The regular season for the ERSTE Liga has come to a conclusion this past week. This also brought the last Player of the Week award of the season. There were a number of players who were in contention such as Tamás Láday and Martin Saluga but in the end with his two goals and two assists in wins against Vienna and DVTK Keegan Dansereau is the week’s Player of the Week.
Keegan Dansereau comes from Saskatoon, Canada and played his junior hockey in the WHL where he played for the Calgary Hitmen and the Swift Current Broncos. During his time there he was teammates with Ryan Getzlaf, Andrew Ladd as well as current MAC teammate Jesse Dudás. He spent one season split between the ECHL and the AHL, then spit a season in Sweden and the U.S. He went back to Sweden for two season before signing in Miskolc, where he won two league titles. Last year he was in Dunaújváros.
MAC finished the season with two wins against DVTK and Vienna, how much momentum do you have heading into the next part of the season?
We are coming together as a team, we are just looking forward to the next game. We had a period where we were struggling a bit but now we are winning again.
Teams in the league change from year to year, how much has this team come together in these past 32 games?
We had some ups and downs, but the guys understand what we need to do as a team, I am glad that the last couple games have been good and the overtime win against DVTK was huge and now we the confidence for the next part of the season. We are coming together as team at the right time.
This is your fourth season in the league and have played for the national team, what can you tell someone who is not familiar with Hungarian hockey?
I love it over here, this is my favorite country, hockey is pretty good here. We have a bunch of young guys coming up. The teams are working on getting better every year, the teams hiring better and doing what they can do to improve. The league is getting better every year, everything is moving in the right direction.
You have played for the national team as a naturalized citizen despite not having any Hungarian roots, how do you try to show that you are proud to have the national team jersey on?
I was in special situation and I am fortunate to receive Hungarian citizenship, I could have just gotten my citizenship and signed somewhere else, but I really like it here and I am proud to wear the colors of the country. It was my dream to play for Canada as a kid, but I am here now I am starting a new chapter in my life, playing for Hungary means just as much for me know as it was for Canada when I was younger. It is a great opportunity and an experience.
What can everyone expect from MAC and yourself in the next part of the season?
Like I said before, we have come together as a team right now and we hope to do great things in the rest of the season.