Sports 2015

[Akoss Poo a.k.a. Zorromeister]

Ice hockey Hungarian-Romanian MOL League started yesterday.

Some changes:
- Érsekújvár (Nové Zámky) was not released by the new president of the Slovakian Federation, so will miss them this year (focusing on the Slovakian 2nd tier this year), but they home to come back next year
- Fehérvár Alba Volán 19 will compete their farm team in this year in the MOL League, only 5 domestic players can play from the EBEL (Austrian League) team
- a new team in the league: MAC Budapest, their former talented youth/junior players are seniors now, it is worthy to compete them in the League
- title holders Miskolc Polar Bears changed their name, they are DVTK Polar Bears now (they are in connection with the Diósgyöri VTK football team now, which I hate)
- so Debreceni HK will be my favourite team this year, though I'm planning to attend some DVTK Polar Bears games of course (but the ticket prices have risen...)

First result:
MAC Budapest - Újpest Budapest (4th last season) 5-2

Today:
DVTK Polar Bears (Miskolc, 1st last season) - Ferencváros Budapest (7th)
Debrecen (5th) - MAC Budapest (-)
Fehérvár farm (-) - Csíkszereda (Miercurea Ciuc, ROM-HUN, 8th)
Dunaújváros Steel Bulls (3rd) - Brassó (Brasov, ROM-HUN, 4th) - postponed

Sunday:
Miskolc (1st) - Fehérvár farm (-)
Dunaújváros (3rd) - Ferencváros (7th)
Újpest (6th) - Csíkszereda (8th)

Today also the start of the Austrian EBEL, with the same teams as last year.

First game for the Hungarian team: Fehérvár vs. Klagenfurter AC (AUT), 19:15 CET @ Klagenfurt

[Akoss Poo a.k.a. Zorromeister]

Austrian first division (EBEL) - ice hockey

Alba Volán is hampered by injuries and out-of-form Hungarian National Team players and the level of the import players are also lower than last year.

1.   Red Bull Salzburg/AUT   14   9   1   1   3   50:38   30   
2.   Orli Znojmo/AUT   14   8   1   2   3   49:29   28   
3.   Black Wings Linz/AUT   14   8   1   2   3   36:26   28   
4.   Dornbirner EC/AUT   14   8   0   2   4   35:30   26   
5.   Bolzano Foxes/ITA   14   6   2   1   5   39:34   23   
6.   Klagenfurter AC/AUT   14   5   2   3   4   40:40   22   
7.   Vienna Capitals/AUT   14   5   3   0   6   42:36   21   
8.   Innsbrucker Haie/AUT   14   5   2   0   7   28:41   19   
9.   Villacher SV/AUT   14   5   1   1   7   35:35   18   
10.   Graz 99ers/AUT   14   3   2   2   7   32:44   15   
11.   Alba Volán Székesfehérvár/HUN   14   3   2   2   7   25:38   15   
12.   Olimpija Ljubljana/SLO   14   1   1   2   10   31:51   7   

Hungarian First Division (MOL Liga) - ice hockey

Debrecen is showing a steady good performance, maybe even better than expected. Miskolc is flying with far the strongest line-up, I watched them live twice this year so far. Miskolc (DVTK) will play a Continental Cup tournament (the second European club tournament after the Champions' Hockey League) against MOGO Riga (LAT), Acroni Jesenice (SLO) and Jaca (ESP). Miskolc might start in the Slovakian Extraliga next season, there are negotiations about it.

1.   DVTK Polar Bears Miskolc/HUN   15   11   2   1   1   69:39   38   
2.   Debrecen/HUN   15   8   2   2   3   51:37   30   
3.   MAC Budapest   15   8   1   2   4   54:39   28   
4.   Alba Volán Székesfehérvár II/HUN   14   6   1   2   5   45:42   22   
5.   Újpest Budapest/HUN   14   5   3   0   6   38:36   21   
6.   Ferencváros Budapest/HUN   14   4   1   2   7   41:56   16   
7.   Dunaújváros Steel Bulls/HUN   13   4   1   0   8   35:43   14   
8.   Csíkszereda/Miercurea-Ciuc/ROM-HUN   14   3   0   3   8   36:54   12   
9.   Corona Brassó/Brasov/ROM-HUN   12   2   1   0   9   34:57   8   

[Akoss Poo a.k.a. Zorromeister]

International hockey tournament from Thursday to Saturday in STAVANGER, Norway (Usrin's new hometown):

Norway
Denmark
France
Hungary

What a tournament between Pool A Stunts nations! Usrin, don't forget to attend the matches!

