Slovakia: Slovak National Team- The start over again edition

[kabidjan18]

That's comparing a country with a self-sustaining system to a country without one. The Slovak senior league and the Junior League are terrible, that's why their worst years are far worse than the worst Czech years. The worst Czech years 08 and 09 produced 3 picks each, last year only produced 4 and the year before that they produced over 10 so there wasn't ever really a sustained dip in Czech performance. The Slovak Senior league needs to be raised to a level at or above the DEL, the Junior League to a level at or above the Czech U20, in order to be competitive with the top 6. A few new academies aren't going to do that. It may produce a few more higher end prospects, but until the Slovak system is ready to sustain itself again it's not going to be top 6.

But there's way more organizational infrastructure in the Slovak system, with Czech ties, Slovan, and a wider base of agents, so they should be able to get back on their feet and clear countries like Latvia which are kinda riding a high wave which doubles as a precipice.

 

[slovakiasnextone]

I'm not much of a fan of comparing Czech republic and Slovakia. If we want to be honest, we have to admit that Slovakia was never as good as the Czechs when it comes to the overall hockey resources. Hockey was already a developed sport in CZE when it first came to Slovakia, Slovak leagues were never as good as the Czech ones and even in Czechoslovakia days you had only few Slovak teams in the top league. The infrastructure isn't quiet as developed and the numbers of hockey players were always much lower in Slovakia (although those official numbers for the Czechs are definitely somewhat removed from reality due to "ghost players"). Even during the best years at the junior level finishing better than 7-9th worldwide was more of an exception than a rule.

Mentioning just the few new academies is taking things out of context as the hockey academies are just one of several new planned polices the current leadership of the federation is planning. Also since wings5 was asking about the Czechs, one of the things that they have done over the past few years is establishing hockey acadmies. So it definitely helps. Although it has to be said that there are still people in Czech hockey who feel like they're not doing enough.

I think that establishing 10 hockey academies, especially if they really work, will be much more helpful to Slovak hockey than Slovan is. Nothing personal against Slovan, but what kind of assets are they currently bringing to Slovak hockey. Their departure from the Slovak league further depleted the league's quality, they are relying on foreign players more and more, so they're not a base for the national team as they were hailed to be before they joined the league.

As for the Czech ties, a common league isn't happening anytime soon, so there is more of a connection through Slovak players finding their place in Czech leagues, but again that's another thing that might be good for the development of those players but is depleting the level of talent in the Slovak leagues.

With so few players how can Slovakia have a competitive junior league when you have an exodus of those players abroad and then on top of that the u20 national team that plays in the men's league?

 

[alko]

Czechs have also issues. Father of Pavel Zacha has his own website where he says openly, what are the issues. And that the ice hockey government doesnt have very much interest to change it. They somehow produce good players. Its not 10 every year, but with the few examples, they use as argument for "good and working system". This guy mentioned few weeks ago, he was contacted by Martin Kohut and he was amazed, what they showed him.

 

[saskriders]

I'm not much of a fan of comparing Czech republic and Slovakia. If we want to be honest, we have to admit that Slovakia was never as good as the Czechs when it comes to the overall hockey resources. Hockey was already a developed sport in CZE when it first came to Slovakia, Slovak leagues were never as good as the Czech ones and even in Czechoslovakia days you had only few Slovak teams in the top league. The infrastructure isn't quiet as developed and the numbers of hockey players were always much lower in Slovakia (although those official numbers for the Czechs are definitely somewhat removed from reality due to "ghost players"). Even during the best years at the junior level finishing better than 7-9th worldwide was more of an exception than a rule.

Mentioning just the few new academies is taking things out of context as the hockey academies are just one of several new planned polices the current leadership of the federation is planning. Also since wings5 was asking about the Czechs, one of the things that they have done over the past few years is establishing hockey acadmies. So it definitely helps. Although it has to be said that there are still people in Czech hockey who feel like they're not doing enough.

I think that establishing 10 hockey academies, especially if they really work, will be much more helpful to Slovak hockey than Slovan is. Nothing personal against Slovan, but what kind of assets are they currently bringing to Slovak hockey. Their departure from the Slovak league further depleted the league's quality, they are relying on foreign players more and more, so they're not a base for the national team as they were hailed to be before they joined the league.

As for the Czech ties, a common league isn't happening anytime soon, so there is more of a connection through Slovak players finding their place in Czech leagues, but again that's another thing that might be good for the development of those players but is depleting the level of talent in the Slovak leagues.

