WC: Team Slovakia

[Retroglyphs]

Denmark will be a bit more difficult but is another game Slovakia can't afford to lose. Key game is against Germany, if they can shut down Draisaitl they should come up on top. But with how poor Finland's roster looks like this year, I would not be surprised to see both Slovakia and Germany make the quarter finals.

Boston getting eliminated would be huge for Slovakia. With the additions of Chara, Halak and Cehlarik this team could contend for a bronze medal. Hopefully Charlotte finds themselves in a quick exit too.

Pretty sure Slovakia beats Denmark on home ice.
And yes, would be nice to see both Germany and Slovakia in the QFs, but that would require some serious upsets. Finland is always to be reckoned with.
Interesting group in any case.

 

[Urbanskog]

Pretty sure Slovakia beats Denmark on home ice.
And yes, would be nice to see both Germany and Slovakia in the QFs, but that would require some serious upsets. Finland is always to be reckoned with.
Interesting group in any case.

Finland doesn't have a great team this year, I could certainly see a German or Slovak upset.

 

[kudla]

Finland doesn't have a great team this year, I could certainly see a German or Slovak upset.

Even if Finland iced their U16 team we would still find a way to lose 2004 was the last time we beat Finland on big stages. Finland along with the Czech republic are like a curse for us

 

[mirec04]

Vs U.S - Loss
Vs Finland - Loss
Vs Canada - Loss
Vs Germany - OT win
Vs France - Win
Vs GBR - Win
Vs Denmark - OT Loss

Vs U.S - OT Loss
Vs Finland - OT Win
Vs Canada - Loss
Vs Germany - OT Loss
Vs France - Win
Vs GBR - Win
Vs Denmark - OT Win

 

[Eye of Ra]

hrivik?

 

[tobu]

hrivik?

He cut his season short due to an injury and needs full summer for recovery.

 

[tobu]

Quick takeaways from the game against GB
- Cernak is a monster D
- First line will be ok and I'm totally fine with Sukel as its center
- Other 3 lines need some shuffling, they are not ideal, but I honestly have no idea how, all I know is that I don't like Nagy on the 2nd line for his lack of speed
- We really only have 4 left wingers assuming Lamper is not making the roster, so the additional cuts can be expected elsewhere, especially the right where it's crowded
- Libor Hudacek - no idea if he is in form and healthy, I hope he plays the last prep game so we see his state.

 

[GettingYourMoms]

Quick takeaways from the game against GB
- Cernak is a monster D
- First line will be ok and I'm totally fine with Sukel as its center
- Other 3 lines need some shuffling, they are not ideal, but I honestly have no idea how, all I know is that I don't like Nagy on the 2nd line for his lack of speed
- We really only have 4 left wingers assuming Lamper is not making the roster, so the additional cuts can be expected elsewhere, especially the right where it's crowded
- Libor Hudacek - no idea if he is in form and healthy, I hope he plays the last prep game so we see his state.

Cernak has monster D? Oh my.. how do you know??

 

[tobu]

Cernak has monster D? Oh my.. how do you know??

That's not what I wrote, but still

 

[Retroglyphs]

Jurco with 2G 3A last night for the Checkers, his czech linemate Necas with 2G. I hate the AHL.

 

[stastny12]

Lamper

Lamper did not get a call before 2 weeks, so basically It means that He is not going.

I was kind of impressed by Cernak, though. He was a huuuge yesterday. Hella better player than I thought.

 

[stastny12]

Jurco with 2G 3A last night for the Checkers, his czech linemate Necas with 2G. I hate the AHL.

At least, other talented players like Lantosi, Bucek will get a decent chance to prove their skills.

Jurky would be a huge upgrade for us, though.

 

[mirec04]

So, Chara, Halak and Cehlarik are out of question now. Tomas Jurco also advanced to another round with his team in AHL.
Patrik Rybar and Michal Kristof joined the team yesterday. The final roster will be announced today after preparation game against Norway.
Good luck guys!

 

[Namejs]

my shot at final roster right now

Rybár
Čiliak
Godla

Sekera-Černák
Feherváry-Jaroš
Marinčin-Ďaloga
Čajkovsky-Čerešnák

Tatar-Hudáček-Pánik
Nagy-Krištof-Lantoši
Studenič-Daňo-Buček
Liška-Marcinko-Bondra
Buc

I'm looking at this lineup and I'm a little weirded out by bronze medal comments here.

Offensively your lineup is on par with the Latvian one. You have worse goaltending and better D. Making the play-offs would be a nice achievement by my book.

No offense intended, just a 3rd party opinion.

 

[Retroglyphs]

So, Chara, Halak and Cehlarik are out of question now. Tomas Jurco also advanced to another round with his team in AHL.
Patrik Rybar and Michal Kristof joined the team yesterday. The final roster will be announced today after preparation game against Norway.
Good luck guys!

In other words, the Bruins' success in the POs sucks for the IIHF WHC host. But, really good to have Rybar & Kristof!

 

[slovakiasnextone]

I'm looking at this lineup and I'm a little weirded out by bronze medal comments here.

Offensively your lineup is on par with the Latvian one. You have worse goaltending and better D. Making the play-offs would be a nice achievement by my book.

No offense intended, just a 3rd party opinion.

I think that the mentions of SF/bronze medal are meant more in a "Germany on home ice in 2010" way rather than "oh, this is a bronze medal contender team on paper" way.

 

[Elvs]

I'm looking at this lineup and I'm a little weirded out by bronze medal comments here.

