Slovakia men's national ice hockey team

Slovakia

Nickname(s)	Repre, Chlapci (Boys), Naši chlapci (Our Boys)
Association	Slovak Ice Hockey Federation
General manager	Miroslav Šatan
Head coach	Craig Ramsay
Assistants	Michal Handzuš Ján Lašák Róbert Petrovický
Captain	Andrej Sekera
Most games	Dominik Graňák (184)1
Top scorer	Miroslav Šatan (85)1
Most points	Miroslav Šatan (162)1
Home stadium	Zimný Štadión Ondreja Nepely
Team colors
IIHF code	SVK
Ranking
Current IIHF	9 (27 May 2024)
Highest IIHF	3 (2004)
Lowest IIHF	11 (2017)
First international
Slovakia 0–12 Bohemia (Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany; 1 February 1940)2
Biggest win
Slovakia 20–0 Bulgaria (Poprad, Slovakia; 18 March 1994)2
Biggest defeat
Slovakia 0–12 Bohemia (Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany; 1 February 1940)2
Olympics
Appearances	6 (first in 1994)
Medals	4th (2010)
IIHF World Championships
Appearances	26 (first in 1994)
Best result	Gold: (2002)
International record (W–L–T)
334–282–49

Medal record
World Championships
	2002 Sweden
	2000 Russia
	2012 Finland/Sweden
	2003 Finland
Winter Universiade
	1999 Poprad Tatry
	2003 Tarvisio
	2019 Krasnoyarsk	Team
	1993 Zakopane
	2009 Harbin

The Slovak men's national ice hockey team is the national ice hockey team of Slovakia and is controlled by the Slovak Ice Hockey Federation. It is one of the most successful national ice hockey teams in the world. The team's general manager is Miroslav Šatan and their head coach is Craig Ramsay.

Slovakia has won four medals at the World Championships, including a gold medal in 2002 in Sweden. In the Winter Olympic Games, Slovakia's highest achievement is fourth place in Vancouver 2010. In the tournament they won against favourites Russia and Sweden, and lost against Canada in the semi-finals and against Finland in the bronze medal game.

History

The Slovak national team was formed following the breakup of Czechoslovakia, as the country was split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. 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 would be required to start international play in Pool C. However, Slovakia's play in the lower pools won it promotion to pool A by 1996. See also Post-Cold War period of the IIHF world championships.

Slovakia's first appearance in an elite ice hockey competition was at 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer. With a lineup led by star Peter Šťastný, the Slovaks finished first in their group with three wins and two ties before losing to Russia in overtime in the quarterfinals. In the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano and the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, the Slovak team was unable to use its National Hockey League (NHL) players in the preliminary round due to a scheduling conflict. This affected all of the smaller countries, but devastated the Slovaks as most of their best players were from NHL teams. The NHL only shut down its schedule in time for the second group stage, and thus Slovakia failed to qualify among the final eight teams both times. This turn of events was troubling to the entire hockey community, and the rules were changed for the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Turin, Italy.

Slovak national team members and notable players have included Hockey Hall of Fame inductee Marián Hossa, Marián Gáborík, Marcel Hossa; Miroslav Šatan; goaltender Jaroslav Halák and the tallest player in NHL history, Zdeno Chára. In the late 1990s, the St. Louis Blues placed Ľuboš Bartečko, Michal Handzuš, and Pavol Demitra on the same line. This trio became known as the "Slovak Pack," and were able to communicate in their native language without the opposition knowing what they were saying, unless, of course, they also understood Slovak.

Following the successful years for the Slovaks in the early 2000s at the World Championship, when they won the silver in St. Petersburg at the 2000 edition after a loss to the Czechs, winning the (so far) only title in Goteburg at the 2002 edition and securing bronze in Helsinki (2003), the results of Slovakia worsened and Slovakia began to drop out in the quarterfinals. The closest Slovakia came to relegation into Division I was in 2008, when they avoided relegation only thanks to two victories over Slovenia in the Relegation Round. Following was a series of three subsequent eliminations in the Qualifying Round (Round of 12), including one at a 2011 edition Slovakia hosted in Bratislava and Košice for the first time, since the dissolution of Czechoslovakia.

