Dab.Docler Successfully Defends Title

MOL League Championship Series (Part 2)

icehockey.hu

@Zavodszky

Once everything was settled after a hard fought battle in which home ice advantage was non existent after game one the Dunaújváros Acébikák (Dab.Docler) were crowned champions of the 2012-13 MOL League. This was the second time that DAB has won the MOL League and is the first team in the short history of the league to successfully defend their title from the previous year. In a best out of seven series that DAB ended up winning 4-2 with only the first match going to the home team. 

The first two matches were covered in the previous article on icehockey.hu, that were split by the two teams, after the series moved to Csíkszereda the away team DAB took back the series lead 2-1 after a 4-3 win in over time. Unlike the first two matches game three had a rather high scoring first period, DAB took the lead 1:20 into the match when Jozef Mihalik set up Imre Peterdi for the even strength goal, the home team answered back two minutes later on a goal by Vaclav Novak. Just past the 10 minute mark the Transylvanian club took their first lead of the match when Attila Góga was able to beat DAB keeper Peter Sevela and put the puck in the back of the net. The home team was not able to get out of the period with the lead, with about five minutes left in the first Nikandrosz Galanisz and Dávid Szappanos teamed up to even everything at 2 all with Szappanos getting the goal and Galanisz the helper. After an exciting first period the next goal in the match did not happen until the 44.50 mark of the third, DAB attempted to put the game away when Galanisz and Szappanos switched roles Galanisz getting the goal and Szappanos the assist this time around. Csíkszereda was not ready to call it a game yet, when the two goal scorers teamed up to even the game at three all when Góga registered his second of the match and Novak getting the assist. Unfortunitly for the home club they could not score again and 3:44 into extra time Attila Pavuk beat Stanislav Kozuch for the game winner. Góga, Novak, Szappanos and Galanisz all finished with one goal and one assist a piece.

Unlike game three, game four had most of the excitement in the third period. Dab.Docler came out guns blazing and showing that they are ready to pull away, less then a minute into the match Pavuk and Szappanos set up Galanisz for the early goal. Neither team was able to take advantage of multiple power plays on each side until the 45:55 mark when István Nagy and Jan Fadrny took advantage of the extra attacker and pulled Csíkszereda even with Fadrny getting the goal. Less then five minutes later Csíkszereda jumped on the man advantage again, this time Tihamér Becze set up Jaroslav Kmit for the go ahead goal. Not to be out done DAB scored their own power play goal less then two minutes later when Lajos Tőkési took a pass from Mihalik and beat Kozuch to put DAB even at 2-2. Just like in game three the home team lost in overtime when Mihalik registered his second assist of the game with Peterdi putting the pass in the back of the net for the game winner. Mihalik was the leading scorer with his two assists.

After game five a clear pattern had developed during the series with excluding the first match the rest were won by the visiting team and all of them being won only by one goal, with three of them being in overtime. With the series now back in Hungary DAB was looking to win the series on home ice and to raise the trophy in front of their great fans. DAB was well on their way to do this, Tamás Gröschl set up Artyom Vaszjunyin who put the puck in the back of the cage at the 12:10 mark. DAB was thirty minutes away from being crowned champions when Huba-Ferenc Bors scored to even everything up at one, Fadrny and Becze had the assits. The match remained scoreless for the rest of the sixty minutes; almost an extra period of overtime was played, at the 77.07 mark Fadrny decided to postpone the celebration for the Hungarian team by scoring a goal off of a pass from Ervin Moldován and winning the game 2-1. Fadrny was the leading scorer with a goal and an assist.

Just to stay with the road team winning every game except for the first one DAB decided that it was time for the to close out the series and bring home the trophy. They did this with a relatively simple formula, lean on the players that brought you this far with a couple other players helping out and you goalie getting a shutout. Sevela did just that by keeping Csíszereda off of the scoring sheet on their home ice. The first goal did not come until the almost four minutes into the second period; Pavuk took a pass from Szappanos and was able to beat Kozuch to go up 1-0. At the half way point of the match Viktor Papp doubles DAB’s lead, Zsolt Azari and Gröschl closed the book on Csíkszereda by scoring at the 57:27 and 58:21 respectively and this way insuring the match and the title for the Hungarian team.

