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Budapest, Hungary - Normally a country known for its warm-weather sports, Hungary has recently made some headway in ice hockey. In fact not only is the Hungarian Ice Hockey Federation's junior team working its way back into Division I, but their men's national team qualified for the World Championships just three years ago for the first time. However, despite this marked improvement, there is still work to be done which is why they will be participating in Division II Group A at the 2013 IIHF World U20 Junior Ice Hockey Championships.
Team Hungary:
IIHF Record: 56-77-8
Division: II
Group: A
2012 Final Results: Division II Group A Third Place with 3-2-0 record
Head Coach: Eric Thurston (CAN)
So far in our coverage of Division II Group A for the 2013 WJHC we have covered Romania, Netherlands, and Spain. And while all three of those teams have the potential to play better than last year, Hungary has the chance to outshine them and the rest of the competition. In fact last year, aside from the final records, the only difference between the Hungarians and the Ukrainians (who finished first and were promoted) were five goals against. Both led the division with 24 goals scored, and while Hungary only allowed 15 against, they came at inopportune moments.
Usually scoring six goals in a game would be enough to win, but Ukraine topped the red, white, and green 7-6 in game two of the competition. That defeat was followed by another at the hands of the Dutch 4-3 and that was all she wrote for Hungary's chances of moving on. Attila Nemeth played extremely well in the tournament scoring 9 points, enough for top scorer honors (shared with Viktor Zakharov of Ukraine).
However, he won't be there to keep Hungary in it this year. Instead they will need to rely on Richard Hardi and Gergo Toth if they hope to stay at the top of the bracket. Hardi will need to be a bit more disciplined though as he averaged four PIMs per game; that will not be acceptable if he is to lead the team. They will also look to Jozsef Pleszkan to have a better tournament in the crease than 2012 as he could only stop about 89% of the shots he faced. But with experience comes improvement and now he is on pace to lead what could be the dark horse of DIIA play in 2013.
For previous team articles, click the links below
Spain: http://www.juniorhockey.com/news/news_detail.php?news_id=75363
Netherlands: http://www.juniorhockey.com/news/news_detail.php?news_id=75309
Romania: http://www.juniorhockey.com/news/news_detail.php?news_id=75295
Division II Group B: http://www.juniorhockey.com/news/news_detail.php?news_id=75279
Estonia: http://www.juniorhockey.com/news/news_detail.php?news_id=75257
Serbia: http://www.juniorhockey.com/news/news_detail.php?news_id=75227
Belgium: http://www.juniorhockey.com/news/news_detail.php?news_id=75213
Australia: http://www.juniorhockey.com/news/news_detail.php?news_id=75194
Iceland: http://www.juniorhockey.com/news/news_detail.php?news_id=75154
Division III: http://www.juniorhockey.com/news/news_detail.php?news_id=75142
Bulgaria: http://www.juniorhockey.com/news/news_detail.php?news_id=75132
New Zealand: http://www.juniorhockey.com/news/news_detail.php?news_id=75122
China: http://www.juniorhockey.com/news/news_detail.php?news_id=75097
Turkey: http://www.juniorhockey.com/news/news_detail.php?news_id=75086
Mexico: http://www.juniorhockey.com/news/news_detail.php?news_id=75075
Intro to 2013 WJHC: http://www.juniorhockey.com/news/news_detail.php?news_id=75064
Matt Prosser, Featured Writer for JuniorHockey.com. Owner of Fifty8 Productions and freelance writer from the San Francisco Bay Area. Voice of California State University, Sacramento Hockey and host of The Sports Cycle with Matt Prosser on KSSU1580 Sacramento. For comments and writing ventures e-mail Matt@Fifty8productions.com. Follow on Twitter @MattProsser58 or visit www.kssusportsycle.com.
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