Szuper-man leads Hungary to victory

It was a must-win game for Hungary in regards to keeping their promotion hopes alive, and once again it was a near sell out in the Budapest Sportarena. The first period was a cagey affair with neither team giving much away. Kazakhstan, who went into this game with two wins out of two were looking to keep their promotion push on track, and certainly created chances in the opening frame, getting 11 shots on Levente Szuper in the Hungarian net. The best chance of the period for Kazakhstan came in the second minute, where Fyodor Polishuk’s tip in off a Talgat Zhailauov shot rattled the post. Kazakhstan looked the more threatening of the two sides, despite Hungary mustering ten shots on Vitali Kolesnik, who looked in fine form after his shutout on Day 2. Kazakhstan gave the hosts two powerplay chances in the opening frame but Hungary was unable to make the man advantage count. Later in the period Kazakhstan would close again to finding the twine, as Polishuk and Roman Savchenko’s quick counter attack ended with the latter shooting high. Towards the end of the period, Hungary nearly broke the deadlock as Janos Hari’s shot trickled across the crease but just went past the far post.

It was much of the same for the second period, as both teams fought out a tight game. The first controversial moment of the game came after a shot on the rush eluded the grasp of Levente Szuper and rattled the base of the post. The play was reviewed as it was thought the puck might have come back out from the back bar, but the review cleared any doubt. This scare woke Hungary up, as while both teams had a player in the box, the home side broke the deadlock. Thirty three minutes in, Good puck movement by Marton Vas in gaining the zone opened space for Arpad Mihaly on the left wing, and he fired a shot which squeezed between Kolesnik’s pad and his arm and trickled over the line. Istvan Bartalis was awarded a two minute kneeing minor for his collision with Andrei Korabeinikov. This time around Kazakhstan would convert on their powerplay opportunity, as Roman Starchenko benefitted from a piece of good fortune as his centering feed was blocked by Istvan Bartalis, but the puck ended up back on the stick of the Kazakh forward, who had practically an empty net to shoot into with Szuper committed to the other side. Kazakhstan continued to fire away as the period near it’s end, as with Andras Benk in the box they were given a powerplay opportunity in the final two minutes, but Szuper continued to impress, making thirteen saves in total in the second period.

Kazakhstan opened the third period looking dangerous, getting a number of quick chances but being constantly frustrated by Szuper. Roman Starchenko almost had his second goal of the game, but somehow Szuper, while lying on his back, kicked his leg up and stopped the rebound attempt with the back of his pad. However, Kazakhstan’s momentum was quickly halted six minutes in as Alexei Troshinski was caught attempting to play the puck with a broken stick, giving Hungary a man advantage which they would then convert. Viktor Tokaji shot from the right point took a deflection off of Vladislav Kolesnikov’s skate and slowly crossed the line, sending the near 8,000 crowd into raptures. With eight minutes left in the third period, it was Hungary who would get into penalty issues as a Janos Vas tripping penalty gave Kazakhstan a route back into the game. Talgat Zhailauov had a golden chance at the back door but he couldn’t find the handle and gave Szuper enough time to get back across his crease. Kazakhstan would fail to convert on another powerplay opportunity, with Hungary almost sealing the game with a quick Sofron breakaway. With Troshinski in the box for the final two minutes, life was made easier for Hungary, and Levente Szuper’s 38 saves resurrected Hungary’s promotion hopes, and made things all the more interesting at the top of the table in Division 1A.

Hungary defenceman Balazs Goz spoke with Eurohockey after the game, and he said 'It was pretty important because we had to come out hard because we lost that game the other night and we had to bounce back because we can’t let our fans down'.

We were pretty confident in ourselves that we could kill those penalties [in the third period] because we have a really good team and we trust each other'.

Finally, commenting on the fantastic atmosphere in the Budapest SportArena which culminated in fantastic scenes after the game in the fanzone area of the Arena complex, Goz added. 'It’s unbelievable. You can’t dream of better things than playing in front of these fans'.

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