The men’s senior squad was back in action this past weekend. The national team traveled to Hungary for a pair of matches against their biggest rivals. These were the third and fourth games of April. They started the month off with a couple of wins against Division 1 Group A foe Lithuania. 

Poland took what looks to be their top squad to Hungary. As with the current 29-man roster listed for the matches against Slovenia and France, the only change is the addition of Pawel Zygmunt.

Hungary, on the other hand, had a pretty, relatively low-level roster for themselves. In each match, only five or six players were a part of their 2025 World Championship squad. Poland did get to face their starting goalies. The rest of the roster is still mostly full of ICEHL players, the top level in Austria that also features clubs from other Central European countries. While it was not their rivals’ best team, it was still likely comparable to those of future World Championship opponents Japan and Lithuania. 

In game one, the white and red held control nearly the entire match. Hungary weathered the storm in the first period to keep it tied at zero. In the second, Poland broke through with goals from Alan Łyszczarczyk and Szymon Kiełbicki. Kiełbicki once again scored a highlight-reel goal that showcased his lethal speed. The Poles kept control for the remainder of the game. In the final minutes, Kiełbicki would score his second on an empty net, while Patryk Krężołek was able to sneak one more past Dominik Horváth. Michał Kieler kept a clean sheet and picked up a 22-save shutout. 

Game two was a different story. After their game one loss, Hungary came out much hungrier. They would strike first with a goal Tomáš Fučík would have likely wanted back. The Poles regathered and fought back. Captain Kamil Górny would get the white and red on the board with under a minute to go in the first. The game would be at a standstill as Ádám Vay and Fučík dueled in goal. The tie would be broken six minutes into the third with Jakub Lewandowski giving Poland the lead. With a one-goal lead, tensions flared, and Poland was the one getting caught by the refs. This included a bench minor to Poland’s backup goalie, Michał Kieler. Hungary took advantage of the chaos and ensuing power play to score with seconds left to tie. Still on the power play, Hungary quickly scored in overtime to win it. Emotions got the better of Poland; they quickly found themselves on the wrong side of a 3-2 final after leading by a goal with less than a minute left. It was an important lesson to learn that you don’t want to see repeated in May. 

Projected Roster 

The PZHL announced a 29-man roster for the games against Slovenia and France in Bytom and Tychy. They also said they will announce the final roster after the match with France. It’s a much shorter list than Poland has typically released in the lead-up to the World Championship. 

New head coach Pekka Tirkkonen and General Manager Jaroslaw Rzeszutko have narrowed down who they see as Poland’s best this year. Now, from that list of 29, Poland will have to cut six to meet IIHF roster rules. It will be interesting to see how many spots are up for grabs, and could someone still win one with a solid performance against France or Slovenia? It makes prediction hard, even from a roster-construction standpoint. Two weeks out, I took a stab at projecting the national team roster. 

Forwards

Aron Chmielewski – Kamil Wałęga – Patryk Krężołek

Krzysztof Macias – Szymon Kiełbicki – Paweł Zygmunt

Patryk Wronka – Dominik Paś – Alan Łyszczarczyk

Jakub Lewandowski – Christian Mroczkowski – Mateusz Michalski

Extra: Mikolaj Sytyi

Cut: Filip Komorski, Jakub Ślusarczyk, Mateusz Gościński, and Sebastian Brynkus

The forward group felt so hard to choose. Krężołek and Wałęga have been locked to the first line for all four exhibition games. In that time, they also tested three different players as their left wing. I think that trend will continue against Slovenia and France. With the fourth line and Sytyi, I really tried to identify players that were consistently in the lineup this year and fill a role that someone in the top nine can’t. Filip Komorski felt like the hardest cut. He would be valuable in a top-nine role, but I don’t know if there is an open spot. 

Defensemen

Bartłomiej Pociecha – Bartosz Ciura

Kamil Górny – Michał Naróg

Mateusz Bryk – Olaf Bizacki

Karol Biłas

Cut: Eryk Schafer and Jakub Wanacki

Poland hasn’t taken only seven defensemen in a while, but it’s a new era. Last year, the white and red’s fourth pair played barely at all, often finishing with under eight minutes of ice time. I could really see either Jakub Wanacki or Karol Biłas in that seventh spot. Both bring different things: Biłas is a solid two-way player, while Wanacki brings size and strong stick work. For the rest of the defense, the pairs have felt pretty consistent.

Goalies

Tomáš Fučík

Maciej Miarka

Michał Kieler

Goalies were made easy for me. You can take three goalies, and only three are on the roster. Tomáš Fučík is the presumed starter. 

It’s amazing how quickly things can change in hockey. This team would feature just 14 returning players from last year. It would also be only 11 from the team that competed in Czechia just two years ago. Last year was promoted as a new era, but 2026 really feels like a refresh, with old faces returning and new players emerging.

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Thumbnail Photo via polskihokej.eu