should not have a problem scoring goals, five players from last years World Championships will not be back for various reasons, however there will be no drop in the level of play. János Hári is back after missing last season because of injuries. István Bartalis and Dániel Kóger could have an exceptional tournament with János Vas bringing experience as he as been apart of every major Hungarian hockey moment in recent history. These three along with András Benk and Bálint Magosi round out the five veteran forwards that will put the team on their back if need be. Young forwards Csanád Erdély, Vilmos Galló and Krisztián Nagy can also find the back of the net when called upon. István Terbócs and Karol Csányi are two aggressive two way players who can also posses skill as well, along with naturalized forward Keegan Dansereau they are the three players making their World Championship debuts. Andrew Sarauer is a true centerman with great vision on the ice and is a reliable penalty killed with a great reach. “Our speed will be our strength, we also have a lot of young  players so we should be able to recover faster than maybe the other teams can. We also enough skilled players who can surprise players. We have four balanced line that can score at anytime.” said assistant coach Gergely Majoross.

Senior Team

Staff

Senior team schedule
HUNGARY-Sweden 0-4
HUNGARY-Finland 1-6
Slovenia-HUNGARY 2-1
HUNGARY-Slovenia 3-5

IIHF Division 1/A World Championship schedule
April 22nd: Ukraine-HUNGARY
April 24th: HUNGARY-Austria
April 25th: HUNGARY-Korea
April 27th: Poland-HUNGARY
April 28th: HUNGARY-Kazakhstan