photo: © INTERNATIONAL ICE HOCKEY FEDERATION / ANDRE RINGUETTE
Hungary earned an important win in the tournament with a 5–0 win over Great Britain. With the win, Hungary is now sixth in the Group A standings, ahead of Great Britain and Germany and tied on three points with Latvia and the United States.
Krisztian Nagy and Istvan Terbocs scored two goals each for Hungary. Goaltender Bence Balizs made 26 saves en route to the shutout.
"We were so down after the Austrian game [a 4-2 loss]. Afterwards, the next day, I felt we can't lose this game. Since that time, when we woke up in the morning, we practiced, and also this morning during the morning skate, we looked like we had the the flow. Good feet, good passes. We were scoring goals in that morning skate. So there was no question inside of me: we were gonna win this game," Terbocs said.
"We had a slow start again. Spotted them a couple of goals, and it's hard to come back when teams get two on you early. And obviously, if you don't score any, it's going to be tough any night. Really just kind kind of bad for us all around," noted Great Britain's Mark Richardson.
While Hungary and Great Britain aren’t complete hockey strangers and have played several times in recent years — even in games that matter, such as the Olympic qualification tournament in 2020 in which Hungary beat Great Britain 4–1 — you have to go all the way back to February 1939 to find the last time these two teams played each other in the top-tier World Championship.
The Brits won that game 1–0.
Here in 2026, Hungary played an almost perfect game: they didn’t miss many chances, and they kept Britain off the scoreboard.
Hungary got off to a great start. Just two minutes in, Nagy gave his team a 1–0 lead with a great wrister from the slot. He got the scoring chance off a broken play after the Hungarians forechecked the puck back following a dump-in into the corner.
"We were told to help our forwards with long chips along the boards, so I just thought when I got the puck to put it deep. I burned the D-man and I think the wingers did an extremely good job. I just got there and took that shot," Nagy said.
The teams traded scoring chances for the rest of the period, but only the Hungarians managed to capitalize on theirs. Bence Horvath intercepted a British breakout pass at the blue line and passed to Milan Horvath in the slot. Instead of shooting, he passed it to 17-year-old Doman Szongoth, who drove to the net down the left wing.
Szongoth faked a shot and then coolly lifted the puck into an empty British net at 18:14.
"He's my adopted son, secretly. So I'm pretty happy he finally scored his first goal in the [top division]. Last year, he was close. I think he was my linemate. He's playing on another line now. I told him: "If you have a chance, shoot it." He didn't shoot it. He made a move. Doesn't matter. Nice goal, I loved it. So I'm proud of him and I wish him the best and hopefully we have the first NHL player from Hungary," Terbocs went on.
Team GB was desperately looking to make it a one-goal game on the power play early in the second period when Istvan Terbocs pressured Liam Kirk at the red line, managed to steal the puck from him, and broke away. Terbocs lasered it in from the slot shorthanded to make it 3–0 Hungary just 3:31 into the period.
Great Britain made a goalie change, and Mat Robson skated out in relief.
Right afterward, Hungary got into penalty trouble, and Great Britain took over the game, outshooting Hungary 14–4 in the period. However, Balizs turned them all away.
In the third period, however, Hungary outshot Great Britain 10-2.
With 6:36 remaining in the game, Terbocs scored his second of the night with a wrister from the left faceoff circle after grabbing a loose puck at the Hungarian blue line and simply skating through the neutral zone undisturbed.
Nagy scored his second just 41 seconds later with a wrist shot that slipped under Robson’s arm and into the net to make it 5–0.
Hungary now gets to rest and prepare for their game against Germany on Friday.
"Anything can happen. As we saw previously today, Austria beat Latvia. So I think it's extremely important to have a great recovery tomorrow as the team and then put everything out on the ice," Nagy said.
Great Britain takes on Switzerland on Thursday.
Krisztian Nagy and Istvan Terbocs scored two goals each for Hungary. Goaltender Bence Balizs made 26 saves en route to the shutout.
"We were so down after the Austrian game [a 4-2 loss]. Afterwards, the next day, I felt we can't lose this game. Since that time, when we woke up in the morning, we practiced, and also this morning during the morning skate, we looked like we had the the flow. Good feet, good passes. We were scoring goals in that morning skate. So there was no question inside of me: we were gonna win this game," Terbocs said.
"We had a slow start again. Spotted them a couple of goals, and it's hard to come back when teams get two on you early. And obviously, if you don't score any, it's going to be tough any night. Really just kind kind of bad for us all around," noted Great Britain's Mark Richardson.
While Hungary and Great Britain aren’t complete hockey strangers and have played several times in recent years — even in games that matter, such as the Olympic qualification tournament in 2020 in which Hungary beat Great Britain 4–1 — you have to go all the way back to February 1939 to find the last time these two teams played each other in the top-tier World Championship.
The Brits won that game 1–0.
Here in 2026, Hungary played an almost perfect game: they didn’t miss many chances, and they kept Britain off the scoreboard.
Hungary got off to a great start. Just two minutes in, Nagy gave his team a 1–0 lead with a great wrister from the slot. He got the scoring chance off a broken play after the Hungarians forechecked the puck back following a dump-in into the corner.
"We were told to help our forwards with long chips along the boards, so I just thought when I got the puck to put it deep. I burned the D-man and I think the wingers did an extremely good job. I just got there and took that shot," Nagy said.
The teams traded scoring chances for the rest of the period, but only the Hungarians managed to capitalize on theirs. Bence Horvath intercepted a British breakout pass at the blue line and passed to Milan Horvath in the slot. Instead of shooting, he passed it to 17-year-old Doman Szongoth, who drove to the net down the left wing.
Szongoth faked a shot and then coolly lifted the puck into an empty British net at 18:14.
"He's my adopted son, secretly. So I'm pretty happy he finally scored his first goal in the [top division]. Last year, he was close. I think he was my linemate. He's playing on another line now. I told him: "If you have a chance, shoot it." He didn't shoot it. He made a move. Doesn't matter. Nice goal, I loved it. So I'm proud of him and I wish him the best and hopefully we have the first NHL player from Hungary," Terbocs went on.
Team GB was desperately looking to make it a one-goal game on the power play early in the second period when Istvan Terbocs pressured Liam Kirk at the red line, managed to steal the puck from him, and broke away. Terbocs lasered it in from the slot shorthanded to make it 3–0 Hungary just 3:31 into the period.
Great Britain made a goalie change, and Mat Robson skated out in relief.
Right afterward, Hungary got into penalty trouble, and Great Britain took over the game, outshooting Hungary 14–4 in the period. However, Balizs turned them all away.
In the third period, however, Hungary outshot Great Britain 10-2.
With 6:36 remaining in the game, Terbocs scored his second of the night with a wrister from the left faceoff circle after grabbing a loose puck at the Hungarian blue line and simply skating through the neutral zone undisturbed.
Nagy scored his second just 41 seconds later with a wrist shot that slipped under Robson’s arm and into the net to make it 5–0.
Hungary now gets to rest and prepare for their game against Germany on Friday.
"Anything can happen. As we saw previously today, Austria beat Latvia. So I think it's extremely important to have a great recovery tomorrow as the team and then put everything out on the ice," Nagy said.
Great Britain takes on Switzerland on Thursday.
Hungary vs Great Britain - 2026 IIHF Men's World Championship
OF