Player of the Week: Bronson Kovács

2018.11.12. 10:01 |

The last match week of in the ERSTE Liga made the race for tight for third place as DEAC picked up six out of six points and are one point behind third place Brasov, who has two games in hand. Helping out DEAC in both ends of the ice was Bronson Kovács. The defenceman finished the week with four goals and one assist along with his defensive duties and is this past week’s Player of the Week.

Bronson comes from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario and comes from a Hungarian family. He played junior hockey in the NOJHL where he was teammates with current Vegas Golden Knight, Colin Miller. Kovács would also play in the OJHL before moving on to play college hockey at Hobart College in NCAA D3. Right after college he came to Hungary where he played in Debrecen for one season and two season’s with MAC where he won a Hungarian Cup and the ERSTE Liga. This past offseason he signed with DEAC.

You had an offensive outburst this past weekend and the team played great, what was the key to the success?
David Musial has a game plan that we have been sticking to, we have a simple game plan and we have a good goalie in Hetényi who gives us a good chance to win the games. We have been scoring lately and playing good defence as well. Things have been coming together for us.

What is the atmosphere like in the locker room, this team is in an interesting situation as the team was not around last year but there are players from the original Debrecen team?
We have a young and inexperienced team but we have some veteran leaders such as Zoltán Hetényi and Ákos Berta, I have also been around myself for a couple of years as well. We have a pretty good leadership however we have a young team. We still have a learning curve to get over. If we stick to the game plan and we stick together we will continue being successful.

What was the biggest reason that you signed with Debrecen this offseason?
It was a good opportunity to have, MAC was going in a different direction, once I knew that I was not going to be resigning Debrecen was one of the first teams that got in contact with me. It looked like they have good management and the cooperation with the University of Debrecen, I liked what they had going on towards the future. I had a pretty good first pro season here, it did not end the way I would have wanted it to, but I always had a soft spot for the city and I thought I would eventually return if I had the chance.

MAC and DVTK left the league in the offseason, but there are a couple of new teams who joined, how much has the level of the league changed?
When you take two of the top teams, there will be a drop off, but the way the season is unfolding there are some pretty good teams and pretty good players playing. You have to come to play on any given day, the last place team has a chance to beat the first place team and you need to be ready to battle.

You played NCAA Div 3 college hockey, in general how hard would it be for a player coming not from a top end league, playing in the ERSTE Liga?
I think it is more of a mind set, everyone one can skate and shoot if you are coming from the D3 level, usually you are a good player. You need to come here and try to make a name for yourself, you want to set an example and you need to give the proper respect to the players and the league. If you come here put your head down work hard and get the job done you will find success regardless where ever you come from.