MOL Liga Playoff Picture Gets Clearer

The DAB Docler Acelbikak ran away with the league regular season title this year, losing only six games in regulation and three games left to play. Throughout the season, the strong play was led by Galanisz, Szappanos and Pavuk – the second, third and seventh leading scorers in the league. While their defense has been outstanding as well, a lot of credit goes to goalkeeper Peter Sevela, who leads the league with a 93.88% save percentage and a 1.88 goals against average.  Even with home-ice advantage locked up for the playoffs, the Acelbikak show no signs of slowing down after a 6-1 thrashing of Ferencvaros on 2 February.

The complete MOL Liga standings and player statistics can be found at the EuroHockey MOL Liga page by clicking here.

On the other end of the spectrum are the two Budapest area teams who have been eliminated from playoff contention.  The Ujpest side was predicted to finish last in the league this year after a horrible previous season, recent emergence from financial problems and likely one of the youngest rosters in all of Europe.  Though the team was much more promising this season, they could not do enough to win close games and usually did not stay close against the league’s top sides.  Balint Fekti and Janos Anscin have a lot of work to do in the offseason to get this side ready to be competitive next season.

Ferencvaros is a much more disappointing story after making the playoffs last season.  Their best players were transferred or let go and the results show in their lackluster record.  Again, it seems to be financial problems that plague the Budapest teams.  Currently, Budapest is the only major capital city in the region that does not have a KHL or EBEL team.  After the demise of the Budapest Stars, the city has been unable to garner the financial and fan support needed to run a competitive team.  Ferencvaros’ and Ujpest’s problems are a much bigger issue that needs to be solved by league and city officials if the MOL Liga will hold any significance in European hockey.

The real story over the next two weeks will be the fight for the final two playoff spots, which has become a race between HSC Csikszereda, ASC Corona Brasov and HC Nove Zamky.  Only five points separate these three teams.  Brasov exploded into the playoff picture after a rough start, mostly due to the strong play of Josh Bonar.  In only 34 games, Bonar has 54 points (27 goals and 27 assists) – and leads the league in points per game at 1.59.  Patrik Polc has also been amazing in goal (second in the league in save percentage and third in goals against).  Polc has also seen the most shots on goal throughout the season with 1,496 – more than 250 more than the next keeper.

HSC Csikszereda and Nove Zamky are in charge of their own destiny, with both teams making the playoffs if they win out.  Although the teams are very even in points, they got to this point in very different ways.  Csikszereda has been led by the strong play of Vaclav Novak (55 points) and Lubomir Hurtaj (50 points).  Nove Zamky has taken a much more balanced approach to winning, with Miroslav Stefanka (43 points) and Martin Uhnak (35 points) helping them hang on to the last playoff spot.

The Miskolc Jegesmedvek have all but locked up the final home-ice spot for the semifinals.  HSC Csikszereda still has the chance to tie, but Miskolc only needs one point to get the home crowd advantage in round one.  Miskolc held the second spot for most of the season, but fell off a bit after league star Martin Saluga went on a scoring drought.  He is back though and leads the league in points with 27 goals and 37 assists.  Miskolc has one of the best crowds in the league and wining on the road will be a tough task for any team.

Upcoming Games

Four playoff contenders will be playing on 15 February with Csikszereda and Nove Zamky and Brasov and Miskolc.  

The most important game over the final two weeks will be the final showdown between the two Romanian contenders, with Brasov at Csikszereda on 22 February.  

Stay tuned to the news section of EuroHockey.com over the next few weeks for updates on the MOL Liga playoff drama.

Tim Bourcier is a writer for EuroHockey.com covering the MOL Liga and other hockey events in Europe.  You can follow him on Twitter @bourciertm or read his blog Sport Exec in Training.

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