How does the Slovak U18 development program work?

[pgfan66]

Sorry, if this has been explained somewhere before, but I was wondering how the Slovak U18 development program works exactly.

I know the SR18 team that plays in the 2nd tier men’s league very closely resembles the U18 team that will play the Hlinka, U18s, etc. What I don’t quite understand yet:

• How many games does the team play in the 2nd men’s league and how many in the U20 junior league?
• Do the club teams decide where their prospects play and have to actively assign them to the SR18 team, while also being allowed to have them play for their own U20 team, their pro team or their own 2nd tier affiliate?
• Are there rules as to how many games a player has to be available to the club team when he’s a member of SR18?
• Does the SR18 team stay together and practice together all season or are they like a regular national team where players practice with their club teams but play games with the national team?

The reason I’m asking is that no player seems to have spent the entire year with the program. They all have around 10 games for their U20 club teams too, some were even loaned to different teams in the 2nd tier league. A guy like Miro Satan played almost the entire season with his U20 club team despite playing for Slovakia at tournaments.

It’s just so different from the US NTDP where players are selected at 16, stay with the program for two full years no matter what as they can’t be cut, and there are no club teams that own their rights or anything. So it’s difficult to understand how it works in Slovakia without speaking Slovak.

Thanks in advance for answering my questions and clearing this up!

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[Pazucha]

I cant answer all the questions but here is what I think I know:

• I think its 24 game in the 2nd tier league against men and 12 games against U20 teams. (So by January they are done with the U20 and only play in the 2nd tier league)

• Satan Ml. was not part of the project he was only invited for a few games same with Chrenko, Nemec and Pobezal.

• I think the core of the players practice together all week.

• After the season ended all the players from the project went back to their clubs and played in the U20 playoffs.

Unlike US NTDP its impossible to gather all the best prospects to the Project for the entire season as many prefer playing in NA, Sweden, Finland or in their home clubs with the chance of playing in Extraliga (T. Pobezal). This means that the team is not as strong and often has problems in their matches against men in the 2nd tier league. Building chemistry is useless because the final roster in WC/Hlinka will look completely different when players from abroad join the team.