Riveters Teammates Help Hungary Beat Slovakia
2/7/23
J.J. Pavlick
Photo Credits: JJ Pavlick @jj_pavlick and Mann Fernandes @mdphotoandink
The Hungarian team came in as the favorites to win today's friendly international match. The Hungarian roster is loaded with talent, and having two of the country's best players back home definitely helped matters. Hungary was more than happy to hear that forward Fanni Garat-Gasparics and Reka Dabasi would be back in time to play in the Five Nations Tournament. The teams playing in the tournament are France, Hungary, Japan, Norway, and Slovakia. The Hungarians will play on 2/9 vs Norway, 2/11 vs France, and 2/12 vs Japan.
The 1st-period of play saw the Hungarian team jump out to a 1-0 lead after H. Williams scored on the power play at the 12:15 mark, the goal was assisted by Toth E. The lead would be short-lived as Slovakia would answer back with a goal of their own a minute later when Nemcekova N. scored an even-strength goal to tie it up. The goal was assisted by Leskovjanska E. and Istocyova L. Hungary would respond while short-handed with a goal from Jokai-Szilagyi K assisted by Pazmandi Z at the 19:30 mark of the period. The score at the end of one was Hungary 2 - Slovakia 1. Fanni and Reka both were involved early in creating dangerous chances for their team and while not on the scoresheet early they often made a significant impact often.
The 2nd period would start well for Slovakia as they netted 2 goals in just over 3 minutes of play. Slovakia would tie the game at the 6:01 mark with a powerplay goal from Lopusanova N assisted by Sulikova L and Kubekova L. They would take the lead when Lopusanova would again find the back of the net this time unassisted at the 9:34 mark giving Slovakia a shocking 3-2 lead. The lead however was short-lived as Metropolitan Riveter Fanni Garat-Gasparics brought out her inner Connor Bedard using the toe drag to beat one defender then jumping over the next, back to the toe drag, and then she let off a rocket blocker side high to tie the game up for Hungary. Fellow Riveter Reka Dabasi would be awarded the primary assist and Hungarian teammate Gengeliczky D was awarded the secondary assist at the 13:47 mark. The Hungarians would reclaim the lead less than 6 minutes later when Toth E buried a breakaway chance unassisted to put Hungary up 4-3 with seconds remaining in the period.
The 3rd period would yet again see Slovakia respond in a wave of goals the first coming just 44 seconds into the period when Istocyova L tied the game up off an assist from Drabekova L. With the game tied at 4 and both teams battling for the next goal including some help from the posts and crossbars it was Slovakia that would net the next goal at 7:04 when Rumanova N scored on a wrister off an assist by Haluskova L. Slovakia went up 5-4 and a minute later would increase their lead to 2 goals when Lopusanova N scored her hat trick goal assisted by Kubekova L. However, the 2-goal lead wasn't safe as Fanni Garat-Gasparics led the charge for her team. The fired-up Hungarian was not going down without a fight and she got one of the goals back quickly scoring off a devastating wrister that left the goalie paralyzed in the net. The goal came at 12:33 and was assisted by Dabasi. Just 42 seconds later the fired-up Hungarians scored again this time it was Pazmandi Z scoring from the dot with assists from Jokai-Szilagyi K and Williams H tying the game at 6 - 6 with under 7 minutes to play. The game-winner came on the power play when Dabasi found Defenseman Knee S wide-open, and she made the most of the space firing off a slap shot for the winning goal at the 18:45 mark. Hungary would win the game 7 - 6 and will enjoy the day of rest before facing Norway.