Hungary will miss several key players like János Hári (Leksand, SWE-2), János Vas (Slavia Praha, CZE-2), Márton Vas (Fassa Canazei, ITA-1), István Bartalis (Székesfehérvár, AUT-1). They are all key players in their club as well.

[Akoss Poo a.k.a. Zorromeister]

International hockey tournament from Thursday to Saturday in STAVANGER, Norway (Usrin's new hometown):

Norway
Denmark
France
Hungary

What a tournament between Pool A Stunts nations! Usrin, don't forget to attend the matches!

Hungary will miss several key players like János Hári (Leksand, SWE-2), János Vas (Slavia Praha, CZE-2), Márton Vas (Fassa Canazei, ITA-1), István Bartalis (Székesfehérvár, AUT-1). They are all key players in their club as well.

It turned out that we will miss many more players from our team. Neutralized Canadian players, Banham and Sarauer (both Székesfehérvár, AUT-1) is not fully recovered from their injuries, they will left home. Other players, namely Sofron (Krefeld Pinguine, GER-1), Tokaji (MAC Budapest), Hajós and Göz (Miskolc Polar Bears) are allegedly injured... but they play in their club teams... Our most talented junior players will travel to a junior tournament. Many good players are not selected into the travelling squad, for example the best Hungarian player of the Hungarian League, Galanisz.

The out-of-form players of Székesfehérvár will all travel to the tourney. Many young players, too. I think we will suffer big defeats in Norway...

Roster: http://www.jegkorongblog.hu/2015/11/03/144229/#post-144229

[Usrin]

What a tournament between Pool A Stunts nations! Usrin, don't forget to attend the matches!

It is impossible to forget, we don't have such events in Stavanger too often. I'm attending NOR-HUN today (19:00), but probably missing HUN-DEN and HUN-FRA. Tickets cost 172 NOK for the two games of one day, 2x172 or 3x172 would be a bit too much... I will re-consider it if HUN performs well today, but the news are rather disappointing. It seems that Székesfehérvár takes this as an opportunity to promote some "second-class" players to be sold... Their profit became more important than the success of the national team and preparation for the World Cup...

[Akoss Poo a.k.a. Zorromeister]

What a tournament between Pool A Stunts nations! Usrin, don't forget to attend the matches!

It is impossible to forget, we don't have such events in Stavanger too often. I'm attending NOR-HUN today (19:00), but probably missing HUN-DEN and HUN-FRA. Tickets cost 172 NOK for the two games of one day, 2x172 or 3x172 would be a bit too much... I will re-consider it if HUN performs well today, but the news are rather disappointing. It seems that Székesfehérvár takes this as an opportunity to promote some "second-class" players to be sold... Their profit became more important than the success of the national team and preparation for the World Cup...

Is 172 NOK too much? Well, check the ticket prices of the DVTK Jegesmedvék: http://www.miskolcijegesmedve.hu/ Between the MOL Liga match ticket in Miskolc and an international tournament ticket with Pool A teams in Norway, there is only the usual triple price rate between the two countries. And let's consider that it is not a MOL Liga match, the quality is even higher. The spectators can see the National Team of Norway in a new arena. Let alone that Norwegians earn not only 3 times as much as Hungarians, rather 10-15 times...

A trip with bus between Tau and the Preikestolenhyttä costs more than a hockey ticket... at least the nigger sold the return ticket for 180 NOK... and it's just 2x20 km...

Well, if Team Hungary performs well, I recommend to visit other games, too. I wonder if you enjoy a hockey game live more than on tv, because it was the case for all the people came with me to a live hockey match.

[Akoss Poo a.k.a. Zorromeister]

Norway - Hungary 4-0 (1-0, 2-0, 1-0)
G.: Bastiansen, Trettenes, Sveum, Ask.
Shots on goal: 31-17
Penalty minutes: 2x2 vs. 8x2

Hungary also misses the coach, Rich Chernomaz, who travelled with the U20 team to France (he is also the coach of our U20 team, the boys won against Italy 2-1).

Balázs Sebök, the best forward on the remaining roster, also did not play. Some players from yesterday's team have only very little experience even in the Hungarian league (especially Reisz, who has only played 19 matches so far). Taking this into consideration (and the fact that according to the reports, we hit the post twice), the result (and the shots on goal ratio) is not that bad.

