Beograd has brought in Christer Dreberg as their head coach, Dreberg has MOL League experience in the past has he was the head coach of Csíkszereda and also was on the coaching staff of Brasov as well. He is a well respected coach and his knowledge of the league should be an asset to the team.
In net one of the goalies will be Alexei Trifonov who had played in the VHL, he is hands down the most experienced goalie on the roster. The backup spot will come down to the goalies who have split the starts with the Serbian national team, Arsenije Rankovic and Petra Stepanovic. Jovan Fehér who came up through the MAC youth system could push for playing time as well.
On defence the two most stable defenders are David Avary, an import from Slovakia and Róbert Szabados, an experienced defenseman who has two MOL League title under his belt when he played with Dunaújváros. Dominik Crnogorac played in the CIS before coming to play in Serbia last season. There is a lack of experience in the bottom half of the D-man core, however both Ivan Anic and Pavle Podunavac played their youth hockey in Hungary.
Scoring will not come easy for Beograd, there will be pressure on the imports to perform. Samir Saliji, David Sefic and Hugo Turcotte will be asked to find the back of the net on a regular basis. Nemanja Vucurevic, Marko Brkusanin, Dimitrije Filipovic and Petar Novakovic will probably make up the second line. Both Uros Bjelogrlic and Andrej Zwick have MOL League experience, which will come in handy for them and Srdjan Ristic will be the veteran leader of the group.
The sky's the limit for HK Beograd, there is pretty much no pressure on them since this is the first season of a long process. The team should be better than the teams that have finished at the bottom of the MOL League in the past. Then again they are an unknown commodity and could end up shocking everyone by having a deep playoff run.
Marko Milovanovic, president, HK Beograd:
We would like to thank the MOL League for letting us join, the is very important to us. This is a new experience for us, this is probably the biggest thing that has happened to Serbian hockey. We know that this season will be hard for us but we are working hard every day. It would be great for us to make the playoffs. Not only can’t the team wait for the teams to start but the city can’t wait either.
David Sefic, forward HK Beograd:
We can’t wait for the season to start, we are hoping to finish as high as possible in the standings, the team unity is great, we all get along very well.
*Expert Opinion: They will have that mentality that they will fight to the end and leave their blood on the ice which will balance out their inexperience in the league. They will have a positive attitude and great fight in the game.They have a young team but they will need to get used to the speed and the skill level of this league. The long road trips and maybe little rest will take some time to get used to. This team will probably be better than last years Brasov or the UTE team from a couple years back that would finish at the bottom of the table.
*Recently retired former MOL League player
