Women's Hockey | 10/8/2026 8:00:00 PM
Hungary is not exactly known as a hockey hotbed.
38 rinks, under 2,200 players and only one two fully domestic leagues – one for men, and one for women.
However, for York University Lions women's hockey player Dóra Véghelyi – who hails from Budapest, the country's capital and largest city – hockey is all she has ever known.
Her father Róbert Véghelyi, who is a former Hungarian youth national team épée fencer and recipient of the 1992 international Fair Play Award, played recreational hockey in university, where he met her mother Erzsébet Véghelyi-Süto, a former track & field athlete and the designer of the school's team logo each season. Through that connection, and their passion for sport, the family developed a lifelong connection to hockey which has remained strong.
While Dóra was a swimmer early in life, she knew the minute her then-four-year-old brother, György, hit the ice that she was not going to be left behind and it was at the age of age seven when she started playing with the MAC Budapest boys' hockey team, as Hungary does not offer all-girls teams until the age of 16.
"I saw the people skating around and I just fell in love," she said with a smile. "I just asked to go skate on the ice, and my parents said, 'sure!,' but then I just stuck with it.
"I just fell in love."
Since those grassroots days in her native Hungary, where only one native player has played in the PWHL and no native countryman has ever played in the NHL, the game has taken her to three IIHF U18 Women's World Championships – including her first in 2020, less than three months after her 14th birthday – and then a week later, she was off to the 2020 Youth Olympics.
"At that age, we just had hockey as our language," said Véghelyi, who played in the girls 3-on-3 mixed tournament, which featured teams from 11 different countries. "It was such a deep connection to make."
Fast forward to the 2022 U18 Women's World Championship, where Véghelyi was invited to come to Canada – some 6,700 km from home – to compete with and against the top women's talent in the world, all at just 16 years of age.
Being from a different country and knowing nobody but the scout who brought her over was – as you would expect – quite the transition.
"I didn't know much English, so I had to learn a lot on the go," she said. "A big adjustment was being far away from my family. The staff made sure we were taken care of and well fed, but obviously I missed my family a lot."
Despite being so far from home and without loved ones close by, Véghelyi sunk herself straight into Canadiana, including the game that bound her and the country together.
"That's when I fell in love with the Canadian culture and the Canadian sports system," said Véghelyi. "We (her and her family) used to joke that Canada has a hockey rink on every corner, so just seeing how big hockey is (in Canada), I just wanted to be around it."
She played for the OHA Juniors of the OWHL U22 Elite League in her first season in Canada, but after sustaining an ACL injury, returned to Hungary to finish her schooling and graduate at home.
That is where she began working in sports for the first time with the Hungarian Ice Hockey Federation (HIHF), where she hosted visiting teams during IIHF-sanctioned tournaments in the country, including the Japanese women's national team, the Spanish men's national team and the American U17 boys' team. She was also the host for Team Canada during their stay in 2025 as they prepared for a World Championship exhibition game. She talks fondly about her experience with both the athletes and staff from that team, including Sidney Crosby, Macklin Celebrini, Ryan Getzlaf, and Kyle Dubas.
"This is where I realized I want to work in sports," Véghelyi said. "The athlete experience is so much different than when you're working in sports, so it was a realization...that you're also a team working together to have a successful event.
"When you do it right and you hear feedback from the teams and the athletes, you know that even though your work isn't always seen, it (made) a wonderful event."
After playing for the MAC Budapest women's team in 2023-24, Véghelyi knew she wanted to return to Canada to further experience the bond with the country she had cultivated in her previous stay, while also getting the best education and hockey experience.
"I wanted to choose a school that was focusing on academics and also had a great athletics (and recreation) department, said Véghelyi, who was just one of three non-Canadian women's players to play in the OUA last season. "When I reached out to Dan (Church, York's women's hockey head coach), and the athletic department, they all welcomed me with open arms."
After applying to three different schools and being accepted to all three, the 20-year-old left-shot defender chose York – and chose the Lions – because of that combination.
"I had a strong connection (to the sports management program at York," she said. "York was the one (I chose to attend) because of how the professors teach, and every year I finish I think, 'yes, this was the (right) decision.'
"We are highly supported as students, athletes and by the staff, and you're getting the work experience you're promised, so (it's been) a great experience so far."
The small, intimate nature of the sport management program, which has been offered at York's Markham campus since September 2024, is what Véghelyi feels is the best part of the program.
"The professors know us, they can customize our work experience. And they're really open to feedback," she said of the program, which started with but two professors in its inaugural year and has since grown to five. "We've seen a lot of changes in the program, which is great, and we are a well-oiled machine."
Academics, of course, was not the only reason Dóra chose York. The Lions hockey program, led by Church – who enters his 23rd season as Lions bench boss in 2026-27 and is the longest-tenured coach at York – was also a large determining factor.
"We always talk about leaving a legacy," said the 5'2 defender, who enters her third season with the team. "And I think we have a good incoming group that can help us achieve our goals in the future."
Part of that legacy the Lions women's hockey program has left behind is in the community. On March 8, International Women's Day, Véghelyi and several of her teammates, including Nicole York, Clara Liu and Alix Walchuck attended the Greater Toronto Hockey League's (GTHL) inaugural Girls Development Day, led in part by York professor Stephanie Coratti.
"It was such a successful day," she said. "Seeing all those girls smiling and looking forward to going to university (one day). Even though they're small children, knowing we have university (hockey) teams, it's a goal for them."
Being that she is thousands of kilometres from her real family, the Lions women's hockey program has stepped up in their stead to provide a safe space for their Hungarian teammate.
"They're my family away from home," Véghelyi said of her teammates. "I have deep connections with the girls."
Has being a Lion been what she expected it to be?
"100%," she exclaimed. "The girls did a great job; they supported me so much."
"If I said something wrong, they explained, 'this is not how you say it,' or 'what did you mean by that?," she continued with a chuckle. "I'm grateful to them for teaching me all these things."
Véghelyi has also been making her mark on York's Athletics & Recreation department on the staff side as well through the sport management program, serving as a Rotational Representative – wherein you are provided the opportunity to work in all the different units of the department. After working in intramurals, facility operations, event operations, and varsity athletics last summer, she spent this past summer working for the events team, assisting with the Women & Girls Leadership and Sport Conference, the Lions Cup Golf Tournament and more.
"This department has taught me so many things about the village it takes to put on successful events," said Véghelyi, who was away from her team near the end of last season serving as the team host for the Hungarian Olympic contingent as one of 200 national Olympic Committee volunteers chosen from over 200,000 applicants at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games. "These last two years have been such an experience. Working here was just so amazing.
"I'm out of words."
As for any prospective students considering York, Véghelyi brings us back to the theme of legacy.
"If you want to leave something behind that's bigger than you, definitely choose York," she said. "Everyone who was here before us and everyone coming after us is going to be an important part of York's history.
"I've seen it, so come be a part of the York legacy and the Lions legacy."
