Canada’s national team manager Scott Salmond called home in a panic after the first period: the Hungarians were ahead. Who is he? Request from the staff of the Association of Calgary. Well, the Hungarians, we play a national team match with them, Scott Salmond explained. At that time, they had already started going abroad. It was hoped that after the request was confirmed by the State Department, and after the first negative response, the Canadians would enter, and their team, drawn from players from Europe, would play an exciting match against the Hungarians, who were not. registered anywhere in the sport. The big ones don’t like ten-on-one matches against the little ones, but hey, let the Hungarians be happy; Canada is not only a sports superpower thanks to its number of Olympic titles, world championships and the National Hockey League, but also because it is an ambassador of hockey around the world without the slightest arrogance.
Then word came that the Hungarians were in the vanguard. Scott Salmond was able to report the same thing after the second half: the Hungarians are in the lead. At that point, he was already so committed to his spirit that he would report back after the meeting. It was difficult to convert, he said with satisfaction, Canada escaped the infamy, converting 5-4 and winning the match, the news of which still spreads around the world.
It all happened in February 2004. Then Canada vouched that they would be happy to return for a warm-up match in two months, before the World Cup. Back then, with Danny Heatley at the helm, we had the biggest stars as guests, and even though they beat ours 9-2, everyone was happy, especially since Canada won the World Cup after that.
The Maple Leafs came back in 2005, too, and in 2009 we met in a Group I World Series game. As they aptly described the game at the time, Canada has more rinks than we have players… And after the game, the biggest stars in the world, who play in front of tens of thousands every week, were moved and said that they had never tested a team Loser (9-0 in the end…) May your fans live like this. In 2016, at the World Cup in St. Petersburg, we met again, and then we managed to score a goal, which is an eternal experiment for Istvan Bartalis.
Canada is our guest again. In a match on a historical scale. Never before have so many people cheered for the Hungarian national team as they did. On Tuesday night, at the MVM Dome, an almost full house, some 15,000 fans gathered. The Hungarian national team’s preparations have not gone very well so far, but everything is fine, everything is fine!
Cover photo: Our team plays a celebratory match with Canada (Photo: MTI/Tibor Illyés)