There are some rumors that Dab.Docler is having an eye not only at the Austrian 2nd division but possibly making a jump to the EBEL, but that is a story for another time. Check back in the coming months to see if it comes to fruition.

Here is a look at the MOL League awards as well as the all-star team which was voted on my the writers.

Best Goalie: Patrik Polc-Brassó
Best Defenseman: Victor Lindgren-Dab.Docler
Best Forward: Nikandrosz Galanisz-Dab.Docler
MVP:Nikandrosz Galanisz-Dab.Docler

All-Star Team (voted on my the writers)
Goalie: Peter Sevela-Dab.Docler
Defensemen: Attila Góga-Csíkszereda; Dániel Kiss-Dab.Docler
Forwards: Josh Bonar-Brassó; Nikandrosz Galanisz-Dab.Docler; Dávid Szappanos-Dab.Docler

The Finals are Set

MOL League Playoffs (Part 2)

@Zavodszky

icehockey.hu

            The MOL League championship series match up is set, Dunaújváros (DAB) will be meeting the Transylvanian team Csíkszereda in a best of seven series to decide who is the best team in the league. Let us recap how we got to this, after the first two matches were split in Dunaújváros Miskolc was unable to capitalize on their home ice advantage by losing both matches and there for DAB winning the best of five series 3-1. In the other semi finals pairing Csíkszereda took care of business as fast as possible by winning games one and two at home and then closing out the series with a solid win on the road.

            In game three it seemed that Miskolc would be able to take advantage of the home ice by jumping out to a 1-0 lead just past the half way point of the first period when Martin Saluga and Vladimir Dubek set up Adrián Toth for the even strength goal. Miskolc’s lead would last for a grand total of 25 seconds when Jozef Mihalik pulled the game even on a goal that was set up by Zsolt Azari and Imre Peterdi. There would be no scoring in the second period, however in the third period DAB would put three past the Miskolc keeper in a span for 3:14 when Nikandrosz Galanisz scored twice and Lajos Tőkési once to set the final score at 4-1. There were no major penalties in this match and Galanisz was the leading scorer with his to goals.

            The fourth game of this series was a must win for the home team Miskolc, just like in game three the home team took the lead on goal by Justin Smith, who took a pass from Levente Szilágyi and put it behind the DAB goalie for a 1-0 lead. The score stayed the same the same for the rest of the period and almost through the second as well. With just over half a minute left in the second period DAB was able to tie up the game at 1-1 with an Azari power play goal, Marek Chvatal and Peterdi had the assists. The match stayed tied up at one all the way through the end of regulation; in overtime DAB was able to pull out a second road win when Richárd Nagy was able to close out the series two minutes into overtime which was set up by Mihalik and Ákos Kiss. Attila Pavuk received a game misconduct at 28:24 which meant that he was done for the day.

            In the other semi final series Csíkszereda continued game three right where they had left off in game two. After letting Nové Zamsky take a 1-0 lead on a goal by Lukas Ruzicka Csíkszereda scored four unanswered goals to sweep the series and move on to the finals. Lubomir Hurtaj had two goals with Zsombor Molnár and Ervin Moldován have one a piece.

            The best of seven championship series starts Tuesday the 12^th with games one and two in Dunaújváros and then the series switching to Csíkszereda for matches three and four. Games five and seven will be played in Hungary and game six in Transylvania.

