EUHL, based in Trenčín, Slovakia, is the European University Hockey League, with teams from Slovak, Czech, Polish and Szekler (Transylvania) universities competing in the Eastern region. Earlier, Dr Tamás Gyömörei, Head of the Centre for Physical Education and Sport at Széchenyi István University, invited the EUHL leadership to Győr, including Vice President Lubomir Sekeras, who played in defence for the North American National Hockey League’s Minnesota Wild from 2000 to 2003. Sekeras stressed that Győr's favourable geographical location, the infrastructure of the Győr Ice Sports Centre and the excellent facilities of Széchenyi István University provide a great opportunity for a university ice hockey team to compete successfully.

The tournament started with the clash between UNI Győr ETO HC and the UMB Hockey Team from Banská Bystrica (Photo: Csaba József Májer)

UNI Győr ETO HC is playing in the Andersen League, the second division of the Hungarian adult championship, but the institution's goal is to compete regularly on the international stage. One of the ways to achieve this is the European University Ice Hockey Championships, in which fans of the sport could see several of the clubs from the tournament take part in the traditional event in Győr. The UNI Győr Hockey Cup is an international tournament that has invited teams from the universities of Banská Bystrica, Trenčín and Žilina in Slovakia, as well as Sapientia University in Szeklerland, which are already part of the EUHL.

The Győr team made a great debut on the European stage, winning two matches in the tournament. They defeated this year's championship contenders UMB Hockey Team from Banská Bystrica 7-3, and then Sapientia U23 from Csikszereda 5-3 to win the tournament.

The audience witnessed fiery battles and victories in Győr (Photo: Csaba József Májer)

Dr Tamás Gyömörei called the tournament an excellent test of strength and good experience. He explained:

“Ice hockey has also become one of the sports whose athletes are studying in increasing numbers at the University of Győr. In the future, the institution will place even greater emphasis on attracting more young people interested in competitive sports to its high-quality academic programmes. This is the reason for the launching of the Study in Győr - play sport in Győr campaign.”

Széchenyi University students are also offered sports scholarships to help them combine sport and learning from enrolment to graduation. Dr Tamás Gyömörei added that it is also important that as many students as possible attend the matches of the institution's teams, be it handball, basketball, volleyball or ice hockey.