Olympics: 2022 Slovakia Roster Talk

[Antiillafire]

Well after the close win vs Belarus today we are officially in.

Tatar - Hrivik - Panik
Cehlarik - Hudacek - Jurco
K.Pospisil - Ruzicka - M. Pospisil
Slafkovsky - Roman - Studenic

Chara - Sekera
Cernak - Fehervary
Marincin - Jaros
Cajkovsky - Gernat
Possibilities: Nemec, Knazko, Ceresnak

Halak
Tomek
Huska

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[kudla]

Tatar - Hrivik - Cehlarik
Lantosi - Ruzicka - Panik
K. Pospisil - Hudacek - Jurco
Studenic - M. Pospisil - Skalicky

I think the 4th line could also be something like:
Kelemen - Roman - M. Pospisil

Cernak - Sekera
Jaros - Fehervary
Marincin - Gernat
Cajkovsky - Ceresnak

Halak
Huska
Rybar

Huge downfall compared to our 2010 team, but it's better than in 2018

 

[hellwar9]

For me somehow similar, there will probably not be big differences even in the final nomination, unless someone will not be injured. I really like @kudla defensive pairs, I would put them together the same way. In my opinion, Chara no longer has performance at this level, but who knows. Already in 2014 in Sochi he did not manage to skate and that was 8 years ago. Young boys like Slafkovsky, Nemec and Knazko would probably get there only if there were any injuries.

Tatar - Hrivik - Cehlarik
Panik - Hudacek - Jurco
Lantosi - Ruzicka - Studenic
K.Pospisil - M.Pospisil - Skalicky

(HM's: Bakos, Griger, Kristof, Kelemen, Liska, Dano, Slafkovsky, Roman)

Sekera - Cernak
Jaros - Fehervary
Marincin - Gernat
Cajkovsky - Ceresnak

(HM's: Chara, Knazko, Nemec, Rosandic, Janosik, Grman)

Halak
Konrad/Huska/Tomek/Rybar/Godla

 

[Eye of Ra]

Dano will have a spot just becuse he was part of nhl organisations for many years. even thought he is not good enough.

 

[Czechboy]

Really happy for you guys!

 

[Faterson]

I think the team that won the qualifying group should go to Beijing, not those who chose not to play (with no valid reason).

 

[Chara-3]

Why would you choose Huska/Tomek/Rybar over Konrad?

Konrad was great during the qualification and also great last WCH until he got injured.

 

[Elvs]

I think the team that won the qualifying group should go to Beijing, not those who chose not to play (with no valid reason).

Slovakia would stand no chance against anyone in their group if they did that. This team just barely beat Belarus and didn't exactly impress against Poland or Austria either.

I sort of agree with you though. I think players who show willingness to often represent their country, should be more likely to make the team. For example, I think Andrej Sekera very much deserves to play in the Olympics despite not playing in the qualification.

 

[Faterson]

Slovakia would stand no chance against anyone in their group if they did that.

Principles are perhaps more important than that.

And the first couple of guys posting in this thread must be out of their minds to think Konrád won't be there. He won the qualification tournament for Slovakia (along with the rest of the team, but he was a huge part), so of course he'll be there, likely as the starting goalie. (Jaro Halák can rest some more in Vancouver.)

 

[Elvs]

Principles are perhaps more important than that.

And the first couple of guys posting in this thread must be out of their minds to think Konrád won't be there. He won the qualification tournament for Slovakia (along with the rest of the team, but he was a huge part), so of course he'll be there, likely as the starting goalie. (Jaro Halák can rest some more in Vancouver.)

You'd be alone in doing it, but that's honourable. Slovakia not bringing Tatar, Cernak or Halak to the Olympics would be like Finland not bringing Barkov. He didn't show up for any IIHF tournament since 2016, and has done nothing to help Finland to their current rank or automatic qualification.

I do agree that such players should take a good look at themselves in the mirror though, as they're taking a spot from someone else who got them there in the first place.

I also agree that national team coaches or GM's should prefer players with a willingness to show up more. But that's something that should be communicated before the qualification, or before world championships.

After the 2022 Olympics, I wish Sweden will have a coach saying: "In 2026, we will nominate players who's shown a willingness to represent their country at the world championships". It sends the message clear, years before the tournament.

 

[kudla]

NHL players allowed at these Olympics would probably increase our chances to beat Latvia, but drastically lower our chances to beat Sweden or Finland

 

[stastny12]

Slovakia would stand no chance against anyone in their group if they did that. This team just barely beat Belarus and didn't exactly impress against Poland or Austria either.

I sort of agree with you though. I think players who show willingness to often represent their country, should be more likely to make the team. For example, I think Andrej Sekera very much deserves to play in the Olympics despite not playing in the qualification.

