Slovakia men's national ice hockey team

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The Slovak men's national ice hockey team used to be one of the major ice hockey powers in the world. The team is currently ranked 9th in the IIHF World Ranking. The team is operated by the Slovak Ice Hockey Federation. Slovak best years were the early 2000s when they won one gold, one silver and one bronze medal at the World Championships. Since 2008, level of their performance went rapidly down. Their last successes were the 4th place at the 2010 Olympics and one more silver medal at 2012 World Championship. Last time they made it into the play-offs was 2013. 
Slovakia has a total of 11,394 hockey players (0.21 % of its population). 
The very first Slovak national ice hockey team was formed during the WWII when the Czechoslovakia was broken into the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and Slovakia. But with the end of the WWII, the Czechoslovakia reunited again and the Slovak national team was dissolved. The current Slovak national team was formed following the breakup of Czechoslovakia on January 1, 1993, as the country was split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. For years, the Czechs kept control over how the national team was run, and even had quotas instituted to ensure a minimal participation of Slovak players on the Czechoslovakian national team. While the Czechs were allowed to compete at the highest pool (A), the IIHF ruled that because fewer players of the former Czechoslovak team were Slovaks, Slovakia had to start international play in pool C. However, in 1996 they were back in the pool A. 
In the 2002 Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, the Slovak team was unable to use its NHL players in the preliminary round due to a scheduling conflict. This effected all of the smaller countries, but devastated the Slovak team as most of their players were coming from NHL teams. The NHL had decided to only allow their players to participate in the final medal round, and thus Slovakia failed to qualify finishing a disappointing 13th. This turn of events was troubling to the entire hockey community, and the rules were changed for the 2006 Winter games in Torino. 
==Olympic Record==
* 1920-1992 - Did not participate
* 1994 - Finished in 6th place
* 1998 - Finished in 10th place
* 2002 - Finished in 13th place
* 2006 - Finished in 5th place
* 2010 - Finished in 4th place
* 2014 - Finished in 11th place
* 2018 - Finsihed in 11th place
==World Cup of Hockey Record==
*1996 - Did qualify
*2004 - Lost quarter-finals
*2016 - Did not participate (Slovak players participated as a part of Team Europe)
==World Championship Record==
*1920-1993 - Did not participate
*1994 - Finished in 21st place (1st in "Pool C")
*1995 - Finished in 13th place (1st in "Pool B")
*1996 - Finished in 10th place
*1997 - Finished in 9th place
*1998 - Finished in 7th place
*1999 - Finished in 7th place
*2000 - 
*2001 - Finished in 7th place
*2002 - 
*2003 - 
*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
*2010 - Finished in 12th place
*2011 - Finished in 10th place
*2012 - 
*2013 - Finished in 8th place
*2014 - Finished in 9th place
*2015 - Finished in 9th place
*2016 - Finished in 9th place
*2017 - Finished in 14th place
*2018 - Finished in 9th place
*2019 - Finished in 9th place
*2020 - canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic
== Retired Numbers ==
* #38 Pavol Demitra
== Actual Roster ==
Position	Number	Name 	Born 	Height 	Weight 	Shoots/Catches
G 	#33 	Július Hudáček 	August 9, 1988 	6ft 1in (186cm) 	187lb (85kg)	R
G 	#42 	Branislav Konrád 	October 10, 1987 	6ft 2in (188cm) 	192lb (87kg)	R
G 	#30 	Matej Tomek 	May 24, 1997 	6ft 3in (191cm) 	181lb (82kg)	L
D 	#25 	Martin Bučko 	May 13, 2000 	6ft 3in (190cm) 	190lb (86kg)	R
D 	#71 	Marek Ďaloga 	March 10, 1989 	6ft 4in (194cm) 	190lb (86kg)	L
D 	#48 	Daniel Gachulinec 	February 16, 1994	5ft 10in (177cm)	163lb (74kg)	R
D 	#28 	Martin Gernát 	April 11, 1993 	6ft 4in (193cm) 	203lb (92kg)	L
D 	#7 	Mário Grman 	April 11, 1997 	6ft 1in (185cm) 	196lb (89kg)	R
D 	#3 	Adam Jánošík 	September 7, 1992	5ft 11in (180cm)	187lb (85kg)	L
D 	#22 	Samuel Kňažko 	August 7, 2002 	6ft 1in (185cm) 	190lb (86kg)	L
D 	#64 	Patrik Koch 	December 8, 1996 	6ft 1in (186cm) 	190lb (86kg)	L
D 	#15 	Šimon Nemec 	February 15, 2004	6ft 1in (185cm) 	192lb (87kg)	R
D 	#44 	Mislav Rodandič 	January 26, 1995 	5ft 11in (181cm)	176lb (80kg)	L
F 	#17 	Dávid Buc 	January 22, 1987 	6ft 2in (187cm) 	207lb (94kg)	L
F 	#34 	Peter Cehlárik 	August 2, 1995 	6ft 2in (188cm) 	201lb (91kg)	L
F 	#77 	Martin Faško-Rudáš	August 10, 2000 	6ft 0in (184cm) 	172lb (78kg)	R
F 	#8 	Daniil Fominykh 	March 12, 1998 	6ft 1in (185cm) 	165lb (75kg)	R
F 	#89 	Adrián Holešinský 	February 11, 1996	6ft 0in (182cm) 	190lb (86kg)	L
F 	#61 	Patrik Hrehorčák 	March 18, 1999 	5ft 9in (175cm) 	172lb (78kg)	L
F 	#29 	Marek Hrivík 	August 28, 1991 	6ft 2in (188cm) 	196lb (89kg)	L
F 	#27 	Andrej Kollár 	November 4, 1999 	6ft 2in (187cm) 	190lb (86kg)	R
F 	#13 	Michal Krištof 	October 11, 1993 	5ft 9in (176cm) 	159lb (72kg)	L
F 	#23 	Adam Liška 	October 14, 1999 	5ft 11in (181cm)	183lb (83kg)	L
F 	#87 	Pavol Regenda 	December 7, 1999 	6ft 4in (192cm) 	205lb (93kg)	L
F 	#40 	Miloš Roman 	November 6, 1999 	6ft 0in (182cm) 	187lb (85kg)	L
F 	#60 	Juraj Slafkovský 	March 30, 2004 	6ft 4in (192cm) 	218lb (99kg)	L
F 	#19 	Matúš Sukeľ 	January 23, 1996 	5ft 9in (176cm) 	172lb (78kg)	L
== Team Staff ==
Role 	Name 	Born
General manager 	Miroslav Šatan 	October 22, 1974
Team manager 	Zuzana Chrenková 	
Head coach 	Craig Ramsay 	March 17, 1951
Assistant coach 	Michal Handzuš 	March 11, 1977
Asisstant coach 	Róbert Petrovický	October 26, 1973
Goalie coach 	Ján Lašák 	April 10, 1979
Conditioning coach	Róbert Bereš 	December 16, 1973
Videoanalyst 	Igor Andrejkovič 	May 14, 1980
Physiotherapist 	Andrej Foltýn 	
Doctor 	Ján Grauzel 	
Doctor 	František Okál 	
Doctor 	Milan Petro 	
Equipment manager 	Ľuboš Ondrejka 	May 11, 1977
Equipment manager 	Marek Jenčík 	
Equipment manager 	Juraj Stopka 	September 18, 1986
Category:Ice hockey in Slovakia
Category:National teams