But I wonder that if all other teams in this international hockey weekend managed to send a decent roster, why Hungary couldn't... If we want to get invited to such a strong tournament again, I think, we must send our best players there.

Other game: Denmark - France 6-0.

[Usrin]

I wonder if you enjoy a hockey game live more than on tv, because it was the case for all the people came with me to a live hockey match.

I fully agree. It was way easier to follow and enjoy the game then on TV. Of course the replay screens in the arena help a lot.

But the performance of the Hungarian team was disappointing to see. I felt that Norway could have beaten us 10-0 if they really wanted... I was surprised to read a rather optimistic summary on the main Hungarian hockey blog:
http://www.jegkorongblog.hu/2015/11/05/norvegia-magyarorszag-4-0/#post-144480
They write that our team was well-organised and our players were not worse technically, only in speed than the Norwegians. As if we saw two different games... Well, I'm not an expert in ice hockey, while they supposedly are. So I rather hope they were right...

Based on the other result, we may have some chance against the French on Saturday. There is 50% chance that I'll be in the arena. (Today I'll be still working at 15:00 when HUN-DEN starts.)

[Akoss Poo a.k.a. Zorromeister]

I wonder if you enjoy a hockey game live more than on tv, because it was the case for all the people came with me to a live hockey match.

I fully agree. It was way easier to follow and enjoy the game then on TV. Of course the replay screens in the arena help a lot.

But the performance of the Hungarian team was disappointing to see. I felt that Norway could have beaten us 10-0 if they really wanted... I was surprised to read a rather optimistic summary on the main Hungarian hockey blog:
http://www.jegkorongblog.hu/2015/11/05/norvegia-magyarorszag-4-0/#post-144480
They write that our team was well-organised and our players were not worse technically, only in speed than the Norwegians. As if we saw two different games... Well, I'm not an expert in ice hockey, while they supposedly are. So I rather hope they were right...

Based on the other result, we may have some chance against the French on Saturday. There is 50% chance that I'll be in the arena. (Today I'll be still working at 15:00 when HUN-DEN starts.)

The Norwegians played a lot on powerplay, that could have made the game look more one-sided than it was. Though the jegkorongblog.hu is always a bit biased to the Hungarian team.

Btw Denmark - Hungary 2-1 after shootout (0-0, 0-1, 1-0, 0-0, 1-0), SOG 46-20
G.: Karvinen, Green (shootout winner) vs. Somogyi

Usrin, if you go to the ice rink tomorrow, will you also watch the Norway-Denmark big game on Saturday? 

[Shoegazing Leo]

[Usrin]

Usrin, if you go to the ice rink tomorrow, will you also watch the Norway-Denmark big game on Saturday? 

I was there with my son, but only for Hungary-France. After the amazingly tight game against Denmark, I had high hopes to see a Hungarian victory. In the 1st and 2nd period, we were better than the French (in a game which was overall slow compared to NOR-HUN), but we collapsed, seeming to be very tired in the 3rd period... Three games at this level in a row were too much for our inexperienced team.


France - Hungary 3-1 (0-1, 0-0, 3-0), SOG 35-20
G.: Fleury, Janil, Manavlan vs. Somogyi

Btw, I'm surprised that the Norwegians were not very interested to see their national team in Stavanger. In the same arena, there is often full house (4500 spectators) for the games of Stavanger Oilers, whereas NOR-DEN was seen by only 1715. Obviously, it was not regarded as a big battle as we would imagine.

[BonzaiJoe]

I guess random 4-nation tournaments with most key players missing aren't so attractive. Also, ice-hockey is a very marginalized sport in Denmark and probably also in Norway. It's only big in Sweden and (I suppose) Finland.

It's been difficult to find anything in the Danish media about the tournament. But I did find a couple of stories. Too bad Norway got the better of us :-(

[Akoss Poo a.k.a. Zorromeister]

I guess random 4-nation tournaments with most key players missing aren't so attractive. Also, ice-hockey is a very marginalized sport in Denmark and probably also in Norway. It's only big in Sweden and (I suppose) Finland.

It's been difficult to find anything in the Danish media about the tournament. But I did find a couple of stories. Too bad Norway got the better of us :-(

Well, for some reason in Hungary these EIHC tournaments are very popular. They attract many spectators.