Largely unexpected, however, was Slovakia's silver medal at the 2012 edition, again won in Helsinki. This was the first tournament after the introduction of the new two group format, followed by the quarterfinals. Due to the surprise this medal was after number of unsuccessful tournaments, it was by many regarded as with a value of a triumphal gold. In the following years however, Slovakia again failed to repeat medal successes and even failed to qualify to the quarterfinals, with the exception of 2013.

Tournament record

Olympic Games

Games	GP	W	OW	T	OL	L	GF	GA	Coach	Captain	Roster	Finish
1920–1992	Part of Czechoslovakia
1994 Lillehammer	8	4	0	2	1	1	35	29	Július Šupler	Peter Šťastný		6th
1998 Nagano	4	1	0	1	0	1	11	13	Ján Šterbák	Zdeno Cíger		10th
2002 Salt Lake City	4	1	0	2	0	1	15	13	Ján Filc	Miroslav Šatan		13th
2006 Turin	6	5	0	0	0	1	19	11	František Hossa	Pavol Demitra	roster	5th
2010 Vancouver	7	3	1	–	0	3	22	18	Ján Filc	Zdeno Chára	roster	4th
2014 Sochi	4	0	0	–	1	3	5	16	Vladimír Vůjtek	Zdeno Chára	roster	11th
2018 Pyeongchang	4	1	0	–	1	2	7	12	Craig Ramsay	Tomáš Surový	roster	11th

World Championship

Lower divisions

Division	Championship	GP	W	OW	T	OL	L	GF	GA	Coach	Captain	Finish	Rank
C1	1994 Poprad, Spišská Nová Ves	6	4	–	2	–	0	43	3	Július Šupler	Oto Haščák	Winner, Promoted	1st
B	1995 Bratislava	7	7	–	0	–	0	60	15	Július Šupler	Peter Šťastný	Winner, Promoted	1st

Top division

Championship	GP	W	OTW	T	OTL	L	GF	GA	Coach	Captain	Finish	Rank
1920–1992	As part of Czechoslovakia
1996 Vienna	5	1	–	1	–	3	13	16	Július Šupler	Oto Haščák	Group Round	10th
1997 Helsinki, Tampere, Turku	8	3	–	1	–	4	20	23	Jozef Golonka	Zdeno Cíger	Consolation Round	9th
1998 Basel, Zürich	6	2	–	2	–	2	11	12	Ján Šterbák	Zdeno Cíger	Second round	7th
1999 Oslo, Hamar, Lillehammer	6	2	–	1	–	3	22	21	Ján Šterbák	Zdeno Cíger	Second round	7th
2000 St. Petersburg	9	5	0	1	0	3	34	22	Ján Filc	Miroslav Šatan	Final
2001 Nuremberg, Cologne, Hanover	7	3	0	0	0	4	20	18	Ján Filc	Zdeno Chára	Quarter-finals	7th
2002 Gothenburg, Karlstad, Jönköping	9	7	1	0	0	1	37	22	Ján Filc	Miroslav Šatan	Champions
2003 Helsinki, Tampere, Turku	9	7	0	1	0	1	45	17	František Hossa	Miroslav Šatan	3rd Place Game
2004 Prague, Ostrava	9	5	0	2	1	1	24	9	František Hossa	Miroslav Šatan	3rd Place Game	4th
2005 Vienna, Innsbruck	7	4	0	1	0	2	19	17	František Hossa	Miroslav Šatan	Quarter-finals	5th
2006 Riga	7	3	0	1	0	3	26	14	František Hossa	Marián Hossa	Quarter-finals	8th
2007 Moscow	7	4	0	–	0	3	24	23	Július Šupler	Miroslav Šatan	Quarter-finals	6th
2008 Quebec City, Halifax	5	2	1	–	0	2	18	12	Július Šupler	Róbert Petrovický	Relegation Round	13th
2009 Bern, Kloten	6	1	1	–	2	2	12	24	Ján Filc	Ľuboš Bartečko	Second round	10th
2010 Cologne, Mannheim, Gelsenkirchen	6	2	0	–	0	4	13	19	Glen Hanlon	Richard Lintner	Second round	12th
2011 Bratislava, Košice	6	2	0	–	0	4	16	15	Glen Hanlon	Pavol Demitra	Second round	10th
2012 Helsinki, Stockholm	10	7	0	–	0	3	30	23	Vladimír Vůjtek	Zdeno Chára	Final
2013 Stockholm, Helsinki	8	3	0	–	1	4	22	20	Vladimír Vůjtek	Miroslav Šatan	Quarter-finals	8th
2014 Minsk	7	3	0	–	1	3	20	21	Vladimír Vůjtek	Miroslav Šatan	Group stage	9th
2015 Prague, Ostrava	7	1	2	–	2	2	17	19	Vladimír Vůjtek	Tomáš Kopecký	Group stage	9th
2016 Moscow, St. Petersburg	7	2	1	–	0	4	15	23	Zdeno Cíger	Andrej Sekera	Group stage	9th
2017 Cologne, Paris	7	0	1	–	2	4	12	28	Zdeno Cíger	Vladimír Dravecký	Group stage	14th
2018 Copenhagen, Herning	7	3	0	–	2	2	19	20	Craig Ramsay	Andrej Sekera	Group stage	9th
2019 Bratislava, Košice	7	3	1	–	0	3	28	19	Craig Ramsay	Andrej Sekera	Group Stage	9th
2020 Zürich, Lausanne	Cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic
2021 Minsk, Riga

