Was Slovakia ever a powerhouse in international hockey?

[Eye of Ra]

Often you see people mention "big 6" referring to USA, Canada, Finland, Russia, Czechia, Sweden.

But where not Slovakia a powerhouse from the 90s until around 2012? In my book they where when they had these players during this times such as:

Stumpel
Palffy
Satan
Hossa
Nagy
Demitra
Bondra
Gaborik
Handzus
Orsazgh
Zednik
Bartecko
Svatos
Chara
Svehla
Sekera
Visnovsky
Suchy
Sekeras
Meszaros
Budaj
Halak

Etc.

Hell i would put Slovakia over Finland from 90s to 2012. If comparing rosters.

Click to read more...

 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Yes, pretty sure it was called big seven back then.

 

[Albatros]

If looking at rosters, at the '96 WCoH the Slovak goaltenders were Jaromír Dragan, Roman Mega, and Igor Murín. In defense Jerguš Bača, Matej Bukna, Ivan Droppa, Stanislav Jasečko, Stanislav Medřík, Ľubomír Sekeráš, Marián Smerčiak, Róbert Švehla, Ján Varholík, and Ľubomír Višňovský. Only Švehla was an NHL player at the time.

That was nothing like a powerhouse team despite some excellent offensive players.

 

[Lartsaman]

Not a powerhouse but a good hockey country(and still is now). One of the best during 2000-2005 era.

 

[Czechboy]

They were a powerhouse for a short while for sure. They had some of the best goal scorers in the world and always had very good D. Some good goalies too.

Hoping they come back to be regular medal contenders again!

 

[MrazeksVengeance]

They are still powerhouse in my heart.
Unless we play them.

Sincerely Czech engaged to a Slovak.

 

[Czechboy]

If looking at rosters, at the '96 WCoH the Slovak goaltenders were Jaromír Dragan, Roman Mega, and Igor Murín. In defense Jerguš Bača, Matej Bukna, Ivan Droppa, Stanislav Jasečko, Stanislav Medřík, Ľubomír Sekeráš, Marián Smerčiak, Róbert Švehla, Ján Varholík, and Ľubomír Višňovský. Only Švehla was an NHL player at the time.

That was nothing like a powerhouse team despite some excellent offensive players.

What about some of those world championship teams after 1996? Or the 1998 Olympic team? 2002?

 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

They are still powerhouse in my heart.
Unless we play them.

Sincerely Czech engaged to a Slovak.

They were a serious threat this year.

 

[93LEAFS]

I mean, when they were Czechoslovakia. They've had some talented teams, but the big 6 generally refers to teams viewed as legitimate threats to win Gold. All these teams but Finland have won best on best tournys.

 

[Antiillafire]

A team that could beat one of the big nations? Yes. Powerhouse? No.

 

[Faterson]

Sure it was... during Czechoslovakia.

While Slovaks were always heavily outnumbered by Czechs on the national teams (unjustifiably so), there were several Slovak Hall of Famer-equivalent players on them. The forward Golonka, the goalie Dzurilla, the Šťastný brothers, and the captain of the final Czecho-Slovak team to win gold at the World Championships in 1985 was Slovak, too (Rusnák).

They are still powerhouse in my heart.
Unless we play them.

Sincerely Czech engaged to a Slovak.

You sure you ain't confusing Slovak hockey players with your spouse-to-be?

 

[Elvs]

I don't know about powerhouse, but like someone mentioned already, it used to be called "The big seven" and Slovakia was part of that group.

 

[Mickey Marner]

I wouldn't call them a powerhouse, but they were a formidable opponent in the early 2000's.

2000 World Championship Silver
2002 World Championship Gold
2003 World Championship Brozne
2004 World Championship 4th

Was their best run.

They were also screwed over when Czechoslovakia broke up. Czechia kept the international ranking and Slovakia had to work their way up to the top division. For example, they failed to qualify for the 2002 Olympics because they were still required to participate in the preliminary round, which started before the NHL season took an Olympic break. So they were missing guys like Hossa, Satan and Demitra for some of the games.

 

[Albatros]

Slovaks were always heavily outnumbered by Czechs on the national teams (unjustifiably so)

Sometimes unjustifiably, perhaps, but typically there were only 2-3 Slovak teams in the Czechoslovak league of which rarely more than one was any good.

 

[JackSlater]

No, but Slovakia was a legitimate threat that was good enough to beat any other team without it being a total fluke.

 

[MrazeksVengeance]

Sure it was... during Czechoslovakia.

While Slovaks were always heavily outnumbered by Czechs on the national teams (unjustifiably so), there were several Slovak Hall of Famer-equivalent players on them. The forward Golonka, the goalie Dzurilla, the Šťastný brothers, and the captain of the final Czecho-Slovak team to win gold at the World Championships in 1985 was Slovak, too (Rusnák).



You sure you ain't confusing Slovak hockey players with your spouse-to-be?

She’s far more formidable then SVK NT that’s for sure,

 

[Faterson]

Sometimes unjustifiably, perhaps, but typically there were only 2-3 Slovak teams in the Czechoslovak league of which rarely more than one was any good.

Team and players are different. Czech Rep and Slovakia should have always had their own national squads, like England and Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland have their own national football teams without the need to break up the country.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Powerhouse is overstating it I think, but for a for a brief time it was referred to as a Big 7 instead of a Big 6 (or now, Big 5). The generation with Chara/Hossa/Gaborik was quite strong, they took 4th at the 2010 Winter Olympics after knocking off Sweden in the quarterfinals (it was an upset but not a huge shocker) and then playing Canada to a 3-2 game in the semifinals (shots were 28-21 so it wasn't like Jaroslav Halak was totally standing on his head).

