Debrecen4U September 12, 2025

The ice hockey season is starting, and DEAC has undergone some changes

The 2025-26 championship season for the DEAC men’s ice hockey team begins on Sunday.

The DEAC hockey team is looking forward to the new season with confidence, which could surpass last year’s performance.

“The DEAC ice hockey department held a season-opening press conference: the event discussed, among other things, the team’s goals for the upcoming season, the formation of the team, and the taking possession of Ice Hall 2,” according to the DEAC website. It is reported that at the Thursday event held in Teniszke II, Mayor of Debrecen László Papp said that the city is trying to provide the necessary resources every year as much as possible. “Ice hockey, through the DEAC, is that segment of Debrecen’s sports life that is based on the excellent cooperation between the city and the university. The city is trying to provide the necessary resources every year, in line with the budget situation. The existence of the appropriate infrastructural background is very important not only for the first-class team but also for the training of youth players. The city provides a HUF 15 million subsidy to DEAC, contributing to the stability of its activities,” he explained.

The Chancellor of the University of Debrecen, Zoltán Bács, emphasized that the cooperation between the city and the university goes back a long time, as a result of which many NB I teams operate in Debrecen. “One of these is the DEAC ice hockey team, which achieved great success last year, which indicates that we are on the right path. It is especially pleasing that we have many youth players, and among the adults, many are university students, mostly students of the Faculty of Economics, who receive all the support, which is unique nationwide. The example of Zoltán Hetényi also demonstrates well that it is possible to achieve serious dual achievements in Debrecen, meaning that an athletic career and studying can coexist well,” he said.

The strength of ice hockey in Debrecen is that learning and elite sport can be combined here. In cooperation with the University of Debrecen, DEAC and the DEAC Ice Hockey Academy are constantly working to ensure that players can complete their chosen major at the university in a supportive environment alongside sports. The academy’s players receive extra points, for example, at the Faculty of Economics, benefit from a mentoring program, and can receive scholarships and individual curricula. Nearly 300 children currently play ice hockey in Debrecen. It is good news for them and the club that, after several consultations between the Debrecen local government and the DEAC leaders, it was decided that Ice Hall 2 will also open its doors from the next season, and the academy received operating support for this from the Hungarian Ice Hockey Association. Thanks to this, the professionals can hold training sessions of the appropriate quality and quantity for the children and the adult team.

“We ended a wonderful year last year by fighting hard to survive in an energy situation where ice hockey is one of the most expensive sports. A collaboration has developed between the adults and the youth, and although we are still at the beginning, we have high hopes for it in the long term. The DEAC Ice Hockey Academy has entered a supportive environment, as a result of which we can also open Ice Hall 2. We have reached a point where ice hockey in Debrecen is starting on a very beautiful path,” the managing director of DEAC, Marianna Kovács Lóczi Lászlóné, said.

Last season, the oldest age group of the DEAC Ice Hockey Academy had a great season, winning a silver medal in the U21 Hungarian Cup. Although the team did not reach the playoffs in the Austrian league, it finished at the top of the table in the playoffs. At the press conference, it was announced that this age group will compete next season in the adult second division, the Andersen League, and the International University Championship, the latter featuring Polish and Slovak teams whose players are either university students or have other forms of student status. The goal is for the team to be able to play high-quality matches, as this serves the development of the young players.

Head coach Artyom Vasjunin said they have a successful season behind them, although they cannot be completely satisfied. “We want to perform even better this year; we tried to form our team accordingly, and we signed players who can help us. We have many young hockey players with hidden potential. The expectation for the new season is for us to perform even better, but at this time we have to be careful because the balance of power is unknown,” the DEAC coach expressed.

Gergő Mihalik, a young talent of the University of Debrecen ice hockey team, also said on behalf of his teammates that everyone is already waiting for the start to show themselves in front of their fans. “The core of the team has remained the same; the new ones have also integrated. The good atmosphere and the cohesion that were characteristic of us have remained, which can be our great strength. Regarding the goals, I can say that everyone is eager to prove themselves; we want to come out with the best and most effective game in every series we start,” the national hockey player stated.

DEAC began its on-ice preparations on August 4, but prior to that, the coaching staff also held dryland training sessions and provided each player with an individual training plan. The team played three warm-up matches: in Iglo, at the home of the Slovak Extraliga team Spisska Nova Ves, the black and whites lost 3-2; then two home matches followed: DEAC suffered a 4-2 defeat against FEHA and then defeated the UTE team 7-2.

The Erste Liga season starts on Friday, but DEAC will not take to the ice for the first time until Sunday, September 14, hosting the Dunaújváros Steel Bulls at home starting at 6:30 p.m.

DEAC 2025/2026 team members:

Goalkeepers: Tamás Antek, Zoltán Hetényi, Martin Szeles

Defenders: Rajmund Bukor, Dominik Dobmayer, Péter Domán, Bence Haranghy, Yegor Mazsuga, Máté Mártonffy, Nikita Usztinenko, Phil Kiss, Tarasz Yeliszeyev

Forwarders: Anton Senfeld, Ilya Culigin, Evgeny Mozer, Kirill Krutov, Kirils Galoha, Brúnó Kreisz, Gergő Mihalik, Zétény Molnár, Petar Simic, Levente Révész, Donát Szita, Vlagyiszlav Kulesov

Source and photo credit: debrecen.hu