World Cup

Year	GP	W	OW	T	OL	L	GF	GA	Coach	Captain	Finish	Rank
1996	3	0	–	0	–	3	9	19	Jozef Golonka		Round 1	7th
2004	4	0	0	0	0	4	4	18	Ján Filc		Quarter-finals	8th

At the 2016 edition, Slovakia was not represented. Instead 6 Slovak players were a part of Team Europe, which was led by Slovak general manager Miroslav Šatan.

Deutschland Cup

• Gold medal (1997, 2006, 2011, 2016)
• Silver medal (1994, 2001, 2017)
• Bronze medal (2000, 2004, 2005, 2012, 2014, 2018)

Former National jerseys

ZOH 1994	MS 1994	1995	1996–1997	1998–2000

2001–2004	SP 2004	2005	2006	2007–2008

2009–2013	2014–2017	ZOH 2018	2019–present

Team

Current roster

Roster for the 2019 IIHF World Championship.

Head coach: Craig Ramsay

No.	Pos.	Name	Height	Weight	Birthdate	Team
1	G	Marek Čiliak	1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)	90 kg (200 lb)	(1990-04-02) 2 April 1990	HC Kometa Brno
2	D	Andrej Sekera – C	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)	91 kg (201 lb)	(1986-06-08) 8 June 1986	Dallas Stars
6	D	Martin Fehérváry	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)	88 kg (194 lb)	(1999-10-06) 6 October 1999	Hershey Bears
12	F	Dávid Bondra	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)	86 kg (190 lb)	(1992-08-26) 26 August 1992	Kunlun Red Star
13	F	Michal Krištof	1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)	72 kg (159 lb)	(1993-10-11) 11 October 1993	Oulun Kärpät
14	F	Richard Pánik	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)	94 kg (207 lb)	(1991-02-07) 7 February 1991	Washington Capitals
16	F	Róbert Lantoši	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)	84 kg (185 lb)	(1995-09-24) 24 September 1995	Providence Bruins
17	F	Dávid Buc	1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)	94 kg (207 lb)	(1987-01-22) 22 January 1987	HC Slovan Bratislava
19	F	Matúš Sukeľ	1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)	78 kg (172 lb)	(1996-01-23) 23 January 1996	HC Sparta Prague
23	F	Adam Liška	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)	84 kg (185 lb)	(1999-10-14) 14 October 1999	Severstal Cherepovets
24	F	Tomáš Zigo	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)	87 kg (192 lb)	(1992-04-11) 11 April 1992	HC '05 Banská Bystrica
27	F	Ladislav Nagy – A	1.79 m (5 ft 10 in)	87 kg (192 lb)	(1979-06-01) 1 June 1979	HC Košice
28	F	Marian Studenič	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)	80 kg (180 lb)	(1998-10-28) 28 October 1998	Binghamton Devils
30	G	Denis Godla	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)	81 kg (179 lb)	(1995-04-04) 4 April 1995	HC Kladno
42	G	Patrik Rybár	1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)	86 kg (190 lb)	(1993-11-09) 9 November 1993	Oulun Kärpät
