MOL Liga preview

Can the next season be better than the previous one? Can the league progress in a way that more and more teams would want to play here? These are just a few of the questions raised by the fans and managers alike. Even if there were some rumors surrounding this year's team list (other 2 or 3 teams to join the league) the organizers went with quality rather than quantity this year, and the same 7 teams will fight for the 1st place.DAB.Docler, Miskolci Jegesmedvek, Ferencvarosi Torna Club (FTC), Ujpesti Torna Egylet (UTE)- all from Hungary; HSC Csikszereda,Corona Wolves Brasov- representing Romania; andHC Nove Zamky from Slovakia

 The league is continuously progressing season after season, and this year there are some important changes that make this league even more professional. Digi Sport TV will remain as a media partner of the MOL Liga, which means that several matches will be televised in both Romania and Hungary just like last year, when Digi Sport televised more than 50 matches! 

A video refereeing system is a more than welcome addition to this years season, the system was successfully tested in last season's playoffs. In ice rinks where a video surveillance monitoring system is not available, the footage of Digi Sport can be used.

The Winter Classic games gained popularity in many European hockey leagues, and in the 2013-2014 season, the MOL Liga will also have one or several Winter Classic games in December. The location most likely will be in Budapest, but we will know more when the time comes.

   The past two editions of the MOL Liga were won by DAB.Docler from Dunaujvaros, and their main goal this year is unchanged, winning the league for the 3rd consecutive year! For this they managed to keep the spine of the team along with their top coach Stephan Lundh and in addition they transferred players like Ladanyi Balazs and  Ivan Khomutov. 

A serious opponent and contender will be the Slovak team from Nove Zamky who invested heavily in bringing players this summer! 11 new players signed with HC Nove Zamky, just to mention a few:Marek Uram, Nagy Gergo, Albin Podstavek ! DAB kept most of the players, while Nove Zamky went the other way, it is yet to be seen which is the better tactic.The first match of the regular season will be on Monday (2nd of September) between these two teams!

HSC Csikszereda undergone serious changes in the financial support department, their main sponsor of the past few years left and others came which meant that the summer went by with without serious roster changes. Fresh blood is infused by transferring a few juniors from the second team, and the most noted transfer is the return of Jozef Hruby ! HSC's goal is to get in the playoffs, and from then on everything is possible.

Their Romanian rivals, Corona Brasov also invested heavily in changing the roster as a whole, several young players were brought while the freshly transferred Martin Saluga and Molnar Zsolt will be in charge of the routine part. The team from Brasov is known for investing a lot in marketing, and their latest endeavour was associating the team with the wolf, which brought the name Corona "Wolves" Brasov, and the roster is also mentioned as the "wolf pack".

Miskolc, just like Nove Zamky, changed a lot in their roster, nearly two and a half lines were replaced and their coach is also new this year! The team's strength is not really known, mostly because they are very much changed, but nobody should underestimate the Polar Bears of Miskolc lead byTyler Metcalfe and Juraj Faith

FTC and UTE are struggling for the past few years progress, and not to be the underdogs of the league, but with with very minimal success. Maybe this will be their year, and they will be able to catch one of the above mentioned 5 teams. The fans of FTC should be the most hopeful in this case, they should have a successful season with the return of Budai Krisztian and the transfer of a few young Scandinavian players. Will it be enough to catch one of the top teams? We will see in the upcoming few months. UTE's most notable move is the return of Horvath Andras, one of the key players of SAPA Fehervar and the national team of Hungary for the past few years.

   Every little detail is pointing in the direction of another great and exciting MOL Liga season! The addition of the above mentioned video referee, the organizing of a Winter Classic and not to mention the World Class transfers that some of the teams have made in the summer, all lead to an exciting 2013-2014 hockey season! Don't forget that the first match is on Monday, 2nd of September in Nove Zamky; two of the best teams are dueling and Digi Sport will be broadcasting it live! 

The full schedule of the 2013-2014 MOL Liga: click HERE!

-regular season(48 matches per team): 2nd of September-23rd of February

-playoff semifinals: 26th of February-6th of March

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