With so few players how can Slovakia have a competitive junior league when you have an exodus of those players abroad and then on top of that the u20 national team that plays in the men's league?

Does Slovan get much fan fare? If they generate more interest in hockey and get more kids joining than surely they have a positive impact even if they have few Slovak players.

Do you think the Orange u20 team has been a good influence?

 

[slovakiasnextone]

Does Slovan get much fan fare? If they generate more interest in hockey and get more kids joining than surely they have a positive impact even if they have few Slovak players.

Do you think the Orange u20 team has been a good influence?

I would expect that Slovan's impact in regards to creating more interest in getting kids to play is fringe at best.

As for the u20 team it's not a solution but a temporary fix that is aimed at achieving results (not getting relegated at the WJC) rather than developing players. The current president would like to replace the team with those 10 hockey academies for players aged 10-18 that were mentioned here earlier.

 

[kabidjan18]

Eventually in hockey you get to a stage where the people who have potential to be successful in the future are whittled out from the pack. A club like slovan, and ties to Czech clubs which allow players to play with domestic licenses I think, those are important for the Erik Cernaks of the world. People place a lot of importance on the 10-18 range and they should but having club ties so that players in the 19-23 range can play in competitive leagues where they can transition to senior hockey is absolutely vital. Otherwise, even with a system that increases the amount of youth channeling good hockey education and ups the potential for a good prospect there will still be immense drop-off once they pass the final junior level.

All national U20 systems that aren't Belarus run into the same problem, too many players playing abroad.

 

[slovakiasnextone]

A bit strange to bring up Cernak who has never played in Europe outside of Slovakia before going to NA as an 18 year old.

But I get the point is different here. However in regards to prevent players stopping with hockey after juniors, having a good structure of home leagues is more important, although the ties with foreign leagues are a plus for the to players. In theory the EUHL, university hockey league might also be somewhat helpful in this regard. Though it is hard to foresee university sports having as much success in Europe as it does in the US.

Of course, all countries have players who play abroad at the u20 level, but in Slovakia's case this creates more of a strain on the home leagues because of the low numbers of registered players and then taking the best of the rest u20 players into the u20 team and the top home u18 players into the u18 national team (although theose still play in the league).

 

[slovakiasnextone]

The following players have been named to the first training camp of the national team prior to the IHWC.

The list also includes players from the Olympic selection team who will play two games against Poland.

Julius Hudacek Orebro/SWE
Jaroslav Janus Verva Litvinov/CZE

Michal Cajkovsky Avtomobilist Jekaterinburg/KHL
Ivan Svarny Karpat Oulu/FIN
Lubodmir Dinda HK SKO Poprad/SVK
Marek Daloga HC Slovan Bratislava/KHL
Peter Ceresnak HC Skoda Plzen/CZE
Samuel Fereta HC Slovan Bratislava/SVK U20
Patrik Maier HC Nové Zámky/SVK

Martin Bakos Kchun-lun Red Stars/KHL
Michael Vandas HC Vitkovice/CZE
Andreas Strauch HK Poprad/SVK
Peter Lichanec HK Poprad/SVK
Adam Lapsansky Ravnsburg Towerstar/KHL
Samuel Takac LHC Lyons/FRA
Stanislav Horansky SC Lagenthal/SUI
Vladimir Dravecky Ocelari Trinec/CE
Libor Hudacek Orebro/SWE
Tomas Hrnka HC Skoda Plzen/CZE
Matej Paulovic HC Nové Zámky/SVK
Miroslav Preisinger HC Plzen/CZE

 

[slovakiasnextone]

The roster for the MECA hocley games which will take place next week was unveiled: Ramsay a Šatan nominovali na turnaj do Nórska skúsených hráčov

I think this is pretty close to the Olympic roster. Feels a bit too much like an old guys meet up for my taste tbh

Does anyone know if there will be something like the 'Olympic' team that played in EIHC tournament in February the past few years? There is no mention of it on the federation website, so I suppose that there won't...

 

[alko]

The roster for the MECA hocley games which will take place next week was unveiled: Ramsay a Šatan nominovali na turnaj do Nórska skúsených hráčov

I think this is pretty close to the Olympic roster. Feels a bit too much like an old guys meet up for my taste tbh

Does anyone know if there will be something like the 'Olympic' team that played in EIHC tournament in February the past few years? There is no mention of it on the federation website, so I suppose that there won't...

