In Fehérvár the success of the Titánok is measured differently compared to most other teams in the league. Just like any other team in the league they want to win as many games as possible and to make a deep playoff run. However as a farm team it is equally important to give quality ice time for the young players coming out of the system.
Fehérvár is entering their third season with this current incarnation of their farm team. In the first season they made it to the semifinals and lost to MAC in seven games. Last year in the first round they faced MAC again. The Titánok are always a young team made up of players that have aged out of the U20 team and imports who have recently graduated university and good examples and role models for the rest of the team to learn from.
Goaltender Alex Scola is the longest tenured import on the team as this will be his third season with the club. For the first time in three season the goalie duo will not be two import net minders as Dániel Kornakker returns to the team he grew up with after playing two season of junior hockey in the WSHL.
Iihro Vermanen is the veteran member of the D-man unit with his experience playing in France, Germany and his home country of Finland. Tamás Láday, Attila Reiter, Bence Szabó, Dániel Szabó and Mák Szaller all have extensive experience with the EBEL squad, but will also be playing on the Titánok as well. Patrik Imre and Bence Takács are two players who are too old to play on the U20 team, they will be getting ample playing time to gain experience.
The club management decided to go with three import forwards for at least the start of the season. Kelin Ainsworth, Joe Antilla and Derek Schoenmakers are all entering their first season of pro hockey after playing the past four seasons in the U-Sports league (formerly CIS), the Canadian university league. Ainsworth and Schoenmakers were point per game forward in the U-Sports, which could be a great sign for Fehérvár. Also new to the club this season are two Transylvanian lads, who have Hungarian citizenship, Tamás Részegh spent his junior years playing in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, with Balázs-Szabolcs Péter playing in Germany. Just like on the back end, up front the team has a number of young players who will be spending a large number of games in the EBEL, players such as Ferenc Kocsis, Krisztián Szabó-Pál, Patrik Kiss and Dániel Vizi. Donát Szita missed the most of last season with an injury, who hopes to have a big season now that he is healthy. Szilárd Hamvai and Dániel Mazzag have matured into solid everyday Erste Liga forward.
Head Coach István Kóger has been working with this age group for a number of years, before he took over the Titánok he was coaching the Fehérvár U20 team. He knows his players and they know him as well. With this familiarity the team should be a middle of the pack team during the season.
Ádám Zoltán Hegyi: The goal is the same as last year, we want to make the playoffs and also have more young players become stable members of our roster and then move on up to the EBEL team. This was also what we looked at when we were signing the import players. They fit into the roster and it looks like the team chemistry looks good as well. We have a young team that is hungry for success, this was the same last season as well, which could be seen when we took the opening game against MAC in the playoffs. You can not take this roster lightly and we know we have a chance to beat anyone.
Key Additions: Dániel Kornakker (Casper, WSHL), Iihro Vehmanen (Bad Tölz, German3), Kelin Ainsworth (Lakehead, U-Sports), Joe Antilla (British Columbia, U-Sports), Derek Schoenmakers (Wilfrid Laurier, U-Sports), Balázs-Szabolcs Péter (Neusser, German4), Tamás Részegh (Chomotuv, Czech U20),
Key Departures: Gergely Korbuly, Preston Shupe, Renátó Tóth (Ferencváros), Devon Krogh (Landshut, German3), Máté Arany, Martin Pillok, Ádám Sofron (retired), Adrien Lemay (unknown)