WJC: 2015 — Slovakia Roster Talk

[PanniniClaus]

I will say that it does look like the Team Orange concept is producing results.

Their penalty kill was clearly a product of guys being together and working at their craft over a long period of time. The team lacks for individual skills but makes up for it with a team game.

Whole was greater than the sum of the parts.

 

[masinaLFC]

who do you think will be drafted from this team?

 

[montreal]

congrats to Slovakia on the win today, was rooting for Reway all along so glad to see him have such a great game. He can be a real fun player to watch for sure.

 

[Bob b smith]

who do you think will be drafted from this team?

Is Godla drafted?

 

[jcbio11]

Is Godla drafted?

No, but eligible.

 

[DrPabloRamirez]

who do you think will be drafted from this team?

Cernak, Bondra. Jaros has some real chance I hope. Godla maybe. If Paulovic is drafted, Skalicky could be as well.

 

[Elvs]

who do you think will be drafted from this team?

Cernak, Bondra and Jaros. Pretty much everyone else were born in 1995, and are therefor unlikely to get drafted. Except maybe Godla who must have NHL teams looking at him closely now.

Among undrafted forwards I liked Skalicky and Soltes though. And on defense I've been surprised by Rosandic and Holenda. Both are small, but can skate. Rosandic had some troubles against Canada but I thought he was good today. Holenda seems to have good speed and some poise with the puck in the D zone.

I always root for Slovakia when Sweden are eliminated from tournaments. The golden days are gone, but it's nice to see your nation have success again. I even found myself rooting for Slovakia in this game when the swedes gave such a poor performance. Congratulations to a well deserved medal.

 

[DrPabloRamirez]

And on defense I've been surprised by Rosandic and Holenda. Both are small, but can skate. Rosandic had some troubles against Canada but I thought he was good today.

Rosandic turned into D-man three seasons ago after changing team from Dubnica to Banska Bystrica. He was one of the best forwards of Slovak U18 league.

 

[An Argument For]

Congrats to the Slovak team. You guys are always my second favorite team to cheer for after Canada and above Finland. Has there been any reaction to the medal? Is it on the news?

 

[jcbio11]

Congrats to the Slovak team. You guys are always my second favorite team to cheer for after Canada and above Finland. Has there been any reaction to the medal? Is it on the news?

Yes and the game was on tv. Obviously not as much attention as when we medal at senior WHC, but still quite a bit of media love. It's a good story.

Wonder about the number of people who watched the game. Someone quoted some numbers here before and it was very decent for a junior tourney, which has been getting more attention in the recent years. From 200 000 to something more than 300 000 viewers if I remember correctly. Of course this is nothing compared to when the national soccer team plays or the WHC, when the number of viewers are in millions, but still cool to see.

I have to say, this tourney has grown on me.

 

[tobu]

Yes and the game was on tv. Obviously not as much attention as when we medal at senior WHC, but still quite a bit of media love. It's a good story.

Wonder about the number of people who watched the game. Someone quoted some numbers here before and it was very decent for a junior tourney, which has been getting more attention in the recent years. From 200 000 to something more than 300 000 viewers if I remember correctly. Of course this is nothing compared to when the national soccer team plays or the WHC, when the number of viewers are in millions, but still cool to see.

I have to say, this tourney has grown on me.

To put it to perspective, we have a population of 5,5 million.

 

[smitty10]

who do you think will be drafted from this team?

Cernak - 2nd/3rd
Jaros - 4th/5th
Bondra - 5th/6th
Godla - 6th/7th
Sukel - 7th?
Skalicky - 7th?

There is no way all of these guys go unnoticed after this tournament. I'd be surprised if at least 3-4 aren't drafted, if not more.

EDIT: Also forgot, but Matej Tomek is likely to be drafted in the first 5 rounds as well. Could be a strong year draft-wise for the Slovaks. They should have a fairly strong team in goal next year when Maximilian Pajpach (Colorado 6th rounder) and Tomek fight for the job between the pipes. Maybe things are finally starting to look up again for Slovakia. No real top prospects lately, but Tatar, Dano, Jurco, Marincin and Panik all look promising so far in their NHL careers. Tvrdon seems to be taking off at the AHL level and Gernat will hopefully find his stride this year. Could be a good sign for Slovakia.

