Yesterday Hungary advanced in the stages of their domestic competition that everybody has been waiting for since the start of the season. The championship semifinals promised to be mouthwatering and OSC and Eger did not disappoint! Eger qualified through the quarterfinals by defeating Honvéd in 3 games. The defending champion looked much more confident in the deciding 3rd match this past Saturday, but had not been in form for weeks. While Eger has been working a busy schedule, OSC had a small break after the season finished. The Budapest based side is no longer active in Europe and was already qualified for the domestic semifinals by finishing 2nd in the regular season. They did play an exhibition match against Croatian Mladost but no official competition since the round 26 game against Szolnok on April 3rd.
In a full house at the Újbuda pool in Budapest the teams immediately set the roof on fire. Eger came out very strong and took a 2-goal lead before OSC pulled level again with a double. Both teams played very high pressure with many physical confrontations. The referees did well to allow the match to develop the way it did and not restrict the physical aspect of the game too much. Bálint Lőrincz made it 2-3 for the visitors after a storming 1st period.
After the break the players took it to a whole other level once more. OSC top scorer Bence Bátori made it 3-3 after which goals followed at both ends in quick succession. Eger did manage to keep the initiative and was leading 8-9 at half time.
At the beginning of the 3rd period Balázs Erdélyi doubled Eger’s lead to make a 2-goal gap for the first time since the 1st period. The visitors were looking for a knockout punch but were hit on the counter by Drasko Brguljan to keep OSC in the slipstream. Both teams had chances in man-more situations but were wasteful in their shooting during these power plays. In the entire game Eger only scored 7 times during 19 OSC exclusions and OSC hit 6 goals from 15 Eger exclusions. Quick thinking of Ferenc Salamon then surprised Eger goalie Branislav Mitrovic to make it 10 each.
Another goal on either side made it 11-11 with the last period remaining.
Realizing the importance of the first victory in the series both teams focused more on defence. OSC were first to breach Eger’s tactics and Joseph Kayes put his team in the lead for the first time since the 2nd period. Balázs Hárai worked hard in centre-forward position to provide his team with plenty of opportunities to shoot but it was clear Eger’s battery was slowly running dry. Miklós Gór-Nagy then confirmed his man of the match performance scoring his hattrick and OSC’s 13th to go 2 goals in front with 3,5 minutes to go. The reigning champions desperately tried to fight back. But when, with 1 minute remaining, Boris Vapenski missed the target on yet another failed man-up attack the home fans started their celebration.
Because of Champions League duties for Eger, the return game in Eger will take place only on May 6th.
Another victory for OSC would then mean there will be a different champion in Hungary this year. However, Eger will certainly be motivated to keep the hattrick dream alive, especially in front of their always loyal and supporting home fans.
The other semifinal was a lot less high profile. In Szolnok this season’s number 1 welcomed FTC (who beat Szeged in the quarterfinals). During the season Szolnok beat FTC twice with convincing numbers and this was expected to happen once again. The hosts were not as accurate as usual, however were still leading 8-4 by half time. FTC managed to reduce the gap to just 2 goals twice in the 3rd period at 8-6 and 9-7 scores but Szolnok put their foot down again towards the end of the game leading to a 13-8 final result. Because Szolnok, like Eger, competes in the last round of the Champions League group stage on Saturday, the return is also scheduled in Budapest for May 6th.
April 29th play-off results
Semifinal 1
|
OSC
|
Eger
|
13-11
|
Semifinal 2
|
Szolnok
|
FTC
|
13-8
|
7th place
|
Vasas
|
Kaposvár
|
9-10
|
9th Place
|
BVSC
|
DVSE
|
12-9
|
Schedule coming week
5th place
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Szeged
|
Honvéd
|
Saturday, May 2nd
|
Semifinal 1 return
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Eger
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OSC
|
Wednesday, May 6th
|
Semifinal 2 return
|
FTC
|
Szolnok
|
Wednesday, May 6th
|
7th place return
|
Kaposvár
|
Vasas
|
Wednesday, May 6th
|
9th place return
|
DVSE
|
BVSC
|
Wednesday, May 6th
|
5th place return
|
Honvéd
|
Szeged
|
Wednesday, May 6th
|
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