“Unconvincing Preparations: Hungary’s Tough Road to the World Hockey Championship”

And apart from the last preparatory meeting in front of more than 14,000 spectators in Budapest against Canada (2:5), the Hungarians competed against teams that were equal or worse on paper, but only defeated South Korea (4:1) in February and Japan (5:2) in April.

As part of the preparation, our southern neighbors also met with units from the I. B category of the World Cup – Ukraine and Japan. They won only one match against an opponent from Asia, lost to him 0:3 in the second, the Ukrainians defeated them in both meetings – 1:4 and 0:1 after extra time and separate raids.

They were not enough even for Poland, Great Britain or Italy, i.e. the participants of this year’s WC I. A division, where the first two named units fought for promotion among the elite.

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In preparation, the Hungarians also lost to the Poles (2:3 and 2:4), who in May fought to return to the elite after more than 20 years

Source: Hungarian Ice Hockey / Facebook

However, according to the American coach, the atmosphere in the cabin is good despite the unsuccessful preparation. The hockey public is also optimistic. Thousands of fans came to the preparatory meetings of the Hungarians – over 8,000 in Slovenia, a record 14,000 fans in Canada.

In the final selection for the WC we find names known to Slovak fans. The unit in the goal should be Bence Bálisz, who works in the Budapest Academy club. Still under the name MAC Újbuda in the 2018/19 and 2019/20 seasons, he also played for him in the Slovak extra league.

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The match between Hungary and Canada in Budapest was watched by a record 15,000 spectators

Source: Hungarian Ice Hockey / Facebook

The defenders Nándor Fejes, Tamás Poszgai, Zsombor Garát, who roamed the Slovak ice in the MAC Újbuda jersey, also have a “Slovak” past, as do their attacking colleagues István Sofron, István Terbocs and Krisztián Nagy. Defender Zeteny Habodás also played for DVTK Miškovec in the Slovak league.

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The Hungarian selection also features 32-year-old forward Karol Csányi, the current player of the Slovak vice-champion from Zvolen. In 66 games for the “Bryndzias”, the native of Komárno collected 11 points for 5 goals and 6 assists, in Slovakia he also previously worked for Nitra and Leva Poprad in the KHL.

Hungary’s nomination for the 2023 Hockey World Cup in Tampere and Riga:

The leaders of the Hungarian team will be experienced 35-year-old back István Sofron, forwards Vilmos Galló from Sweden’s Linköping, Balázs Sebők from Finland’s Iilves and Kristóf Papp playing overseas for Northern Michigan University.

The Hungarians last appeared among the elite at the 2016 World Cup in Russia. They were rookies then, but they couldn’t save themselves. They finished last in the group with three points, winning the only match against Belarus 5:2. They also faced the Slovaks in the group, our hockey players won 4:1 in St. Petersburg with goals from Tomáš Jurč and Marcink, Andrej Sekera and Patrik Lušňák.

Monuments of the match on the Hungarian side are, for example, István Sofron, István Bartális, Krisztián Nagy or Vilmos Galló.

At this year’s championship, they will aim to save themselves among the elite. They will fight for points successively with Denmark, the USA, France, Sweden, home country Finland, Germany and Austria.

VIDEO: World Hockey Championship 2023 with Miška (Thursday, May 11)