47	F	Mário Lunter	1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)	90 kg (200 lb)	(1994-06-20) 20 June 1994	HC '05 Banská Bystrica
52	D	Martin Marinčin	1.95 m (6 ft 5 in)	95 kg (209 lb)	(1992-02-18) 18 February 1992	Toronto Maple Leafs
56	F	Marko Daňo	1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)	96 kg (212 lb)	(1994-11-30) 30 November 1994	Columbus Blue Jackets
64	D	Patrik Koch	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)	86 kg (190 lb)	(1996-12-08) 8 December 1996	HC Košice
65	D	Michal Čajkovský	1.92 m (6 ft 4 in)	107 kg (236 lb)	(1992-05-06) 6 May 1992	HC Dynamo Moscow
71	D	Marek Ďaloga	1.94 m (6 ft 4 in)	86 kg (190 lb)	(1989-03-10) 10 March 1989	Mora IK
79	F	Libor Hudáček	1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)	80 kg (180 lb)	(1990-09-07) 7 September 1990	HC Bílí Tygři Liberec
81	D	Erik Černák	1.92 m (6 ft 4 in)	102 kg (225 lb)	(1997-05-28) 28 May 1997	Tampa Bay Lightning
83	D	Christián Jaroš	1.92 m (6 ft 4 in)	95 kg (209 lb)	(1996-04-02) 2 April 1996	Ottawa Senators
90	F	Tomáš Tatar – A	1.79 m (5 ft 10 in)	84 kg (185 lb)	(1990-10-01) 1 October 1990	Montreal Canadiens

2002 World Championship: Gold winning roster

Main article: 2002 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships

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 Miroslav Šatan Jozef Stümpel Rastislav Pavlikovský Róbert Petrovický Radovan Somík Róbert Tomík Marek Uram Peter Pucher

2012 World Championship

Main article: 2012 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships

Goalies Ján Laco Peter Hamerlík Július Hudáček Defensemen Michal Sersen Ivan Baranka Tomáš Starosta René Vydarený Zdeno Chára Andrej Sekera Dominik Graňák Kristián Kudroč

Forwards Miroslav Šatan Libor Hudáček Marek Hovorka Michal Handzuš Tomáš Surový Mário Bližňák Milan Bartovič Juraj Mikuš Marcel Hossa Tomáš Kopecký Marcel Haščák Tomáš Tatar Michel Miklík Branko Radivojevič

Player statistics

Source: [1] [2]

As of 12 May 2015

Players in bold are still active.

Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games Played; G = Goals; GPG = Goal per game;

Most caps

#	Player	GP	G
1.	Miroslav Šatan	183	86
2.	Martin Štrbák	162	13
3.	Ľubomír Sekeráš	152	29
4.	Dominik Graňák	150	8
5.	Peter Pucher	144	23
6.	Ľubomír Višňovský	141	18
7.	Tomáš Starosta	137	5
8.	Richard Kapuš	136	16
9.	Stanislav Jasečko	128	9
10.	Branko Radivojevič	124	21

Most goals

#	Player	GP	G	GPG
1.	Miroslav Šatan	183	86	.48
2.	Ľubomír Kolník	109	59	.54
3.	Jozef Daňo	117	45	.38
4.	Ján Pardavý	120	45	.38
5.	Vlastimil Plavucha	119	44	.37
6.	Marián Hossa	88	39	.44
7.	Žigmund Pálffy	74	37	.50
8.	Branislav Jánoš	117	37	.32
9.	Peter Bondra	47	35	.74
10.	Zdeno Cíger	108	34	.31