 

[Kamzik]

Denis Godla named top WJC goalie. Did Lasak receive this award in 1999?

 

[Kamzik]

Wow, Godla was named tournament MVP, I know that is a first for Slovakia.

 

[Dream Big]

Congratulations to Slovakia to win the Bronze medal over Sweden. Top three in the 2015 World Junior hockey.

 

[saskriders]

How has Godla been in the Slovak Extraliga? .915 save % on a junior team that plays against men seems good, but stats don't tell the whole story especially for goalies.

 

[slovakiasnextone]

Cernak - 2nd/3rd
Jaros - 4th/5th
Bondra - 5th/6th
Godla - 6th/7th
Sukel - 7th?
Skalicky - 7th?

There is no way all of these guys go unnoticed after this tournament. I'd be surprised if at least 3-4 aren't drafted, if not more.

EDIT: Also forgot, but Matej Tomek is likely to be drafted in the first 5 rounds as well. Could be a strong year draft-wise for the Slovaks. They should have a fairly strong team in goal next year when Maximilian Pajpach (Colorado 6th rounder) and Tomek fight for the job between the pipes. Maybe things are finally starting to look up again for Slovakia. No real top prospects lately, but Tatar, Dano, Jurco, Marincin and Panik all look promising so far in their NHL careers. Tvrdon seems to be taking off at the AHL level and Gernat will hopefully find his stride this year. Could be a good sign for Slovakia.

I think seeing more than 4 players getting drafted (with Tomek included) is being overtly optimistic. But I don't think that the NHL teams are the only ones watching the tourney. Skalicky for example already signed a try out with SHL's Orebro mid way through the tourney, no reason why some other players couldn't get themselves job in better leagues somewhere outside Slovakia. Which is pretty good for Slovak hockey at this point of time.

 

[QnebO]

Can somebody tell something about the "Organge Project" of Slovakia?

 

[Chara-3]

Can somebody tell something about the "Organge Project" of Slovakia?

It is U-20 national development team led by U-20 coach - Bokros. Every year they practice together and play 20 matches from August to December in top-level Slovak league. Basically it is for players that are too good to play in atrocious slovak U-20 league, but not good enough yet to play against men.

You can't really improve player individual and technical abilities in a few months, but it is great to teach them PP and PK schemes and blend the team together.

But then again, our best players are not from this team - Reway, Jaros, Cernak, Lantosi...

 

[Chara-3]

Cernak - 2nd/3rd
Jaros - 4th/5th
Bondra - 5th/6th
Godla - 6th/7th
Sukel - 7th?
Skalicky - 7th?

That's too optimistic.

Cernak - 3rd
Jaros/Bondra - 6th
Godla - 7th

There's nothing special about Sukel or Skalicky.

 

[slovakiasnextone]

Can somebody tell something about the "Organge Project" of Slovakia?

Depends on what you would like to know.

It was formed as a result of the 2007 WJC where Slovakia only avoided relegation thanks to some friendly help from the Swiss. The aim was to help the team avoid relegation in the future (as well as trying to prevent the exodus of Slovak players to Canadian junior leagues), it played the first season in Extraliga in 07/08 under the name HK VSR SR 20. I think the first time they played under the name HK Orange 20 in season 08/09. The Orange name comes from a Slovak mobile network operator, which is a major sponsor of the Slovak hockey federation/national team.

The team usually plays from September to early December in Slovak Extraliga, they are excluded from play-offs, but poins from games against them count for the Extraliga teams. Usually after the WJC the team is regrouped with younger players, who already start preparing for the next year's WJC. I believe one year, after the WJC the team was however reformed as the u18 team who played against 1.liga teams (2011/2012 season, I think).

The players are loaned out by their Slovak teams to the Orange team, after the WJC the players who are no longer u20 eligible return to their own Extraliga teams.

