Slovakia men's national ice hockey team

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The Slovak men's national ice hockey team is one of the best national ice hockey teams in the world. As of 2008, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), the world governing body of ice hockey, ranks them as the eighth best national team. The team is operated by the Slovak Ice Hockey Federation under general manager Peter Bondra, and head coach Ján Filc. In the last six years, Slovakia has won three medals at the World Championships, including a gold medal in 2002. Slovakia has a total of 12,375 hockey players (0.23% of the population).

History[change | change source]

The Slovak national team was created after Czechoslovakia was split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. For years, the Czechs kept control over how the Czechoslovakian national team was run, and limited how many Slovak players were on the team.[source?] When the country became two, the Czech Republic team was allowed to compete at the highest pool (A), and the IIHF ruled that because fewer players of the former Czechoslovak team were Slovaks, Slovakia have to start international play in pool C, the lowest group. However, Slovakia's play in the lower pools won it promotion to pool A by 1996.

Olympic record[change | change source]

World Cup record[change | change source]

  • 1996 - Did not qualify
  • 2004 - Lost in quarter-finals

World Championship record[change | change source]

Slovakia's team at the 2002 Winter Olympics.
  • 1994 - Finished in 21st place (winner of the "Pool C")
  • 1995 - Finished in 13th place (winner of the "Pool B")
  • 1996 - Finished in 10th place
  • 1997 - Finished in 9th place
  • 1998 - Finished in 7th place
  • 1999 - Finished in 7th place
  • 2000 - Won silver medal
  • 2001 - Finished in 7th place
  • 2002 - Won gold medal
  • 2003 - Won bronze medal
  • 2004 - Finished in 4th place
  • 2005 - Finished in 5th place
  • 2006 - Finished in 8th place
  • 2007 - Finished in 6th place
  • 2008 - Finished in 13th place
  • 2009 - Finished in 10th place

World Championship 2009 Roster[change | change source]

Goaltenders
# Player Date of Birth Club
25 Ján Lašák April 10, 1979 Czech Republic Moeller Pardubice
31 Rastislav Staňa January 10, 1980 Russia Severstal Cherepovets
41 Jaroslav Halák May 13, 1985 Canada Montreal Canadiens
Defensemen
# Player Date of Birth Club
6 Peter Smrek February 16, 1979 Czech Republic Lasselsberger Plzeň
7 Ivan Baranka May 19, 1985 Russia Spartak Moscow
12 Ivan Švarný October 31, 1984 Czech Republic Litvínov
15 Dominik Graňák June 11, 1983 Sweden Färjestad
29 René Vydarený May 6, 1981 Czech Republic České Budějovice
43 Jaroslav Obšut September 3, 1976 Sweden Luleå
44 Andrej Sekera June 8, 1986 United States Buffalo Sabres
48 Boris Valábik February 14, 1986 United States Atlanta Thrashers
Forwards
# Player Date of Birth Club
4 Jiří Bicek December 3, 1978 Switzerland EHC Biel
10 Milan Bartovič April 9, 1981 Czech Republic Bílí Tygři Liberec
14 Štefan Ružička February 17, 1985 Russia Spartak Moscow
17 Michal Macho January 17, 1982 Slovakia MHC Martin
19 Rastislav Pavlikovský March 2, 1977 Russia Sibir Novosibirsk
20 Juraj Štefanka January 28, 1976 Czech Republic Vítkovice
23 Ľuboš Bartečko (C) July 14, 1976 Sweden Luleå
26 Michal Handzuš (A) March 11, 1977 United States Los Angeles Kings
27 Ladislav Nagy (A) June 1, 1979 Russia Severstal Cherepovets
28 Peter Ölvecký May 20, 1985 United States Minnesota Wild
34 Tomáš Surový September 24, 1981 Sweden Linköping
71 Juraj Mikúš February 22, 1987 Slovakia 36 Skalica
81 Marcel Hossa October 21, 1981 Latvia Dinamo Riga
92 Branko Radivojevič November 24, 1980 Russia Spartak Moscow

2002 Gold Medallists[change | change source]

Goalies: Ján Lašák, Rastislav Staňa, Miroslav Šimonovič.

Defensemen: Jerguš Bača, Ladislav Čierny, Radoslav Hecl, Richard Lintner, Dušan Milo, Peter Smrek, Martin Štrbák, Ľubomír Višňovský.

Forwards: Ľuboš Bartečko, Peter Bondra, Michal Handzuš, Miroslav Hlinka, Ladislav Nagy, Vladimír Országh, Žigmund Pálffy, Rastislav Pavlikovský, Róbert Petrovický, Peter Pucher, Radovan Somík, Jozef Stümpel, Miroslav Šatan, Róbert Tomík, Marek Uram.

References[change | change source]