History of ice hockey in Slovakia
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In 1908, the International Ice Hockey Federation, an international organization that still runs most of the international hockey tournaments today, was established. In Slovakia (as a part of former Czechoslovakia), Canadian-styled ice hockey was popularized[clarification needed] during the European Championships in High Tatras in 1925.
In 1929 the first official tournament took place in Slovakia. The Tatra Cup is the second oldest tournament in Europe, after the Spengler Cup in Switzerland. The first organization of Slovak ice hockey was established under the name of Slovenská župa kanadského ľadového hokeja as a part of the Slovak Ice Hockey Federation in what was then Czechoslovakia.
The first organized competition was held in 1930.
Throughout the course of ice hockey history in Czechoslovakia, many Slovak players became eligible to play for the Czechoslovakian national team. Among those who were able achieve this was Ladislav Troják; A native of Košice who left for Prague to play for the LTC Praha – at those times considered to be the best[who?] ice hockey team in the country—in 1934. From there he was only a step away from playing for the national team.
Czechoslovakia and its successor states are rated as being among the leading nations on the international scene, thanks to their triumphs in the Winter Olympic Games and the World Championships.
However, the Slovak national team had to face a difficult challenge in 1993 after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. According to the IIHF regulations it had to compete with countries with little or no ice hockey tradition at all to prove being worthy to compete at the highest level. Within only a few years of independent existence as a young nation it would mark its biggest triumph ever by winning the world championships in Sweden in 2002.
[edit] Notable people
- Matej Buckna, a Canadian coach of Slovak origin, who helped to develop ice hockey in Czechoslovakia.
- Ján Starší, a coach and team manager from an older generation.
[edit] Noted hockey players
- Jozef Golonka
- Peter Bondra
- Zdeno Chára
- Pavol Demitra
- Marián Gáborík
- Jaroslav Halák
- Michal Handzuš
- Marcel Hossa
- Marián Hossa
- Vincent Lukáč
- Vladimír Dzurilla
- Stan Mikita
- Igor Liba
- Žigmund Pálffy
- Branko Radivojevič
- Miroslav Šatan
- Anton Šťastný
- Marián Šťastný
- Peter Šťastný
- Jozef Stümpel
- Marek Svatoš
- Róbert Švehla
- Ľubomír Višňovský
- Richard Zedník
