Hungarian national ice hockey team make history

The Hungarian women’s national ice hockey team concluded the Division 1/A World Championships held in Budapest by beating Austria 2-1. This is the second tier of the World Championship pyramid, and the result means that for the first time in history, the women’s ice hockey team will head to the World Championships next year.

As nemzetisport.hu reported, Hungary started well against Austria as they grabbed a lead 21 seconds into the game: Emma Kreisz passed to Fanni Gasparics who smashed it home past the opposition’s keeper.

This was Gasparics’ sixth goal at this year’s Division 1/A World Championships as she aimed to become the top scorer of the tournament. Prior to the match, she was tied with Austrian Theresa Schafzahl and Hungary’s Averi Nooren on 5.

The Austrian team equalised just before the 5th minute through Anna Meixner, who scored her second goal of this tournament.

Despite the passionate support from the home crowd, Hungary was not able to score again in the first third of the match. Hungary continued to dominate in the second third; however, Austria’s Jessica Ekrt pulled off some fantastic saves to keep the match level. To put Hungary’s dominance into perspective, the Austrian keeper had to make 31 saves throughout the match.