Question regarding the Slovak 2nd Division?

[paul-laus]

Hi there. Please excuse my ignorance regarding hockey in Slovakia. One of the players Central Scouting has identified for the 2015 NHL draft is a player by the name of Mario Grman and he apparently plays for the Slovakia Under 18 team in the Slovak 1 Liga.

I am a little familiar with the HK Orange 20 team that plays in the Slovak Extra Liga and helps to develop players for the under20 world juniors by having them play men's squads.

Is there also an HK Orange 18 team that plays in the Slovak 1 Liga and is this who Mario Grman plays for? Does the Orange HK 18 squad prepare players for the IIHF Under 18 championships and act as a feeder for the Orange HK 20 squad? Any info would help....Cheers!

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[peto10]

Hi there. Please excuse my ignorance regarding hockey in Slovakia. One of the players Central Scouting has identified for the 2015 NHL draft is a player by the name of Mario Grman and he apparently plays for the Slovakia Under 18 team in the Slovak 1 Liga.

I am a little familiar with the HK Orange 20 team that plays in the Slovak Extra Liga and helps to develop players for the under20 world juniors by having them play men's squads.

Is there also an HK Orange 18 team that plays in the Slovak 1 Liga and is this who Mario Grman plays for? Does the Orange HK 18 squad prepare players for the IIHF Under 18 championships and act as a feeder for the Orange HK 20 squad? Any info would help....Cheers!

Hi, this was the first season for "Team Slovakia 18" in Slovak 1 liga. It was created for the same reason as HK Orange 20 - to prepare players for World Championship. They play full season there, except the playoffs.
These projects are independent from each other, so there were no player movements between the teams during the season (but I think Pajpach played 2 games for U20 as emergency "callup").

It was the first year of Team Slovakia 18, so it's hard to tell, how many players will play for HK Orange 20 next season. In this preseason, Orange 20 played two tournaments and couple friendly games so far and there were just 5 players, that played for Team Slovakia 18 last year.

Mário Grman - yes, he played for this Team Slovakia 18 and he is one of the better players of 1997 class. He was supposed to play swedish junior league for HV71 next season, but he is in Red Deer Rebels camp right now.

 

[Babula]

I'd say HK Orange 20 is a part of extraliga (top league) and HK Orange 18 is a part of 1. Liga (second tier) yeah, but that wasn't a question...

 

[paul-laus]

Hi, this was the first season for "Team Slovakia 18" in Slovak 1 liga. It was created for the same reason as HK Orange 20 - to prepare players for World Championship. They play full season there, except the playoffs.
These projects are independent from each other, so there were no player movements between the teams during the season (but I think Pajpach played 2 games for U20 as emergency "callup").

It was the first year of Team Slovakia 18, so it's hard to tell, how many players will play for HK Orange 20 next season. In this preseason, Orange 20 played two tournaments and couple friendly games so far and there were just 5 players, that played for Team Slovakia 18 last year.

Mário Grman - yes, he played for this Team Slovakia 18 and he is one of the better players of 1997 class. He was supposed to play swedish junior league for HV71 next season, but he is in Red Deer Rebels camp right now.

Thanks so much for the info. Hopefully, the HK Orange 18 does a good job developing players for national teams.....I know that the HK Orange 20 team went through some serious growing pains its first couple of seasons....

 

[paul-laus]

Well, apparently top 100 draft prospect Radovan Bondra also plays for the orange18 team in the second division as well...