Machine-translated from Hungarian.
The opening matches of the second round of the Hungarian Cup took place on Tuesday evening, with our team hosting MAC Ikonok at the Győr Ice Sports Centre.
Several unfortunate incidents made this match day an interesting one; the first was our opponents’ late arrival, which caused the kick-off to be delayed by 30 minutes.
Both teams came out with great momentum in the first third; the opening minutes were characterised by missed chances, but we managed to break the deadlock in the ninth minute when Márk Koczkás fired a mid-range shot from a tight angle, which found its way into the visitors’ net (1–0). We didn’t have to wait long for a response; a few minutes later, MAC went on the attack with a man advantage. Following a successful face-off, Jécsai fired from distance, and our goalkeeper, obscured from view, was unable to react. (1–1). The “retaliation” came just as quickly, with Bence Dézsi firing the puck towards goal from almost right next to the boards, which eventually trickled into the capital side’s net (2–1).
This was followed by another surprise: the referees halted the match because MAC had failed to meet the minimum requirement of 13+1 players. We are publishing our statement regarding the incident without any changes:
Dear Supporters! Dear Sports Fans! Thank you very much for turning out in such large numbers once again at the Győr Ice Sports Centre for last night’s Hungarian Cup match to cheer on the team. First of all, we apologise that the match started more than 20 minutes later than the scheduled 18:30; this was because the opposition did not arrive on time. This threw a spanner in the works for us, as well as for the match officials. The opposition submitted their registration form whilst en route, listing the names of 12 players. Whilst this just about meets the minimum requirement for an Andersen League match, the rules for the Hungarian Cup stipulate a squad of 13+1. In other words, they cannot play a Hungarian Cup match with fewer than that. In fact, the match could not even have started under these circumstances, but in the jury’s defence, the visitors did not even make it onto the ice in time for the warm-up, so the start turned out to be rather rushed anyway. According to the rules, we won the match 5–0, but there is still a return leg to play and the Hungarian Ice Hockey Federation is also investigating the incident. We are very sorry that we were unable to show what we are capable of over the full 60 minutes on the ice last night. We continue to take our performances in the Andersen League, the EUHL and the Hungarian Cup very seriously. Wherever we play, we always want to win. We expect the same from our opponents. This will also be the case in our next match on Saturday (16 November) at 6 pm, when we take to the ice against LEHEL HC, who, like us, are aiming to win the Andersen League. As well as doing everything we can to secure victory, we’d like to make it up to you on Saturday for yesterday’s disappointment – not just with our performance, but with a surprise too. We’ll be sharing the details of this very soon!
Another top-of-the-table clash is set to take place on Saturday, as we host Lehel HC, who are also unbeaten in the Andersen League so far.
Come on, UNI GYŐR ETO!
UNI GYŐR ETO HC vs MAC Ikonok: 2 – 1 (5-0) (MK II.) Goalscorers: **#6 Márk Koczkás, #15 Bence Dézsi (UNI GYŐR ETO) **#9 Jécsai (MAC)
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