Originally Rich Chernomaz would have started Bence Bálizs in the third game of the weekend but after having to jump in off the jump against Poland Miklós Rajna got the start , with Bálizs on the bench and Duschek was scratched. Chernomaz decided to give the veteran players the day off and go with a strictly young line up. Vladimir Dubek, Tyler Metcalfe, István Sofron, János Vas, Viktor Tokaji, and Márton Vas did not dress. Getting back into the lineup was forwards Bálint Magosi, Csaba Kovács, and Balázs Sebők along with defencemen Attila Orbán and Tamás Pozsgai. One player that was not with the senior team this past week Péter Vincze, who made his senior team debut, was called up from the U20 after they won their Four Nations tournament. With the number of veteran players sitting out the game Chernomaz trusted 22 year old forward János Hári with the team captaincy.

The two teams started the opening period pretty balanced with chances for both sides. With Hungary on the powerplay in the early part of the period Bence Szirányi took a pass from Ladislav Sikorcin from the left faceoff circle and took a shot from the blue line that took a deflection off of an Italian player and past the goalie Philipp Kosta for the 1-0 lead. As the period went on the game started to speed up as the two teams were flying up and down the ice. Hungary closed out the period up 1-0.

The second period was much like the first as in it was good back and forth hockey with both teams creating quality chances. It looked like for a long time that Rajna would be able to stonewall the Italian team on during the penalty kills. With the penalty officially killed and just seconds left in the period Christian Willet was able to score a power play goal with István Mesztyán sitting in the penalty box for holding, the teams skated off the ice tied 1-1.

What has become the theme of the tournament for Hungary was reflected in the third period as well. With Krisztián Nagy in the penalty box, Armin Hoffer scored from feed from behind the net and placed the puck behind Rajan to give Italy the first lead of the night. As the last twenty minutes rolled of Hungary was missing chances to even up the game on the power play while the Italian team capitalized on their chances. At 48:24 Raphael Andergassen scored from a scramble in front of the net, the Hungarian defenders were not able to clear the puck on the penalty kill. It looked like Italy had the game in the bag when things started to get chippy. Hungary had a 5 on 3 power play that they were not able to convert on, on the man advantage that was still left, Csaba Kovács took a pass down low from Hári, spun around and roofed a close range shot to make it 3-2. With the energy back in the arena there was a big momentum swing when Luca Zanatta took out Károl Csányi for which he received a game misconduct and Csányi had to be helped off the ice. With the five minute power play Hungary had a chance to tie the game up. Hungary cycled the puck around nicely when Sikorcin set up Nagy in the slot for a shot that Tamás Sárpátki redirected.

After a scoreless overtime on came the shootout, Italy’s first shooter Simon Kostner beat Rajna with a dirty dangle, and Edoardo Caletti slipped a soft one through the legs. Mean time both of Hungary’s shooters missed to give Italy the win.

Coach’s Corner

“Our power play was really affective, our pk got work but we took a lot of unnecessary penalties. We gave up some power play goals, which is what we did at the world championships. We will really need to work on this.”  Hungarian coach Rich Chernomaz

“I liked the way we played, they really learned what puck possession is tonight, we have to be in the right areas where the play will go. We were not good in the first period, we played afraid, and chipped it in and fore checked that is something I don't. I want more from my forwards like in the second and third periods, having them hold the puck and challenge, otherwise you don't any offense.” Italian head coach Ivano Zanatta

View from the Ice

“You have to look at this tournament from a different point of view since we started the training camp with 60 players, we started the tournament with 5 lines. It is great that we could come back with such a young team after being down 3-1 against an Italian team that is regularly in the A Pool.” Forward Csaba Kovács

“It is not easy playing four game in four days [playing 3 U20 and 1 senior], the recovery is very important after the games, but it was very enjoyable play the amount of minutes that I did these last four days.” Forward Péter Vincze

“The tournament was very useful especial against the Italians where we played a number of young players” Forward Krisztián Nagy

Poland-Korea

After beating Hungary 6-4 Poland looked flat against Korea as the Asian nation jumped out to a 3-0 lead after the first period and were up 5-0 by the midway point of the game. At this point Poland switched goalies, in the end Poland was able to came back to make it 6-3.

“The first couple shifts were good for us, but yesterdays game was still in our heads, we didn't have the same energy and we didn't skate as well. This tournament was really important for us, we got a lot of questions answered,” Polish assistant coach Torbjörn Johansson

“We have played together for a couple games which has given us some team unity, this has been great evaluation time to see where our players are and where we can grow,”

Text: Szabolcs Závodszky

Photo: László Mudra