In February we have Olympics. It doesnt have any sense to play some Tournament with B team. Especially, if out teams in Extraliga are unhappy, that there will not be any break.

 

[slovakiasnextone]

Yeah, I thought that too. I was more wondering whether they might play during some other NT break, for example now in December.

I know that it's the Olympics this year, but that also means that a lot of the players on the Olympic roster will say no come IHWC and with the IHWC in Slovakia coming up next year, it might be useful to try out the players who missed out on the Olympics.

 

[alko]

Yeah, I thought that too. I was more wondering whether they might play during some other NT break, for example now in December.

I know that it's the Olympics this year, but that also means that a lot of the players on the Olympic roster will say no come IHWC and with the IHWC in Slovakia coming up next year, it might be useful to try out the players who missed out on the Olympics.

I think, that "try out the players" in National team is overrated. In a year there could be (and will be) so much twists, that it doesnt matter, if a player plays now one or two games.

 

[slovakiasnextone]

Some changes to the MECA hockey games roster caused by injuries

OUT: Ladislav Nagy, Marek Viedensky, Ladislav Romancik
IN: Matus Sukel, Peter Ceresnak, Matej Paulovic, Michal Kristof

Libor Hudacek is also questionable as he is struggling with a shoulder injury. I suppose that explains why he hasn't been appearing on the scoresheet as much lately.

 

[Outofbodyinhungary]

How does team look/set up for WHC this year? Hopefully we will have some NHLers and put on good performance in front of home crowd. I’m going to each of our games, hopefully won’t be disappointed

 

[PanniniClaus]

I see Jogi Svejkovsky has a son playing in the WHL...what happened to Jogi to cut his career so short?

Is his son a prospect?

 

[alko]

I see Jogi Svejkovsky has a son playing in the WHL...what happened to Jogi to cut his career so short?

Is his son a prospect?

I think, this should be asked here - Czechs in North America (NHL, AHL, Junior)

 

[PanniniClaus]

I think, this should be asked here - Czechs in North America (NHL, AHL, Junior)

yes - thanks

 

[slovakiasnextone]

I know that most of Slovakia related talk is on the main boards these days, but since this is a sticky thread and we have a team that really fits the description, I thought I might update this with this years' IHWC roster:

Goalies
Július HUDÁČEK	Spartak Moskva (KHL)	48	0
Adam HÚSKA	Hartford Wolf Pack (AHL)	0	0
Branislav KONRÁD	HC Olomouc (ČR)	26	0
D-Men
Martin BUČKO	HC Dynamo Pardubice (ČR)	7	0
Marek ĎALOGA	HC Dynamo Pardubice (ČR)	102	10
Daniel GACHULINEC	HC 07 Detva	8	0
Martin GERNÁT	HC Oceláři Třinec (ČR)	39	4
Mário GRMAN	SaiPa Lappeenranta (Fin.)	30	0
Michal IVAN	HKM Zvolen	2	0
Adam JÁNOŠÍK	IK Oskarshamn (Švéd.)	70	3
Samuel KŇAŽKO	TPS Turku (Fín.)	8	0
Šimon NEMEC	HK Nitra	7	0
Mislav ROSANDIČ	Bílí Tygři Liberec (ČR)	25	0
FORWARDS
Dávid BUC	iClinic Bratislava Capitals	47	4
Peter CEHLÁRIK	Leksand IF (Švéd.)	21	3
Martin FAŠKO-RUDÁŠ	HC 05 Banská Bystrica	8	1
Adrián HOLEŠINSKÝ	HK Nitra	8	2
Marek HRIVÍK	Leksand IF (Švéd.)	14	2
Miloš KELEMEN	HKM Zvolen	0	0
Michal KRIŠTOF	Kärpät Oulu (Fín.)	37	5
Róbert LANTOŠI	Providence Bruins (AHL)	18	2
Adam LIŠKA	Severstaľ Čerepovec (KHL)	29	7
Kristián POSPÍŠIL	Lukko Rauma (Fín.)	2	0
Miloš ROMAN	HC Oceláři Třinec (ČR)	4	2
Pavol SKALICKÝ	Lukko Rauma (Fín.)	33	3
Juraj SLAFKOVSKÝ	TPS Turku (Fín.)	7	1
Marián STUDENIČ	New Jersey Devils (NHL)	13	2
Matúš SUKEĽ	HC Sparta Praha (ČR)	37	8

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[alko]

Sooo, it looks like, KHL players are now invited to play for national team. Political pressure has show its power.