Usually the top players don't play on the team as they play either abroad or on other Extraliga teams. The team is mainly designed for players who are not good enough to get a shot at Extraliga in their own teams.

There have been some exceptions to this as probably the most prominent player who played for the team was Martin Marincin prior to being drafted by the Oilers and going to the WHL.

The team used to play in Presov, but now they play in Bratislava.

Also, as of last season there's an another team, the u18 team, which plays in Trnava and competes in second tier 1.liga against men for all of the regular season. Goalie Matej Tomek who is likely to be a pretty early pick in the NHL draft played there last year as an underager.

You can find the record of the HK Orange team here:
http://sk.wikipedia.org/wiki/HK_Orange_20

 

[JayKing]

It is U-20 national development team led by U-20 coach - Bokros. Every year they practice together and play 20 matches from August to December in top-level Slovak league. Basically it is for players that are too good to play in atrocious slovak U-20 league, but not good enough yet to play against men.

You can't really improve player individual and technical abilities in a few months, but it is great to teach them PP and PK schemes and blend the team together.

But then again, our best players are not from this team - Reway, Jaros, Cernak, Lantosi...

I bet it helped a lot for the strong penalty kill throughout the tournament as well as breakouts.

 

[Ivo]

Cernak - 2nd/3rd
Jaros - 4th/5th
Bondra - 5th/6th
Godla - 6th/7th
Sukel - 7th?
Skalicky - 7th?

There is no way all of these guys go unnoticed after this tournament. I'd be surprised if at least 3-4 aren't drafted, if not more.

EDIT: Also forgot, but Matej Tomek is likely to be drafted in the first 5 rounds as well. Could be a strong year draft-wise for the Slovaks. They should have a fairly strong team in goal next year when Maximilian Pajpach (Colorado 6th rounder) and Tomek fight for the job between the pipes. Maybe things are finally starting to look up again for Slovakia. No real top prospects lately, but Tatar, Dano, Jurco, Marincin and Panik all look promising so far in their NHL careers. Tvrdon seems to be taking off at the AHL level and Gernat will hopefully find his stride this year. Could be a good sign for Slovakia.

I doubt we will ever reach the heights of the mid-2000s, when we could fill in a roster full of impact NHL players, but the situation is not as bad as I thought it would be. The fact is that we still have new players coming to the NHL and suceeding (especially Tatar, but also Jurco, Panik, Marincin, Dano) and seeing the U20 team get a medal shows that despite the conditions, there is still potential to bring up quality players in Slovakia. Winning bronze and beating Finland, Czechs and Sweden can't just be luck. I think winning a medal on the U20 level is much more difficult for a small country than doing it at the men's WHC, so this is a sign that something has been done right.

 

[Bojovnik]

So, I guess from this result it will be claimed that the Orange program is 'getting results' insofar as better performances at the WJC, but whether or not it is the best thing for SVK junior hockey I'm not too sure.

I guess it depends at how we judge things. As a team this was a fantastic performance, but there could very easily be no NHL players from this team. It will be interesting to see what the priority is, as of course, the men's national program won't be able to play together for six months in the build up to the WHC/OG.

 

[slovakiasnextone]

So, I guess from this result it will be claimed that the Orange program is 'getting results' insofar as better performances at the WJC, but whether or not it is the best thing for SVK junior hockey I'm not too sure.

I guess it depends at how we judge things. As a team this was a fantastic performance, but there could very easily be no NHL players from this team. It will be interesting to see what the priority is, as of course, the men's national program won't be able to play together for six months in the build up to the WHC/OG.

It's a bit too late for turning players to NHL prospects at 17 or 18.

Also, of course it's great to have players in the NHL and all, but I'd argue that technically at this point we need good European players even more as NHL players aren't available for the WHC. And they might not be even playing in the OG and Slovakia might not be playing there either if we don't get those good Euro players who'd be good enough to finish at the WHCs in order to get qualified for the OG or even more importantly in the qualifiers for the Olympics (no overeas players available for that).