U16: Hungary Wins opening game of Billa Cup

Hungary-Sparta Praha 12-1

By the looks of things the travel distractions were not an issue for Hungary during their first game of the Billa Cup. Head Coach Bence Svasznek gave Tamás Monostori the start in net, unfortunately not being able to make the trip was Levente Bulcsu who got sick right before the team left for Prague.

The game started off better for the home team as Sparta Praha opened up a 1-0 lead on home ice. However Hungary bounced right back on goal from Márk Schlekmann. Later in the period Bálint Molnár found the back of the net to give Hungary the lead. Before the period was over Hungary had doubled the lead after Krisztián Hódi put the puck past the goalie.

Hungary continued where they left off as Kristóf Németh scored not once, but twice to open up a 5-1 lead. Hungary kept up the pressure through the rest of the middle period with Dániel Csölle making it 6-1. Németh completed his second period hat trick and defenseman Mátyás Tornyai also scored to give Hungary an 8-1 lead as the teams headed into the second intermission.

The last goal of the second period was from a defenseman and so was the first goal in the third as Balázs Kóger sent a shot on net from the blueline that made it through traffic and into the net to make it 9-1. Despite the large lead Hungary still kept Praha under pressure, Hódi found the back of the cage for the second time in the game with Zsombor Gajda and Markó Csollák scoring the 11th and 12th Hungarian goals of the game.

Hungary will be back on the ice tomorrow night against Berlin

Tamás Monostori, goalie: It took us 3-4 minutes to get our legs going in the game, I think we played well and then in the end we won the game.

Kristóf Németh, forward: As the game went one we started to get more and more comfortable with the pace, thanks to the great work by my linemates I scored three goals and we won the game. Hopefully we can continue doing this tomorrow as well.

All tournament info can be found here.

HUNGARY-Sparta Praha 12-1
August 18th 19:00 HUNGARY-Eisbaren Berlin
August 19th playoffs
August 20th medal games