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Alba Volán Székesfehérvár is a Hungarian ice hockey team plays in the Austrian Erste Bank Hockey League. They play their home games at Székesfehérvár Ice Hall in Székesfehérvár.
[edit] History
In 1977, after many years, a new team in the country side entered the national championships, the Volán of Székesfehérvár. The club could thank its existence to the newly built ice rink in Székesfehérvár, where the Volán of Budapest had moved. Since all of the players lived in Budapest training continued to be held in Budapest and only the hone games were held in Székesfehérvár. Of course, the local youth talent program immediately started under the guidance of Gábor Ocskay. The team was introduced at the Hungarian Cup on the 30th of October. The game played at the Milennáris was won 6-4 by the team who was by this time from the city of Székesfehérvár. Their first goal in club history was scored by Pápai. The opening ceremony of the rink was scheduled for 7th November, but due to technical difficulties the hockey players could only introduce themselves to the home crowd a week later, again at a game against Újpest (1-6). In 1981 Ferencváros, who started the championship with their junior team, fell quickly out of the competition for the championship title. So all the odds were in favor of the final victory of Újpest and Székesfehérvár, which team were strengthened by players from the defunct BVSC team. The team from Fehérvár, coached by Ambrus Kósa, won the championship title fighting hard but winning hands down, which made them the first team from the countryside to acquire the championship title. However in the next 20 years Alba Volán was unable to repeat this great result. Újpesti TE (named as Újpesti Dózsa) was the best team in the 80's, Ferencváros dominated the action throughout the the first half of the 90's, but in the mid 90’s Dunaferr SE and Alba Volán have taken over, mainly thanks to their great work with the junior players, as such players like Ocskay, Palkovics in Székesfehérvár, and Ladányi, Horváth in Dunaújváros showed their talents. Meanwhile the teams from Budapest went downhill, because Dunaferr and Alba Volán have had covered ice rinks, but the capital city had no such a facility. In 1998/1999 Alba Volán won the gold medal after 20 years. But building a strong team is never an easy task: next season was disappointing as Volán was unable to qualify for the final, so Dunaferr ascended the throne. In 2000/2001 Volán decided to switch fifth gear, they signed a great Slovakian contingent: HC Kosice's ex-representative forward Lubomir Rybovic, '96 World Cup star goalie Roman Mega, and trainer Jan Jasko. In addition the club managed to keep their Hungarian star players, Ocskay and Palkovics. This strong team showed great performance during the final games, so the title went to Székesfehérvár again. In 2001/2002 Alba Volán controlled the regular season, but the IIHL playoff games were demanding. Besides Dunaferr's trainer Dusan Kapusta timed his players' top form very well, so Dunaújváros gave no chance for the fatigued Székesfehérvár in the league finals. Next year Alba Volán have won back the title, and managed to defend it in the last four years. Season 2002/2003 was especially memorable, as Volán has won the Interliga as well, for the first time in the club’s history. But this achievement was not the biggest bravural of the blue-white club: the International Ice Hockey Federation decided to host the 2005 IIHF Continental Cup Super Final in Székesfehérvár. Because of the NHL-Lockout, dozens of NHL stars could be seen by the large numbers of fans. Guest teams Dynamo Moscow, Hkm Zvolen and Milano Vipers entertained the hockey lovers with great ice hockey, but the icing on the cake was Alba Volán-FeVita’s victory against Milano Vipers. The IIHF was so satisfied with this fantastic weekend, that the IIHF Continental Cup Super Final returned to Székesfehérvár in 2006 and in 2007 as well. Of course this was made possible by the fact that since 2003 Alba Volán-FeVita managed to defend the championship title. And in 2006/2007 the second Interliga gold medal has been won as well.
[edit] Current roster
| # |
|
Player |
Position |
Catches |
Place of Birth |
| 1 |
 |
Zoltan Hetenyi |
G |
L |
|
| 15 |
|
Krisztian Budai |
G |
L |
|
| # |
|
Player |
Position |
Shoots |
Place of Birth |
| 3 |
|
Bence Svasznek |
D |
L |
|
| 25 |
|
Balazs Kangyal |
D |
L |
|
| 73 |
 |
Rastislav Ondrejcik |
D |
R |
|
| 77 |
|
Anton Poznik |
D |
L |
|
| # |
|
Player |
Position |
Shoots |
Place of Birth |
| 18 |
|
Szabolcs Fodor |
F |
R |
|
| 19 |
|
Gábor Ocskay |
C |
R |
Székesfehérvár, Hungary |
| 21 |
|
Csaba Kovacs |
LW |
L |
|
| 24 |
|
Krisztian Palkovics |
RW |
L |
Székesfehérvár, Hungary |
| 49 |
|
Tamás Gröschl |
LW |
L |
Budapest, Hungary |
| 56 |
|
Roger Holéczy |
F |
L |
Lake Forest, Illinois, USA |
| 78 |
|
Artjom Vaszjunyin |
F |
R |
|
| 79 |
|
Gergely Majoross |
F |
L |
|
| – |
 |
Toni Sihvonen |
F |
L |
Seinäjoki, Finland |
| – |
 |
Sam Ftorek |
F |
L |
Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, USA |
[edit] References
[edit] External links
