UNI GYŐR ETO HC are the champions!

Every fan who turned up at the Győr Ice Sports Centre on Sunday evening was treated to an exceptional night of ice hockey: our team, UNI GYŐR ETO HC, sponsored by Széchenyi University in Győr, took to the ice to compete for the Andersen League challenge cup against **LEHEL HC from Jászberény in a best-of-three series; having secured a confident home win and a hard-fought away victory, they were already leading 2–0.

Once again, there were no complaints about the atmosphere, with more than 600 people watching and applauding as the young players from our youth club escorted the players onto the pitch. The ceremonial face-off was taken by Dalma Sebestyén, a swimmer and outstanding athlete from UNI-Győri Úszó SE, the newly crowned Hungarian champion in the women’s 200m individual medley and the 4x100m medley relay.

Just as in our previous home match, we put the visitors under intense pressure right from the whistle, but our attempts failed to yield a goal, and the opening goal did not come from a Győr player: taking advantage of a man-up situation, Jászberény converted their first dangerous attack into a goal through Tiurikov! (0–1)

Two minutes later, the Russian goalscorer was sent off, and we capitalised on this: Benedek Madácsi fired a powerful shot towards goal, which Richárd Horváth did well to get a touch on. (1–1)

Fortunately, the second half of the third period was clearly dominated by Győr. In the 14th minute, the visitors made a substitution at a very inopportune moment, which, at this level, is simply unforgivable: Majoross spotted the opening and passed the puck to Almási, who set up Benedek Madácsi for a clear-cut chance, and he doesn’t usually put a foot wrong in situations like that. (2–1)

Just over three minutes later, we were able to attack with a man advantage, and the crowd were treated to a beautiful piece of team play: Bendegúz Jábor » Bence Makovics » Márk Nagy, leaving Eőry with no chance. (3–1)

Two minutes before the final whistle, Márk Almási played a superb lob from our goal line to Márk Vas, who made the most of the opportunity and fired the ball into the bottom left corner. (4–1)

The lads went into the break with a comfortable lead; you could sense that today would see a new champion crowned in Győr in the Andersen League.

The second period saw a more evenly matched contest, with chances for both sides, but none of them resulted in a goal. We gained a significant psychological advantage by successfully defending a two-man disadvantage. Then, in the 34th minute, Márk Almási made the most of the final seconds of our power play and fired the puck into the top corner. (5–1)

Minor and major fouls and scuffles were a feature throughout the match; you could sense the tension that had built up over the whole season amongst the players of both teams. Half a minute after the home side’s fifth goal, during a scuffle by the boards, the visitors’ number 21 – who had just returned from the penalty box – pushed Ádám Kiss twice from behind with his stick, which naturally resulted in a sending-off, but he turned back, at which point our goalkeeper, Dániel Kornakker, ‘landed a blow’ on him, which set off a chain reaction and a minor brawl broke out on the ice. In the end, five players from each team were sent to the penalty box, and later to the changing rooms with final dismissals. With this, a depleted LEHEL side was unable to continue the game, so the match ended with the home side leading 5–1.

Although the match ended prematurely, the outpouring of joy from both the players and the crowd was indescribable.

The medals and the trophy were presented by Károly Radnai (Managing Director of Andersen Hungary), Eszter Szombati-Serfőző (Managing Director of Uni Pro Sport Kft.) and Dr Tamás Gyömörei (Head of the SZE Sports and Recreation Centre).

**The team had a fantastic season: as well as finishing 7th in the EUHL, we won the MEFOB, and in the ANDERSEN LEAGUE we clinched the league title by winning 24 out of 27 matches!

It is a particular pleasure that BENEDEK MADÁCSI has been named the season’s top scorer!**

The Széchenyi University team has thus demonstrated that the unique career model they envisaged two years ago (ice hockey » degree » sporting and professional career) has lived up to expectations: 15 of our players are university students, six of whom were SZE students this season!

Come on, UNI GYŐR ETO!

UNI GYŐR ETO HC vs LEHEL HC: 5 – 1(AL174) Goal scorers: **#11 Richárd Horváth, #12 Benedek Madácsi, #18 Márk Nagy, #9 Márk Vas, #14 Márk Almási (UNI GYŐR ETO) **#73 Tiurikov (LEHEL)

UNI GYŐR ETO HC’s squad for the 2023/24 Andersen League season:

**Goalkeepers:****Dániel Kornakker,****Nándor Róth,**Ákos Mészáros

**Players:****Márk Almási,****Sebestyén Csata,****Dániel Zoltán Csölle,****István Tamás Farkas,****Botond Fekete,****Richárd Horváth,****Bendegúz Jábor,****Ádám Kiss,****Mátyás Zoltán Kiss,****Márk Koczkás,****Áron Láday,****Bence Láday,****Norbert Lévai,****Benedek Madácsi,****Barnabás Majoross,****Bence Makovics,****Márk Máté Nagy,****Martin Sipák,****Balázs Attila Takács,****Márk Dániel Vas,****Balázs Vojnits,**Miklós Barnabás Wenner

Cast:

Mátyás Odnoga, head coach** ****Lóránt Ládayassistant coach ****Feil Arnoldassistant coach ****Ádám Barnagoalkeeping coach ****László Steingartfitness coach **Zoltán Alföldi, sports psychologist

Dávid Baki, equipment manager

Gergely Pribránszki – Communications

Helga Horváth social media

Péter Boros GM

We’ve put together a selection of the best photos from the match in our gallery:

Photo: Dr Krisztina Németh-Csigai