            Be sure to check back for more information in the finals

Szabolcs Závodszky

Twitter: @Zavodszky

Excitement Grows in MOL League Playoffs

MOL League Semi-Finals (Part 1)

@Zavodszky

icehockey.hu 

In the MOL League semi finals both best of five series have played two matches with two different out comes. After two matches in Dunaújváros (DAB) the series heads to Miskolc with both clubs tied up at one. In the other semi final series Csíkszereda has capitalized on having home ice adavtange with taking a 2-0 lead over Nové Zámsky (Érsekújvár) Ice Tigers.

In game one of the Hungarian match up the home team took a 4-0 lead just over 12 minutes in to the game at which time Tim Kehler decided to pull his keeper Krisztián Budai for Dávid Gyenes. Less then a minute into the match, DAB took the lead on a goal by Ákos Kiss on a pass from Nikandrosz Galanisz, about four minutes later Kiss made it 2-0. Not to be out done Galanisz chipped in his on goal after being set up by Kiss and Marek Chvatal, Jozef Mihalik’s shorthanded goal was the one that ended up chassing Budai from the cage. The goalie switch looked like it payed off with Miskolc closing the gap to 4-2 on two goals by Martin Saluga, however they could not get any closer with DAB scoring three more goals. Richárd Nagy and Dávid Szappanos scoring goals five and six with Kiss completing his hat trick with goal number seven. Just for some little excitement at the end Zsolt Azari received ten plus two plus two for checking in the back, roughing and a misconduct. Galanisz lead all scores with five points, a goal and four assists.

Miskoc’s fortunes changed in game number two with a 4-2 win, this time Gyenes got the start from Kehler between the pipes. Justin Smith broke the scoreless deadlock halfway through the first period on a goal assisted by Krisztián Nagy with David Cowen setting up Vladimir Dubek before the end of the period to take a 2-0 lead. DAB was able to even it up on two power play goals by Azari and Szappanos but that was all that DAB was going to get. Smith and Gergő Nagy closed out the scoring, Smith ended up leading all scorers with his two goals and Balázs Láda received 20 plus five for a knee and a game misconduct. Matches three and four look to be a thriller just as the first two have been.

In the other semi final series Csíkszereda won game one 5-3, however they were down 2-0 and 3-1 as late as the 36^th minute. Rastislav Barcák opened up the scoring for the Ice Tigers and Konstantin Mikhailov put one in the back of the net early in the second period to give the team from Slovakia a 2-0 lead. Dániel Tranca brought Csíkszereda back to with in one but less then a minute later Vladimirs Mamonovs put the Ice Tigers back up by two. Zsombor Molnár’s goal closed out the scoring in the 2^nd period, after 40 minutes the score was 3-2. The 3^rd period was all Csíkszereda who had an even strength goal by Tihamér Becze and Tranca had his second one of the match by scoring one short handed. Vaclav Novak closed the door on Nové Zamsky with an empty netter in the closing minutes of the game. This match had its share of penalty minutes with both Tamás Áron Bíró and Martin Baron both getting 10 minute misconducts and Baron receiving another two plus two for roughing. Becze led all scorers with three assists

Game two of the Csíkszereda-Nové Zamsky match up simply put was a blow out for the home team Lubomir Hurtaj opened the scoring at 3:10 of the first, the Transylvanian home team did not let up until the final horn sounded. Hurtaj scored his second one of the match with Novak putting the puck past the keeper for the third goal of the period. After the first it was 3-0 and the Ice Tigers coach decided to pull the keeper Karol Krizan in favor of Jakub Zima. The next 20 minutes were slightly better for Zima then the first 20 was for Krizan, Hurtaj completed his hat trick in the second and Ervin Moldován made it 5-0 after two. Jan Fadrny and Szabolcs Szőcs scored the sixth and seventh goals of the game to give the home team a 2-0 lead as the series moves to Slovakia. Zsombor Molnár got 10 minutes for a misconduct and Hurtaj was the leading scorer with his hat trick.

Check back soon as we close out the semi finals and look towards a promising MOL League finals.

Szabolcs Závodszky

Twitter: @Zavodszky