Offensively your lineup is on par with the Latvian one. You have worse goaltending and better D. Making the play-offs would be a nice achievement by my book.

No offense intended, just a 3rd party opinion.

Those comments were made when there was still hope for Halak, Chara, Cehlarik and Jurco joining the squad. Semifinals is still a possibility. Not likely but possible. Slovakia took a silver medal with a team that was on par with this. Switzerland has taken two silver medals with teams that were better, but not miles better. Germany has reached the semifinals with a worse team. Even without Chara, Slovakias defence is arguably the 4th strongest in the tournament on paper. Unlike Latvia, they play in a weaker group. Finland has a weak team on paper by their standars, so there's a chance Slovakia could finish 3rd in the group. With some luck, they can avoid Sweden or Russia in the QF, making the SF a possibility. On paper, this team is defenitely good enough to beat the Czech's or Switzerland in just one elimination game. That's what the comments are grounded on. And in a bronze medal game, the Slovaks will be more motivated than any opponent they are likely to face, as a bronze would be a big achievement. Especially on home ice.

 

[Namejs]

Those comments were made when there was still hope for Halak, Chara, Cehlarik and Jurco joining the squad. Semifinals is still a possibility. Not likely but possible. Slovakia took a silver medal with a team that was on par with this. Switzerland has taken two silver medals with teams that were better, but not miles better. Germany has reached the semifinals with a worse team. Even without Chara, Slovakias defence is arguably the 4th strongest in the tournament on paper. Unlike Latvia, they play in a weaker group. Finland has a weak team on paper by their standars, so there's a chance Slovakia could finish 3rd in the group. With some luck, they can avoid Sweden or Russia in the QF, making the SF a possibility. On paper, this team is defenitely good enough to beat the Czech's or Switzerland in just one elimination game. That's what the comments are grounded on. And in a bronze medal game, the Slovaks will be more motivated than any opponent they are likely to face, as a bronze would be a big achievement. Especially on home ice.

Fair enough

 

[mirec04]

And in a bronze medal game, the Slovaks will be more motivated than any opponent they are likely to face, as a bronze would be a big achievement. Especially on home ice.

I agree that our players will be very motivated in every game but hopefully not over-motivated, we have bad example from last championship in Bratislava when our star players totally failed and didn't make QF.
But still I would not say that the group in Kosice is easier than in Bratislava. Finland won against Czech and Russia with almost all stars at last tournament, USA will have the best offensive together with Russia, Germany lead by Leon Draisaitl will be strong, their physical style of play never suited us. we played 2 preparation games against them and could not create anything.
Canadians with maybe less famous players will be very motivated to achieve some success.
The only team I see weaker is Great Britain but we will see on the championship how the things turn out. Very important will be mental site..

 

[TheGoldenJet]

I'm looking at this lineup and I'm a little weirded out by bronze medal comments here.

Offensively your lineup is on par with the Latvian one. You have worse goaltending and better D. Making the play-offs would be a nice achievement by my book.

No offense intended, just a 3rd party opinion.

I feel Slovakia is stronger at forward and at defence than Latvia. Goaltending is a position that blows hot and cold, great goalies can play average games and complete unknowns can catch a hot streak, and that advantage quickly disappears.

 

[flemo]

You have worse goaltending

Who will be in net for Latvia?

 

[stastny12]

Truly confident with this team.

NHL defence with Rybar in the net is totally different level. In offense, we have mostly a fast, young players, so tactics which will include counter-attacks, could be worth to try. On the other hand, experienced guys like a Tatar, Panik and Nagy can bring peace on our sticks. No need to worry about coaching, as well.

Definitely tremendous chance to get 3rd position in the group. Maybe, there would be chance to deliver some upset with USA or Canada.

 

[stastny12]

Who will be in net for Latvia?

Edgars Masalskis

 

[kudla]

Ofcourse bronze medal is a scifi scenario. Our medal would be reaching the QFs. We have a new young team forming and it needs time.

 

[Namejs]

I feel Slovakia is stronger at forward and at defence than Latvia. Goaltending is a position that blows hot and cold, great goalies can play average games and complete unknowns can catch a hot streak, and that advantage quickly disappears.

It's great that you feel things, but if we collect and gather all the data regarding productivity of the top 12 Latvian and the top 12 Slovakian forwards using their 2018/19 PPG numbers and then convert them to NHL point equivalency, this is what you get:
1st line Latvia 0.46 NHLe vs. 0.48 NHLe 1st line Slovakia
2nd line Latvia 0.32 NHLe vs. 0.27 NHLe 2nd line Slovakia
3nd line Latvia 0.35 NHLe vs. 0.22 NHLe 3rd line Slovakia

The Latvian 4th line is roughly the same as yours, except for 0.63 PPG Bondra. I have no idea what's he doing in this lineup at all, Latvian B/C team forwards have managed to get 0.50 PPG in Slovakia.

Basically, it turns out we're actually a little better offensively, we have a significantly deeper bottom 6.

I also noticed a very strong selection bias in favor of some players based in your domestic league. There's a guy on your 2nd or 3rd line wing who was a Swedish 3rd division player last season and didn't manage to record any points in Allsvenskan. This season he's been productive in Slovakia, but since the level of your league has dropped so much, you might have a player selection problem with your GM still living in the past.

As for goalies, there's this thing called statistical variance. The expected SVS% doesn't change game by game. A better goalie is a better goalie.