Olympic qualification tournament in Budapest: Hungary loses to Poland in shootout

Both Hungary and Poland knew that this will be a must win game, as the winner would advance to the next round of Olympic Qualifying, which would most likely be in Latvia, icehockey.hu reports.

For the final and all deciding game of the tournament head coach Rich Chernomaz gave Miklós Rajna the start in net.

According to icehockey.hu, the game started out fast paced and hard fought as both teams were grinding it out. Both teams had a number of scoring chances in the first period and all through the second. In the opening minutes of the game istván Sofron skated in on the Polish goalie but he was stuffed, in the second András Benk picked up a loose puck in the Polish end but the opposing keeper stood tall. To make matters Balázs Gőz picked up an injury during the middle twenty minute period which left Hungary with five defencemen.

The icehockey.hu said, Chernomaz was forced to play János Vas on the backside as well, mostly paired with his brother Márton. The goalie battle continued deep into the third period as both goalies played outstanding. Hungary called timeout in the final 18 seconds set up the final play. After a scoreless five minute overtime period the game went to a shootout. Rajna saved one of the Polish shots but unfortunately Hungary missed all three of their scoring chances and Poland win 1-0 and advance to the next round.

Reactions

Rich Chernomaz: I couldn’t have asked for more from my players, of course it hurts that this was how we lost. It is unfortunate that the Olympic Qualification round has to be decided in four game tournaments.