Ice hockey is one of the most popular sports in the world, not only in North America, but also in Europe. See the attendance of the major European clubs and leagues: http://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/news/attendance-2014-2015/ Switzerland, Germany and Russia also overtake Finland and Sweden. In Austria and Great Britain there are also good numbers of spectators. But in Norway and Denmark they aren't bad either.

In Hungary the friendly matches between national teams are somehow more attractive than league matches. Maybe because they occur less frequently.

Our current coach, Rich Chernomaz for some reason likes to miss the key players in these tournaments (especially in the first tournament in the calendar like this). Earlier we often went with the best possible team.

I think in February, in the Olympic Pre-Qualification tournament in Hungary, there will be a sold-out stadium with several thousand people who will be able to see our best possible team playing against Poland, Lithuania and one of the Pre-Pre-Qualification winner teams, Estonia.

[Usrin]

I guess random 4-nation tournaments with most key players missing aren't so attractive. Also, ice-hockey is a very marginalized sport in Denmark and probably also in Norway. It's only big in Sweden and (I suppose) Finland.

Overall, ice hockey is not very popular in Norway, but in Stavanger that's different. Stavanger Oilers won 5 Norwegian championships in the last 6 years, and they became almost as popular as Viking Stavanger (football). I think that's why this tournament was here and not in Oslo. In the local press, the organisers also admitted that they expected more spectators... The problem might be rather that national teams are generally undervalued in ice hockey. (Don't forget that there is no break in NHL & KHL during a World Cup...) Many fans may think that the best hockey is played in the leagues, and national teams are on a lower level.

[Akoss Poo a.k.a. Zorromeister]

Erste Bank Eishockey Liga

Latest matches:
Innsbruck - Székesfehérvár 1-2 after shootout
Dornbirn - Székesfehérvár 5-2
Székesfehérvár - Znojmo 3-1

Standings

1.   Linz/AUT   26   16   2   2   6   82:57   54   
2.   Salzburg/AUT   26   14   3   2   7   86:71   50   
3.   Dornbirn/AUT   26   14   1   5   6   76:57   49   
4.   Znojmo/CZE   26   14   1   3   8   91:65   47   
5.   Klagenfurt/AUT   26   11   3   4   8   84:82   43   
6.   Fehérvár AV19 Székesfehérvár/HUN   26   10   4   3   9   63:66   41   
7.   Bolzano/ITA   26   10   4   2   10   65:62   40   
8.   Vienna Capitals/AUT    26   10   4   0   12   69:58   38   
9.   Villach/AUT   26   10   1   2   13   62:64   34   
10.   Graz/AUT   26   7   3   3   13   53:76   30   
11.   Innsbruck/AUT   26   7   2   2   15   51:82   27   
12.   Olimpija Ljubljana/SLO   26   3   2   2   19   51:93   15   

1-6: Elite Main Round, automatic playoff spot
7-12: Qualification Main Round, only 7-8 will reach playoff
No relegation.

Székesfehérvár is playing without many injured key players, 6th place so far is great.

MOL Liga

Latest matches
Csíkszereda - Debrecen 4-1
Debrecen - Dunaújváros Steel Bulls 8-3
Debrecen - Ferencváros Budapest 0-1
Újpest Budapest - Miskolc 1-2 after extra time
Brassó - Miskolc 0-8
Csíkszereda - Miskolc 1-6

Standings

1.   Miskolc Polar Bears/HUN   25   18   4   2   1   124:63   64   
2.   MAC Budapest/HUN   26   16   3   3   4   109:70   57   
3.   Fehérvár AV19 Székesfehérvár II/HUN   26   13   2   2   9   98:81   45   
4.   Debrecen/HUN   26   10   3   3   10   80:80   39   
5.   Újpest Budapest/HUN   25   9   5   1   10   79:69   38   
6.   Dunaújváros Steel Bulls/HUN   25   8   1   3   13   71:90   29   
7.   Csíkszereda/ROM-HUN (Miercurea Ciuc)   26   6   3   4   13   74:99   28   
8.   Ferencváros Budapest/HUN   25   7   1   4   13   73:99   27   
9.   Corona Brassó/ROM-HUN (Brasov)   24   4   1   1   18   53:110   15   
     
1-2: automatic top4 in the playoffs
3-6: first playoff round, played for semi-finals
7-9: no playoff, no relegation