Six matches in eight days – the Győr university team’s record stands at five wins!

It was a busy week for UNI GYŐR ETO HC: the Széchenyi University team played six matches in eight days, emerging victorious on five occasions:

• On 30 November, we hosted the Óbuda Hockey Academy team in front of a home crowd in the Andersen League, where we put in a confident performance to beat the Budapest side 6–2.
• The following day, 1 December, our youth team hosted the Sportországi Cápák at home as part of the U21 league, securing a resounding 8–2 victory.
• On Tuesday 3 December, the lads faced a real challenge as the Győr university team were away to Erste Liga side UTE in the third round of the Hungarian Cup. Although Újpest’s dominance was unquestionable throughout the match, we managed on several occasions to find a way through their defence and score four goals against the side playing in Hungary’s top flight. Final score: 4–10. Head coach Mátyás Odnoga’s assessment: “I’m completely satisfied with the four goals we scored, but not with the ten we conceded. We’re not used to this pace, and we made mistakes that our opponents ruthlessly capitalised on at this level. I’m sorry we had a few lapses lasting several minutes, but regardless of that, I don’t think we played hockey like we were wielding a pickaxe; we tried to get involved in a back-and-forth game, and in places we even managed it – I’m proud of my team!”

On the second weekend of Advent, our team travelled to Auschwitz in Poland, where they played three matches at the 3-day Winter Cup as part of the EUHL (international university league):

• On Friday 6 December, we faced the hosts, UHT SABERS, straight away, and managed to secure a 6:4 victory in a truly close match. Interestingly, Bendegúz Vadócz from Budapest took to the pitch for the Polish team on Friday evening; he is playing in Poland this season as a foreign-based player.
• On Saturday the 7th, our opponents were PHILOSOPHERS NITRA, against whom we’d fought a closely contested battle last season; in this match, however, there was never any doubt as to who would take the three points. In fact, the first period, which ended 5–0, decided the match, and by the final whistle we had comfortably beaten our opponents from Nitra by a 10-goal margin (13–3)
• In the final match of the weekend (8 December), we came up against last year’s league runners-up, GLADIATORS TRENCIN. We’d already played them this season, losing 3–5 at home, so we had a score to settle. And that’s exactly what we did: dominating the match from start to finish and giving our opponents no chance, we clinched this encounter with a 6–1 victory.****
• As winners of the Malopolska Winter Cup III***, the lads left the ice on Sunday evening. The Polish university team finished second, whilst last year’s EUHL silver medallists, Trenčín, finished third ahead of Nitra. No Hungarian university team has ever won such a cup since the EUHL was founded!*

Our team has put in a truly outstanding performance over the past little over a week; our players didn’t crumble under the extra pressure, but in fact delivered their best performance of the season so far. It’s almost impossible to single out any one player, as they fought through these matches as a team, but it’s worth mentioning Norbert Lévai, who featured in every match (6 in 8 days) and always gave his all.

*Next up, on Saturday, the team will travel to Óbuda for a match in the Andersen League, and then on Wednesday the 18th, UTE will visit the Győr ice rink for the second leg of the Hungarian Cup. *

Come on, UNI GYŐR ETO HC!

Photo: UNI GYŐR / Krisztina Németh-Csigai, UTE / Dávid Vörös