On Wednesday morning, the Hungarian national team made the two-hour bus ride from Budapest to Bratislava ahead of the Olympic qualifying tournament, which starts on Thursday. As Ondrej Nepala Arena – the host venue – is only 25 kilometers from the Hungarian border, a healthy contingent of the famously passionate Hungarian fans are expected at all three of their games.
Their fans will be a big boost and the team might be capable of stealing a game. However, Hungary is the lowest-ranked of the four teams in this tournaement, and qualifying for the Olympics will be a longshot. In fact, they didn’t even initially qualify for the final round, having finished second in their third-round group following a loss to Japan. But with Belarus still barred from participating in IIHF events, Hungary advanced as the highest-ranked second-place finisher.
This is largely the same team that won the 2024 IIHF World Championship Division I Group A in Bolzano, Italy. That makes Group D the only one of the three qualifying groups with four teams that will play in the top flight of the 2025 Worlds.
Hungary is bringing a young roster to this tournament, with many playing in various junior leagues. Of the 24 players named, eight play for Fehérvár AV19, the lone Hungarian club in the multi-state ICEHL, which is mostly based in Austria. A couple also play in the lower-ranked Erste Liga and the rest are scattered across various European leagues. The only ones who play in a top-tier European pro league are forwards Vilmos Galló and Balázs Varga, who are both in the Finnish Liiga. There are also a couple of players based in the United States – defenseman Zétény Hadobás for the ECHL’s Iowa Heartlanders and forward Kristóf Papp, who plays NCAA Division I at Lindenwood.
Goaltenders: Bálizs Bence (Sparta Sarpsborg, Norway), Horváth Dominik (Hydro Fehérvár AV19), Vay Ádám (HK Poprad, Slovakia).
Defensemen: Fejes Nándor (Gyergyói HK), Garát Zsombor, Hadobás Zétény (Iowa Heartlanders, ECHL), Horváth Alex (Oceláři Třinec, Czechia Jr.), Horváth Milán (JoKP, Finland), Kiss Roland (Hydro Fehérvár AV19), Nilsson Henrik (Kalmar, Sweden 2), Ortenszky Tamás (Winterthur, Switzerland 2), Szabó Bence (BJAHC).
Forwards: Ambrus Gergő (Hydro Fehérvár AV19), Bartalis István (Hydro Fehérvár AV19), Erdély Csanád (Hydro Fehérvár AV19), Galló Vilmos (KooKoo, Finland), Horváth Bence (Jukurit, Finland), Mihály Ákos (Hydro Fehérvár AV19), Nemes Márton (Mora IF, Sweden Jr.), Papp Kristóf (Lindenwood, NCAA), Sebők Balázs (Hydro Fehérvár AV19), Sofron István (BJAHC), Szongoth Domán (KooKoo, Finland Jr.), Terbócs István (Hydro Fehérvár AV19), Varga Balázs (JYP, Finland).
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