Poland secure dramatic Olympic Qualifying win

Hungary had the best of the opening exchanges, and really should have been head with less than a minute played - Istvan Sofron was clean through but couldn't get past Odrobny with just 31s on the board. Minutes later Gergo Nagy and Csaba Kovacs both had chances around the net, but couldn't find the target. Poland gradually came into the game, with Wronka having a shot in front saved by Miklos Rajna, but Hungary were the better team in the opening period and would have been disappointed not to lead after 20 minutes.

The middle period was better for the visitors, as Rajna was called into action a couple of times early on to keep the scores level. Urbanowicz's slapshot from the blue-line went close, before Bepierszcz's backhand effort was just saved by Rajna. Hungary had their chances, with Sarauer coming close on the best opportunity but the period failed to produce a goal.

The final period of regulation was a nervy affair, with both sides aware of what was at stake. Koger went close for the hosts, before Wronka hit the post for Poland. A couple of penalties on Hungary called Rajna into action against as Kotlorz and Lopuski both had shots saved, and as the clocked ticket down Hungary almost stole with - Istvan Sofron free in the slot but not able to find the back of the net. Into Over-Time and Hungary had their chance on the PP but failed to really test Odrobny, and that led to the lottery of a shootout.

Marton Vas started and couldn't beat the goalie, while at the other end Zapala beat Rajna to put his team in the lead. Both Sarauer and Chmielewski missed in round two, before veteran Frank Banham's miss meant Poland won the game, and the tournament!

"Of course we feel great!" said Polish Coach Jacek Plachta after the game. "It was an exciting until the end, a very tough game, with two well-matched teams." His netminder, Przemyslaw Odrobny, added "My tram played well lin front of me for the whole game, except the opening two minutes! On the first day of being here in Budapest ew went through the special plays, overtime, and shootout stations with the coaches and in the end it helped us to win. I'm very happy with my teammates and our performance today."

"It's never a good feeling to not win," said a visibly disappointed Hungarian coach Rich Chernomaz. "As far as the game was concerned, we got off to a very good start, we out-shot them, and I complement how well we played defensively. We had our chances in OT on the PP and didn't succeed there. This is the first time i've ever been involved in a 3-game tournament where you only give up one goal and don't have success. I'm proud of all our players, but the one thing that hurt our players was missing two key defesemen and having to put Janos Vas on defence to have six players - which ultimately reduced our firepower."

"It was a defensive game the whole way through. Over 65 minutes both teams tried to keep chances against to a minimum, and in the end they succeeded. A scoreless game is rare in ice hockey - and I would have been happier if someone had scored an OT goal. That was sad, that in the end the game was decided by luck." Teammate Andras Benk added "The team did everything to win, had chances, and over 60 minutes we were the better team. We weren't able to convert our chances, and during the shootout they were probably the luckier team and won the game. We should have won the game over 60 minutes, though."

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