2022 Beijing Preview: Team Slovakia
KHL.ru continues to talk about the teams participating in the men’s hockey tournament at the 2022 Beijing Olympics. Today, the talk is about Team Slovakia, which is going to play in the Group ‘C’, with Sweden, Finland, and Latvia.
History and achievements
The Slovak national team began participating in international tournaments in 1994 after the collapse of Czechoslovakia. In Lillehammer, the Slovaks, under the guidance of Julius Supler, finished sixth, while their highest achievement at the Olympics level was in Vancouver, in 2010, reaching the semifinals, where they lost to Team Canada, then lost again to Team Finland in the bronze medal game. At the group stage, the Slovaks defeated Team Russia (2:1 SO). Pavol Demitra was the hero of the game, assisting during regulation time and realizing his attempt in the shootout.
The Slovaks started their IIHF World Championships history in the ‘C’ division, but within two years they made it to the elite. Their first major success was a silver medal at the 2000 IIHF WC in St. Petersburg, when Slovakia lost the gold medal game to Czechia (3-5). Two years later, in Sweden, Jan Filc’s squad reached their highest achievement, winning the gold medal. In the finals, they defeated Russia again (4-3). The MVP of that World Championships edition was Miroslav Satan, who now heads the Slovak Ice Hockey Federation.
Head coach
The Canadian coach Craig Ramsey spent his entire playing career with Buffalo, playing for the club for 13 seasons (between 1971-1985). He also began his coaching career there and during the 1986-1987 season, he took over from Scotty Bowman as the head coach. Ramsey has worked for NHL clubs in different positions: in Buffalo, he also was Director of Player Development, then worked as a coach in Florida, Ottawa, Philadelphia, Tampa Bay, Boston, Atlanta, and Edmonton, Dallas as a scout, Montreal as a consulting coach. He won the Stanley Cup in the 2003-2004 season with Tampa Bay.
Ramsey took over the Slovak national team in 2017, with an 11th place at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics. Under Ramsey, Team Slovakia has consistently finished in the top 10 at the IIHF World Championships (ninth place in 2018 and 2019, eighth in 2021).
Key players
This will be the second consecutive Olympics for Sibir’s defenseman Michal Cajkovsky, who played in four games and had one assist in South Korea in 2018. With his size and energy, he will add a powerful shot that can be a formidable weapon for Team Slovakia on the power play.
But the real joker in Ramsey’s deck is Avangard’s forward Peter Cehlarik, who was the best forward as last year’s IIHF WC (5+6 in eight games). His biggest assets are his shot accuracy and one-on-one skills, which he proved more than once in this year’s KHL games.
Marek Hrivik, like Cehlarik, was one of the top three players for the Slovak national team at the Riga IIHF WC. He’s a forward with a great sense of the game who was the top scorer in the SHL last season (14+37 in 44 regular-season games). His abilities in the slot and his nose for the net will come in handy for Slovakia in Beijing.
Roster
Almost all players on the Slovakian national team called to the Olympics play in Europe, with the exception of defenseman Samuel Knazko, who plays in the WHL for the Seattle Thunderbirds. The roster features six KHL representatives – Cajkovsky, Cehlarik, and Hrivik will be joined by goalie Patrik Rybar and forwards Libor Hudacek (both representing Dinamo Minsk), and Tomas Jurčo (Barys).
Four players from this roster have already played in the Olympics in Pyeongchang; other than Cajkovsky, also Rybar, Peter Ceresnak, and Marek Daloga were in the lineup. And while Rybar went to the Olympics as the team’s third goalie, the three defensemen were consistently in the main lineup and scored points.
A separate note should be made for Simon Nemec and Juraj Slafkovsky – both are only 17 years old, but both received playing time at the World Championships in Riga and in the Olympic qualification tournament in September.
Expectations
Team Slovakia is in a tough group with Finland, Sweden, and Latvia. They are unlikely to take the first place in the quartet to advance directly to the quarterfinals. Third place in the group looks the most realistic option for Slovakia, but in that case, they would likely face an even opponent in the first round of the elimination games.