The issue for Czech Republic and Slovakia both is that their development really fell off once the communist regime collapsed. Difference between massive state funding and push to bring glory to the country versus leftover remnants being privately funded in a very expensive sport in countries that as a whole are quite a bit poorer than say, Sweden and Finland.

Based on percentage of total Games Played, Slovakians peaked in terms of NHL participation in 2002-03 at 3.9 %. Not unsurprisingly, this was also when they had their best run of performances in the IIHF World Championships. It may be surprising for some to know that they used to have around the same number of NHL games played as Finland. But in 2021-22, Finns made up 5.3 % of total Games Played, while Slovakians made up just 0.8 % and are now firmly behind Switzerland and about equal with Germany.

I think it was Erik Cernak who was talking about how his family was very working class and couldn't afford nice hockey skates and stuff like that. Think of how many people come from similar backgrounds there. It makes those guys a massive longshot to ever play in the NHL.

 

[member 305909]

Slovakia won all their five group-games in the 2006 Olympics before being knocked out in the QFs.

Finns have to this day insisted that Sweden lost deliberately to Slovakia in order to get an easier opponent. No chance that Slovakia was better.

I would like to hear the locker room-talk before a game which a team is going to lose deliberately. "OK, guys, let's lose this game! Do you understand?"

 

[WarriorofTime]

Slovakia won all their five group-games in the 2006 Olympics before being knocked out in the QFs.

Finns have to this day insisted that Sweden lost deliberately to Slovakia in order to get an easier opponent. No chance that Slovakia was better.

I would like to hear the locker room-talk before a game which a team is going to lose deliberately. "OK, guys, let's lose this game! Do you understand?"

They definitely threw the game, their coach implied as much before the game. They had a 5 on 3 sequence at one point where they just passed the puck around the entire time. No disrespect to Slovakia who were a strong side. It's possible they could have won anyways, but Sweden was trying to avoid Canada and get an easier matchup with the Swiss for the Quarterfinals. It happens somewhat frequently in international Football, so it's not an alien concept to European players.

 

[Czechboy]

Slovakia won all their five group-games in the 2006 Olympics before being knocked out in the QFs.

Finns have to this day insisted that Sweden lost deliberately to Slovakia in order to get an easier opponent. No chance that Slovakia was better.

I would like to hear the locker room-talk before a game which a team is going to lose deliberately. "OK, guys, let's lose this game! Do you understand?"

Pretty sure this happened at the world's this year. And yes, I'd love to hear the speech before the game... 1st line dump it in. 4th line... Try and score and don't backcheck. D ... Pass it up the middle. Goalie... Keep five hole open.lol

 

[Czechboy]

Powerhouse is overstating it I think, but for a for a brief time it was referred to as a Big 7 instead of a Big 6 (or now, Big 5). The generation with Chara/Hossa/Gaborik was quite strong, they took 4th at the 2010 Winter Olympics after knocking off Sweden in the quarterfinals (it was an upset but not a huge shocker) and then playing Canada to a 3-2 game in the semifinals (shots were 28-21 so it wasn't like Jaroslav Halak was totally standing on his head).

The issue for Czech Republic and Slovakia both is that their development really fell off once the communist regime collapsed. Difference between massive state funding and push to bring glory to the country versus leftover remnants being privately funded in a very expensive sport in countries that as a whole are quite a bit poorer than say, Sweden and Finland.

Based on percentage of total Games Played, Slovakians peaked in terms of NHL participation in 2002-03 at 3.9 %. Not unsurprisingly, this was also when they had their best run of performances in the IIHF World Championships. It may be surprising for some to know that they used to have around the same number of NHL games played as Finland. But in 2021-22, Finns made up 5.3 % of total Games Played, while Slovakians made up just 0.8 % and are now firmly behind Switzerland and about equal with Germany.

I think it was Erik Cernak who was talking about how his family was very working class and couldn't afford nice hockey skates and stuff like that. Think of how many people come from similar backgrounds there. It makes those guys a massive longshot to ever play in the NHL.

It's a bit forgotten but around 2010 or so both the Finn's and czechs were on a big medal draught at world Juniors. Neither had medalled since 2005 (not googling so numbers may be off). ... Then Finn's won a world Juniors and another and they just took off. Czechs still haven't got that medal.lol. Now Finn's have a much deeper NHL crew, gold's everywhere.

My point? Whatever Finland did from 2005 to whenever they broke their draught... The Czechs did the opposite of that.lol

 

[WarriorofTime]

It's a bit forgotten but around 2010 or so both the Finn's and czechs were on a big medal draught at world Juniors. Neither had medalled since 2005 (not googling so numbers may be off). ... Then Finn's won a world Juniors and another and they just took off. Czechs still haven't got that medal.lol. Now Finn's have a much deeper NHL crew, gold's everywhere.

My point? Whatever Finland did from 2005 to whenever they broke their draught... The Czechs did the opposite of that.lol

Yes, Finland and the former Eastern Bloc have really gone in opposite directions in the past 20 years. Finland is a small country but their development is quite strong.

 

[Czechboy]

Yes, Finland and the former Eastern Bloc have really gone in opposite directions in the past 20 years. Finland is a small country but their development is quite strong.

I would say spectacular. How do 5 million people do all this... Big fan.

 

[WarriorofTime]

I would say spectacular. How do 5 million people do all this... Big fan.

I'd be curious how much population just the GTHL (Greater Toronto Hockey League) Minor Association teams draw from, and what the number of future NHL players from there look like to see how it compares. Of course that's not a 1 for 1, as players aren't really geographically restricted in terms of where they play Minor Hockey, a kid's family can live a little bit outside the "area" where they'd be closer to teams in a different league, but they still play for a team that participates in the GTHL since it was a reputation as the "best"