Even without NHLers, the Slovak team is arguably better than Latvian one and therefore to say that they would stand no chance against anyone from their group is quite wrong. The second thing I very much disagree with you is the fact that you are measuring quality of the team based on the results from the August tournament, when the preparation of players for the upcoming season is about halfway through. Furthermore, Slovak players had to cope with the enormous pressure by home crowd. No one expected anything less than advance to Beijing. And that obviously kinda tied the players hands.

 

[Elvs]

Even without NHLers, the Slovak team is arguably better than Latvian one and therefore to say that they would stand no chance against anyone from their group is quite wrong. The second thing I very much disagree with you is the fact that you are measuring quality of the team based on the results from the August tournament, when the preparation of players for the upcoming season is about halfway through. Furthermore, Slovak players had to cope with the enormous pressure by home crowd. No one expected anything less than advance to Beijing. And that obviously kinda tied the players hands.

Yeah, I was thinking Slovakia was in the group with Russia, Czechia and Switzerland. My bad. Even without NHL'ers, Slovakia would obviously stand a chance against Latvia but would still be the underdog, mainly beacause of Elvis Merzlikins.

And no, I'm not only measuring the quality based on this short August tournament. I'm also basing it off the World Championships earlier this year. It was great to see Slovakia back in the quarter finals, but make no mistake, it mostly happened because of how depleted of NHL talent that tournament was.

Even then, Slovakia only beat Great Britain 2-1, lost against Switzerland 1-8, lost to Czechia 3-7 and lost to Sweden's G or H team 1-3. In the Olympics, Switzerland and especially Czechia and Sweden, will be much stronger (granted that NHL'ers will participate), so why should Slovakia even consider sending a team without Tatar, Cernak, Halak, Panik or Sekera? The only argument one could make are principals, as Faterson said. Nothing else.

 

[stastny12]

Yeah, I was thinking Slovakia was in the group with Russia, Czechia and Switzerland. My bad. Even without NHL'ers, Slovakia would obviously stand a chance against Latvia but would still be the underdog, mainly beacause of Elvis Merzlikins.

And no, I'm not only measuring the quality based on this short August tournament. I'm also basing it off the World Championships earlier this year. It was great to see Slovakia back in the quarter finals, but make no mistake, it mostly happened because of how depleted of NHL talent that tournament was.

Even then, Slovakia only beat Great Britain 2-1, lost against Switzerland 1-8, lost to Czechia 3-7 and lost to Sweden's G or H team 1-3. In the Olympics, Switzerland and especially Czechia and Sweden, will be much stronger (granted that NHL'ers will participate), so why should Slovakia even consider sending a team without Tatar, Cernak, Halak, Panik or Sekera? The only argument one could make are principals, as Faterson said. Nothing else.

To be clear, Slovakia should definitely play with NHLers, so we could see one last dance by Chara, Halak and Sekera. I also wonder how much better we would be with Cernak and Fehervary in the team. Yes, at the last WCH we had a couple of blowout games, caused mainly by unexperienced squad full of novices who have never before performed at such a high level (on the other hand, we did not only beat GB 2-1, but Russia, Denmark and Belarus, as well). With a stable defense and leaders like Chara, the blowout games won´t be the case anymore. That´s why I consider us to be favourite in the game against Latvia.

Although, even if we maintain the status quo, Slovakia wouldn´t be be underdog against Latvia. Compared to last WCH, Hudacek, Konrad, Ruzicka, Marincin, Gernat or Ceresnak are huge reinforcements and would surely have a positive impact on Slovak team.

 

[james12]

Halák
Konrád
Húska

Sekera (C) - Černák (A)
Fehérváry - Čerešňák
Marinčin - Jaroš
Gernát - Nemec

Tatar (A) - Hudáček - Pánik
Cehlárik - Hrivík - Lantoši
Studenič - Ružička - K.Pospíšil
Kelemen - Roman - Slafkovský
M. Pospíšil

 

[stastny12]

The decisive game vs Belarus was watched by more than 700k viewers. It´s more than EURO final(606k) or first Slovak match of EURO against Poland(592k). And we are talking only about qualification tournament in summer, when most people are not used to be interested in winter sports like ice hockey. Given these figures, I´d like to emphasize with how much pressure had to Slovak players deal with.

 

[mirec04]

This team just barely beat Belarus and didn't exactly impress against Poland or Austria either.

Some arguments were told by others, I would add only few:
- majority of Belarussian team has been preparing for 1 month. many of our players have not played single game before tournament
- they were preparing specially for our team, have studied lot of videos, made lot of analysis (told by Belarussian player)- that could maybe little bit explain their defeat against Poland, they have underestimated them..
- our assistant couch Jan Pardavy told to national newspaper that he has not seen such good Belarussian team for a long time.

