Machine-translated from Hungarian.
The final matches of the UNIVERSITY OF GYŐR HOCKEY CUP III were played on Saturday. In the morning, the Uniza team from Žilina faced the Sabers from Auschwitz. The Polish side arrived with a very strong squad and were in fine form throughout, so they won their final match as well, securing the tournament with a perfect record.
The final match of the cup was scheduled for the afternoon, when our team hosted the Philosophers from Nitra. We’ve traditionally had some ‘spicy’ encounters with the Slovak side, and this one was no exception.
We were only seven minutes into the first period when we found ourselves in a difficult situation; the visitors were able to attack with a two-man advantage, which they managed to capitalise on through Kudrna. 0–1 Just before the end of the period, we had the same opportunity, but we failed to capitalise on it, so the visitors went into the first break with a one-goal lead.
In the second period, too, the turning point that changed the course of the game came in the seventh minute; following a minor scuffle, the refereeing team decided to send **Bence Makovics from Győr and Simon Homola from Nitra to the changing rooms with a match penalty. With this additional penalty, we found ourselves a man down, a situation the visitors once again capitalised on, leaving Bendak unmarked. 0–2
A minute and a half before the final whistle, however, the home crowd had something to cheer about as Mátyás Odnoga scored a stunning goal from an almost impossible angle. 1–2
Unfortunately, the remaining 90 seconds were not without incident either; with 2 seconds remaining before the break, István Szűcs was sent off for criticising the referees in an unsportsmanlike manner.
We were facing a tough final period; we were without two of our key players (Bence Makovics and István Szűcs) and started the final 20 minutes a man down. The ‘Philosophers’ capitalised on this; barely 30 seconds had passed since the face-off when the visitors scored their third goal. 1–3
As had been the case throughout the match, we managed to get more shots on goal than our opponents in this period too, but it was only in the final minutes that we were able to convert our dominance into a goal: Mátyás Odnoga found the net once again. 2–3
We did everything we could in the closing stages to force the game into extra time, but the visitors defended well, so they were the ones who took home the three points.
The two red cards sealed the fate of the match, meaning that Nitra took home the trophy for second place, whilst we finished in third.
We have four matches left in the EUHL regular season and we have a good chance of making the play-offs.
Come on, UNI GYŐR ETO!
UNI GYŐR ETO HC vs PHILOSOPHERS NITRA: 2 – 3 (EUHL) Goalscorers: **#16 Mátyás Odnoga (2) (UNI GYŐR ETO) **#24 Kudrna, #9 Bendak, #7 Gemmel (NITRA)
We’ve put together a selection of the best photos from the match in our gallery:
Photo: Dr Krisztina Németh-Csigai
Fotó: Dr. Németh-Csigai Krisztina