Korea trashes Hungary in World Championship debut

Hungary and Korea open the World Championship Division Ib in the beautiful Barys Arena in Nur Sultan, the capital of Kazakhstan recently renamed from the original Astana. The teams come to Kazakhstan with different goals: Hungary, after the tremendous frustration of the promotion vanished at the last gasp in Budapest in 2018, begins another campaign to come back in Elite Division, after the last fleeting appearance in 2015. Korea lived a magic and perhaps unrepeatable biennium with the promotion in Elite Group and the Olympic experience on home soil. Confirmed coach Jim Paek is in the process of renovation of the roster, with less pressure then his colleague Gergely Majoross and less naturalized players, just three, and more local talents.

Hungary dominates the first period, has a goal scored by Csanad Erdely disallowed but unexpectedly went down at 15:01 when Shingoon Shin cleverly steals a puck from Andrew Sarauer beating Bence Balisz. Hungary immediately ties the game: after 45 seconds Janos Hari finishes in the open cage a pass from behind the net by Vilmos Gallo.

A different and more aggressive Korea is back on ice in the second period, putting pressure on opponent and deservedly finds the second goal with a beautiful move by duo Sangwook Kim – Jin Hui Ahn, with Ahn’s decisive deflection in the open cage. Same Ahn has another chance after a couple of minutes but Balisz blocked the shot after a fast counter-attack. After a save of Matt Dalton on Balint Magosi, Korea strikes again: on power play with Kevin Wehrs received 10 minutes for a dangerous charge, an effective circulation of the puck finds Sangwook Kim perfectly placed for a finishing in the net despite Balisz desperate dive. The Korean captain is on fire calling Balisz twice to a decisive save. Hungary creates some opportunities, but the style continues confused: Magosi has a good chance but his shot misses the net.

After 10 seconds in the last period Sang Hoon Shin has the chance to kill the game but misses the net alone in front of Balisz. Koreans play really a good hockey, surprising a confused and nervous Hungary: the fourth Korean goal is a manifesto of the game: Hungary naively lost a puck coming out from defensive zone and three Koreans are in front of Balisz net: it’s easy beating the goalie for Kim Ki Sung. Despite the great support from the fans, Hungary is KO and Koreans pile on, finding the fifth goal at 49: again, with the unstoppable Kim Sang Wook shooting from the medium range with opposition. Veteran Janos Vas tries to raise the head, but Dalton is reactive. At minute 55 Jung Woo Jeon misses the decisive deflection near the post. Before the final siren, another Hungarian goal is disallowed by the referees after a video check because scored with the skate by Gergo Nagy.

Quite unexpectedely Korea earns the first points against one of the favourite, showing a very pleasant and modern style of play. If someone had thought of not dealing with the Koreans for the final victory, well he will have to think again. Hungary needs to recover from this nightmare debut, but the road for Elite is already uphill

MVP: Vilmos Gallo and Kim Won Jun

Comments from the coaches in the post game press conference

Gergely Majoross: "We know Korea is a dangerous team, we played well in some part of the game, but we made some bad mistakes"

Jim Paek: "We worked extremely hard before to come here and I’m pleased to see the results of our work. Hungary is a big and strong team, so it’s an important victory"

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