Based on all these facts I expected tough game but still I thought the game will look more evenly (we could be winning like 3:0 in the first period and there would be no drama at the end)

 

[peto10]

Halák
Konrád
Húska

Sekera (C) - Černák (A)
Fehérváry - Čerešňák
Marinčin - Jaroš
Gernát - Nemec

Tatar (A) - Hudáček - Pánik
Cehlárik - Hrivík - Lantoši
Studenič - Ružička - K.Pospíšil
Kelemen - Roman - Slafkovský
M. Pospíšil

I really like this one, especially the forwards. The defense will be the hardest to select, there are a lot of players on the similar level - Marincin, Gernat, Jaros, Cajkovsky, Knazko and Nemec.

 

[Elvs]

Some arguments were told by others, I would add only few:
- majority of Belarussian team has been preparing for 1 month. many of our players have not played single game before tournament
- they were preparing specially for our team, have studied lot of videos, made lot of analysis (told by Belarussian player)- that could maybe little bit explain their defeat against Poland, they have underestimated them..
- our assistant couch Jan Pardavy told to national newspaper that he has not seen such good Belarussian team for a long time.

Based on all these facts I expected tough game but still I thought the game will look more evenly (we could be winning like 3:0 in the first period and there would be no drama at the end)

That's the thing though, Danny Taylor is (or at least used to be) a good AHL level goaltender, capable of shutting down AHL or European league based competition. Yes, Slovakia could have been up 3-0, but it should be no surprise that they're struggling with goalscoring. With the additions of Sekera, Cernak, Panik and especially Tatar, the chances of capitalizing would have increased. If it was Tatar getting two breakaways instead of Pospisil, against a goaltender of Danny Taylor's calibre, the chances of scoring increases quite dramatically.

Slovakia had a strong team at the 2019 World Championship. What that team accomplished, against strong USA and Canada teams, is more impressive than anything the 2021 team accomplished. Yes, that team made the quarterfinals, but again, only because of how depleted of NHL talent that tournament was. The 2019 team would also have made the quarterfinals if they didn't get such horrible goaltending. Had Cehlarik, Chara and especially Halak been available that year, Slovakia would've been able to hold onto those leads against Canada and Germany.

Trust me, Sweden has better European league based player than Slovakia, and whenever we roll a team with them it does not end pretty. Lost to Denmark and Belarus and missed the quarterfinals last spring. Fell in the quarterfinals to Germany at the 2018 Olympics. Yes, shit can happen with NHL players also (Sweden-Belarus in 2002) and good things can happen with subpar rosters (Finland in 2019), but those are the exceptions from the rule.

I don't think Slovakia's NHL'ers should be blamed for what happened in 2019, and I don't think the 2021 team should be deemed heroes for making the quarterfinals. They were two different tournaments with very different prerequisites. If the Slovak national team somehow thinks they are better off without their best players, because of what the 2021 team accomplished at the world championships and now in the qualifications... It would be a big mistake by them.

 

[Ivo]

I am not so well-versed to make my own roster proposal, but one thing is clear: the best players available should make it, regardless of their participation in the qualifiers. That is, if we want a competitive team. If you can add the likes of Cernak, Sekera, Tatar, Panik and Halak to this team, you have to do it.

 

[alko]

I am not so well-versed to make my own roster proposal, but one thing is clear: the best players available should make it, regardless of their participation in the qualifiers. That is, if we want a competitive team. If you can add the likes of Cernak, Sekera, Tatar, Panik and Halak to this team, you have to do it.

Im curious about the young guys Slafkovsky and Nemec. No doubt they are good and have immense potential. But will they be really so good, that some proven veteran like Grman, Gernat, Marincin (put your name) should be omitted?

 

[Eye of Ra]

NHL players allowed at these Olympics would probably increase our chances to beat Latvia, but drastically lower our chances to beat Sweden or Finland

sweden without nhl players is same level as slovakia. 50-50. we have a gigantic number of players in nhl and ahl.

 

[Ivo]

Im curious about the young guys Slafkovsky and Nemec. No doubt they are good and have immense potential. But will they be really so good, that some proven veteran like Grman, Gernat, Marincin (put your name) should be omitted?

I don’t know. Probably best to wait and see how they play and progress. Maybe by January, one or two of them will be impossible to leave off the team.

 

[mirec04]

Oh, where are the times with Hossa, Bondra, Demitra, Gaborik, Stumpel, Satan, Handzus.. ?
I hope we will have competitive team in case NHLers will come.

 

[salamandra]

Halak, Konrad, Rybar

Cernak - Jaros
Sekera - Fehervary
Ceresnak - Gernat
Marincin - Cajkovsky
(Daloga, Grman, Knazko)

Panik-Hudacek-Tatar
Cehlarik-Hrivik-Lantosi
Jurco-Ruzicka-Studenic
Dano-Griger-K.Pospisil
Roman, Kelemen
(M.Pospisil, Liska, Kristof, Slafkovsky, Krivosik)