Slovakia men's national ice hockey team

The **Slovak men's national ice hockey team** is one of the best national ice hockey teams in the world.  As of 2008, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), the world governing body of ice hockey, ranks them as the eighth best national team. The team is operated by the Slovak Ice Hockey Federation under general manager Peter Bondra, and head coach Ján Filc. In the last six years, Slovakia has won three medals at the World Championships, including a gold medal in 2002. Slovakia has a total of 12,375 hockey players (0.23% of the population).

## History

The Slovak national team was created after Czechoslovakia was split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. For years, the Czechs kept control over how the Czechoslovakian national team was run, and limited how many Slovak players were on the team. When the country became two, the Czech Republic team was allowed to compete at the highest pool (A), and the IIHF ruled that because fewer players of the former Czechoslovak team were Slovaks, Slovakia have to start international play in pool C, the lowest group. However, Slovakia's play in the lower pools won it promotion to pool A by 1996.

## Olympic record

- 1994 - Finished in 6th place
- 1998 - Finished in 10th place
- 2002 - Finished in 13th place
- 2006 - Finished in 5th place (see roster)
- 2010 - Finished in 4th place

## World Cup record

- 1996 - Did not qualify
- 2004 - Lost in quarter-finals

## World Championship record

- 1994 - Finished in 21st place (winner of the "Pool C")
- 1995 - Finished in 13th place (winner of the "Pool B")
- 1996 - Finished in 10th place
- 1997 - Finished in 9th place
- 1998 - Finished in 7th place
- 1999 - Finished in 7th place
- 2000 - Won silver medal
- 2001 - Finished in 7th place
- 2002 - **Won gold medal**
- 2003 - Won bronze medal
- 2004 - Finished in 4th place
- 2005 - Finished in 5th place
- 2006 - Finished in 8th place
- 2007 - Finished in 6th place
- 2008 - Finished in 13th place
- 2009 - Finished in 10th place

## World Championship 2009 Roster

|colspan=6 style="text-align:center; font-size: 1.2em;"|Goaltenders||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|align=left!!width=15%|**Player**||||
|align=center|**25**|Ján Lašák|April 10, 1979|Moeller Pardubice|
|align=center|**31**|Rastislav Staňa|January 10, 1980|Severstal Cherepovets|
|align=center|**41**|Jaroslav Halák|May 13, 1985|Montreal Canadiens|

|colspan=6 style="text-align:center; font-size: 1.2em;"|Defensemen||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|style="text-align:left"!!width=15%|**Player**||||
|style="text-align:=center"|**6**|Peter Smrek|February 16, 1979|Lasselsberger Plzeň|
|style="text-align:center"|**7**|Ivan Baranka|May 19, 1985|Spartak Moscow|
|style="text-align:center"|**12**|Ivan Švarný|October 31, 1984|Litvínov|
|style="text-align:center"|**15**|Dominik Graňák|June 11, 1983|Färjestad|
|style="text-align:center"|**29**|René Vydarený|May 6, 1981|České Budějovice|
|style="text-align:center"|**43**|Jaroslav Obšut|September 3, 1976|Luleå|
|style="text-align:center"|**44**|Andrej Sekera|June 8, 1986|Buffalo Sabres|
|style="text-align:center"|**48**|Boris Valábik|February 14, 1986|Atlanta Thrashers|

|colspan=6 style="text-align:center; font-size: 1.2em;"|Forwards||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|style="text-align:left"!!width=15%|**Player**||||
|style="text-align:center"|**4**|Jiří Bicek|December 3, 1978|EHC Biel|
|style="text-align:center"|**10**|Milan Bartovič|April 9, 1981|Bílí Tygři Liberec|
|style="text-align:center"|**14**|Štefan Ružička|February 17, 1985|Spartak Moscow|
|style="text-align:center"|**17**|Michal Macho|January 17, 1982|MHC Martin|
|style="text-align:center"|**19**|Rastislav Pavlikovský|March 2, 1977|Sibir Novosibirsk|
|style="text-align:center"|**20**|Juraj Štefanka|January 28, 1976|Vítkovice|
|align=center|**23**|Ľuboš Bartečko **(C)**|July 14, 1976|Luleå|
|style="text-align:center"|**26**|Michal Handzuš **(A)**|March 11, 1977|Los Angeles Kings|
|style="text-align:center"|**27**|Ladislav Nagy **(A)**|June 1, 1979|Severstal Cherepovets|
|style="text-align:center"|**28**|Peter Ölvecký|May 20, 1985|Minnesota Wild|
|style="text-align:center"|**34**|Tomáš Surový|September 24, 1981|Linköping|
|style="text-align:center"|**71**|Juraj Mikúš|February 22, 1987|36 Skalica|
|style="text-align:center"|**81**|Marcel Hossa|October 21, 1981|Dinamo Riga|
|style="text-align:center"|**92**|Branko Radivojevič|November 24, 1980|Spartak Moscow|

## 2002 Gold Medallists

**Goalies**:
Ján Lašák,
Rastislav Staňa,
Miroslav Šimonovič.

**Defensemen**:
Jerguš Bača,
Ladislav Čierny,
Radoslav Hecl,
Richard Lintner,
Dušan Milo,
Peter Smrek,
Martin Štrbák,
Ľubomír Višňovský.

**Forwards**:
Ľuboš Bartečko,
Peter Bondra,
Michal Handzuš,
Miroslav Hlinka,
Ladislav Nagy,
Vladimír Országh,
Žigmund Pálffy,
Rastislav Pavlikovský,
Róbert Petrovický,
Peter Pucher,
Radovan Somík,
Jozef Stümpel,
Miroslav Šatan,
Róbert Tomík,
Marek Uram.

## References

- http://www.nhl.com/olympics/2006/slovakia_oly_roster.html - from the National Hockey League
- http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/olympics/2002/slovakia_roster  - from Sports Illustrated
- http://www.iihf.com/news/Ranking2007_men.pdf - from International Ice Hockey Federation