We managed to qualify for the last four in two championships, and on Friday night the first game of the Andersen League semi-final started: we hosted Lehel HC from Jászberény, our opponent in last year’s final, in the Győri Jégsport Központ.

We knew it would be a tough match, Lehel has shown excellent form this season, and our team has been without several key players due to injury lately (Bence Makovics, Márk Nagy, Norbert Lévai, Ádám Kiss).

The teams arrived on the ice with great energy, after the back and forth play of the first minutes you could feel the Győr superiority, which fortunately we could turn into a goal in the seventh minute: Tovkach Yulian led a beautiful attack from our own third. 1-0
In the next 10 minutes we couldn’t convert almost twice as many shots on goal, Popov almost copied our previous goal and after a nice solo attack the visitors could equalize. 1-1
Only half a minute later Győr replied: Benedek Madácsi positioned himself perfectly for a puck in front of the goal. 2-1

In the second period the tempo remained high and again we had to wait for almost 7 minutes for the first – Győr – goal: after a nice counter attack Dániel Csölle gave a selfless pass to Benedek Madácsi, who mowed down Monostori with a huge bomb. 3-1
It looked like we could go into the second break with a 2 goal lead, but it took less than a minute of “short-circuit”, which the Jászberény team exploited: first Pinczés scored after a turnover, then half a minute later they had the puck 3 on 1, this time Nyika was the man to finish. 3-3

After a more evenly matched middle part of the game, Győr’s dominance emerged again in the last period, in the 45th minute Csata Sebestyén gave a brilliant pass to Jábor Bendegúz, who made no mistake and we had the lead again! 4-3
But there was no rest for a minute in this game, halfway through the period the visitors were able to take advantage of a defensive mistake and Strenk scored a well-timed rebound. 4-4
A few minutes later another dangerous attack from Jászberény, but this time the goalkeeper was on our side. Head coach Szilárd Rusznyák asked for a video, but after a longer analysis the jury didn’t see the puck in, so the score remained level.
5 minutes before the whistle we managed to convert a man advantage, Martin Sipák positioned himself very well in front of the goal. 5-4
We would have liked to keep this result, but two minutes later we were down a man, and a rebound from the slot went straight to Pinczés, Róth could not reach it. 5-5

After a break, the “golden goal” was followed by overtime with 3-3 field goals. It was the first time this season that we had such a lineup, but we got the puck right away and 30 seconds later we put it in the net through Csata Sebestyén. Lehel, however, again asked for a video review and after a longer analysis than the first one, the goal was disallowed, citing goalie interference, sending a complete chill down the spine of spectators and players. After such an emotional rollercoaster, a mental block on the part of the boys would have been absolutely understandable, but once again they were able to show why we can love this team so much: after the opening face-off, Lehel were able to get the puck, but they were no threat to Róth’s goal, and on the counter-attack, Jábor Bendegúz made a brilliant solo save and mated Monostori, thus earning the victory without any doubt!

It was a very well-paced match, with exceptional excitement and a win.
In a match that went down to 3 games, we took the first step towards the final, but we have a tough task ahead of us, next time on Friday the 21st in Jászberény.

Go UNI GYŐR ETO!

UNI GYŐR ETO HC vs Lehel HC: 6 – 5 hu. (AL104)

Scorers:
#3 Tovkach Yulian, #18 Madácsi Benedek (3), #17 Jábor Bendegúz (2) #7 Sipák Martin (UNI GYŐR ETO)
#97 Popov, #11 Pinczés (2), #88 Nyika, #9 Strenk (Lehel)
In our gallery we have selected the best pictures of the game: