MOL Liga Weekly Roundup – 26 November

26 Nov 2012 | Tim Bourcier

This week in MOL Liga action saw HC Novy Zamky in a bit of trouble, DAB Dolcer HK get back to their winning ways and a lot of good play from the other five teams. The playoff race is heating up with two months left to play. Check out this week’s results, table and new power rankings.

Game results from this past weekend:

Thursday, 22 November

Ujpest TE – Ferencvaros TC: 2 – 3 shootout victory

Friday, 23 November

HSC Csikszereda – ASC Corona Brasov: 6 – 3

DAB Docler – Miskolc Jegesmedvek: 4 – 2

Sunday, 25 November

HSC Csikszereda – Ujpest TE: 4 – 5 shootout victory

ASC Corona Brasov – HC Novy Zamky: 5 – 0

Ferencvaros TC – Miskolc Jegesmedvek: 1 – 4

Monday, 26 November

HSC Csikszereda – Novy Zamky: 5 – 1

ASC Corona Brasov – Ujpest TE: 5 – 1

DAB Dolcer – Ferencvaros TE: 5 – 1

Current Table (for full standing click here for the EuroHockey MOL Liga webpage):

Team Points

DAB Docler 66

Miskolc Jegesmedvek 46

HSC Csikszereda 43

HC Novy Zamky 42

ASC Corona Brasov 30

Ferencvaros TC 22

Ujpest TE 15

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The Good

DAB Docler wins both of their matches this weekend and gets revenge on Miskolc with a 4-2 victory. Their top forwards are back strong as well. The top seven scorers for the Acelbikak got points in both of their games. If DAB Docler continues to play at this level, they will be hard to stop in the playoffs. Wins this weekend have pulled them seven games ahead of Miskolc, who are currently in second place.

The Bad

‘The bad’ category was a tossup this week for two teams struggling to get out of the bottom of the standings: Ujpest and Ferencvaros. Both Budapest teams are down in the standings and did little to improve their places this weekend. Ujpest picked up a shootout victory in Csikszereda, but lost handily to ASC Corona Brasov Monday evening, picking up only three points this weekend. Ferencvaros grabbed a lousy two points on a shootout victory over Ujpest on Thursday. However, Ferencvaros lost to the league’s top two squads and beat Ujpest, putting Ujpest atop the bad category this week.

Ujpest is now nine games out of a playoff spot with 21 games left to play. Ferencvaros is seven games out of the playoffs and lost Garip Saliji, the team’s second leading scorer (5 goals, 12 assists), to the Czech second league. A bad week for both teams.

The Ugly

HSC Novy Zamky was outscored 10 – 1 in two losses on their Romania tour against HSC Csikszserda and ASC Corona Brasov. In two weeks, the Slovak side has slipped from second place in the standings to fourth. With more than twenty games left, realistically ASC Corona Brasov or Ferencvaros could challenge for the last spot, leaving Novy Zamky out of the playoffs. If the season ended now, they would draw DAB Docler in the first round, which is not a good situation for any team.

Power Rankings

1) DAB Docler (up two spots)

Two wins this weekend and revenge against Miskolc puts the league’s best team on top of the standings and this week’s power rankings. In fairness, DAB had an off week after a consistently strong season last week. If the Acelbikak’s first two lines continue to score like they have all season, they will have little trouble holding on to their top spot.

2) Miskolc Jegesmedvek (down one spot)

Another hard fought game against DAB Docler ended in a loss, but they picked up one win out of two. They are only one game ahead in second place, so they will have to continue to play strong to maintain the number two spot (in the table and in the power rankings).

3) HSC Csikszereda (up one spot)

Csikszereda loses in a shootout to Ujpest and picked one up against the slumping HC Novy Zamky. A solid four point weekend moved them into third place in the table. Vaclav Novak and Lubomir Hurtaj have been on a tear and now sit in the third and fourth in league scoring. This team is too good to be playing so inconsistently. Despite the up and down games, they move up one spot in this weekend’s rankings.

4) ASC Corona Brasov (up two spots)

A six point weekend, including five periods of holding teams scoreless, puts Brasov in this week’s fourth spot. They are still four games out of a playoff spot, but a two game win streak and a slumping HC Novy Zamky in front them gives Brasov a shot at making the playoffs, if they can continue playing at this level. Patrik Polc has stepped up his game and they will need continued strong play from their netminder if they will make a run for the postseason.

5) HC Novy Zamky (down three spots)

Last weekend they were congratulated for a seven point weekend, though they dropped one spot in the table. This week, they drop another spot in the standings and come up empty in Romania. That makes eight losses in 12 games for the Slovak side. They would be in the playoffs if the season ended today, but there are still 20 games left to play.

6a) Ferencvaros TE (same place)

Two points against crosstown rival Ujpest was a good shutout win. This win was a short lived as they gave up the rights to one of their top scorers this week and lost two games to the superior DAB Docler and Miskolc sides. Mathematically, they are still in the playoff hunt. The path to get there is looking less and less likely with Ferencvaros’ recent fortune.

6b) Ujpest TC (down one spot)

The Budapest clubs share the last power ranking spot this week. Ujpest is a much improved team compared to the beginning of this season. Yet, it now appears after this weekend that they have dug too deep of a hole. At this point, they are fighting to move out of last place in the standings. They have been a lot more competitive and are winning games, so it is possible. There has been progress this season, but this is not yet a top-tier MOL Liga team.

What to Watch For?

Game of the Week

30 November: ASC Corona Brasov – Ferencvaros TE (DIGI Sport - 16:45 GMT+2)

Brasov is starting to surge and could make their move toward the fourth spot. Ferencvaros still has a chance at the fourth spot as well, but they need to make a move by knocking off Brasov who sits ahead of them in the standings. This game is a litmus test of which team might make a run for the final playoff spot.

The following games will be televised on DIGI Sport:

HSC Csikszereda – Miskolc Jegesmedvek: 30 November (19:15 GMT+2)

ASC Corona Brasov – Miskolc Jegesmedvek: 2 December (19:15 GMT+2)

ASC Corona Brasov – HSC Csikszereda: 4 December (19:00 GMT+2)

For full MOL Liga updates, including box scores and game stats, check out the league page on EuroHockey.com.

Tim Bourcier is a writer for EuroHockey.com following the MOL Liga and hockey in Hungary. Follow him on Twitter @bourciertm and read his blog Sport Exec in Training.

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