Head coaches

This table shows all Slovakia national team head coaches and their record at the IIHF World Championships, World Cup of Hockey and Winter Olympic Games. Data as of 13 April 2019

Source:

Name	Years	G	W	OW	T	OL	L	GF	GA	W%	PPG
Július Šupler	1993–1996	29	16	0	5	1	7	160	92	55.2	1.31
Jozef Golonka	1996–1997	8	3	0	1	0	4	20	23	37.5	0.88
Ján Šterbák	1997–1999	16	5	0	4	0	7	44	46	31.3	0.88
Ján Filc	1999–2002	29	16	1	3	0	9	106	75	58.6	1.24
František Hossa	2002–2006	38	24	0	5	1	8	133	68	63.2	1.39
Ján Filc	2004	4	0	0	0	0	4	4	18	.000	0.00
Július Šupler	2006–2008	12	5	1	–	0	6	42	35	50.0	1.42
Ján Filc	2008–2010	13	4	2	–	2	5	34	42	46.2	1.38
Glen Hanlon	2010–2011	12	4	0	–	0	8	29	34	33.3	1.00
Vladimír Vůjtek	2011–2015	36	14	2	–	5	15	94	99	44.4	1.42
Zdeno Cíger	2015–2017	14	2	2	–	2	8	27	51	28.6	0.86
Craig Ramsay	2017–	29	11	2	–	3	13	84	76	44.8	1.28

Team managers

Paul Loicq Award recipient Juraj Okoličány managed the team from 1993 to 1998.

Retired numbers

• 38 – Pavol Demitra The legend of the national team and a victim of the 2011 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash – retired from the national team at the Slovak-hosted World Championship that year.

All-time record

The following table shows Slovakia's international record from 1940 to 1945 and since 1993, correct as of 8 February 2020. Teams in italics are no longer actively competing.

Source:

Opponent	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	GF	GA	GD
Austria	36	28	2	6	144	59	+85
Belarus	35	21	1	13	99	70	+29
Template:Country data Bucharest Bucharest	1	1	0	0	2	0	+2
Bulgaria	1	1	0	0	20	0	+20
Canada	52	23	4	25	166	156	+10
Croatia	1	1	0	0	6	1	+5
Czech Republic	65	14	7	44	135	222	−87
Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia	1	0	0	1	0	12	−12
Denmark	19	14	0	5	75	37	+38
Finland	35	7	3	25	67	111	−44
Finland olympic	1	0	0	1	2	3	−1
France	33	24	3	6	142	61	+81
Germany	61	33	1	27	151	137	+14
Great Britain	4	4	0	0	27	6	+21
Hungary	8	6	0	2	50	19	+31
Italy	18	13	1	4	75	43	+32
Japan	5	5	0	0	39	12	+27
Kazakhstan	9	7	1	1	42	15	+27
South Korea	1	1	0	0	2	1	+1
Latvia	28	17	3	8	93	62	+31
Netherlands	2	2	0	0	24	4	+20
Norway	33	23	2	8	116	64	+52
Poland	8	6	1	1	43	16	+27
Romania	4	4	0	0	39	3	+36
Russia	38	10	5	23	91	122	−31
Olympic Athletes from Russia	1	1	0	0	3	2	+1
Russia B	8	3	0	5	21	22	-1
Slovenia	13	10	0	3	49	23	+26
Switzerland	70	28	7	35	168	157	+11
Switzerland B	1	0	1	0	1	1	0
Sweden	38	10	3	25	84	127	−43
Sweden Vikings	2	0	0	2	5	8	−3
Ukraine	10	9	1	0	49	18	+31
United States	28	10	3	15	65	91	−26
Wiener EG	1	0	0	1	0	2	−2
Yugoslavia	1	1	0	0	4	1	+3
Total	666	334	49	282	2083	1666	+417

• Overtime and penalty shots victories and losses are counted towards wins/losses.

See also

• List of players in Slovakia men's national ice hockey team
• Slovak Extraliga

External links

• Official website
• IIHF profile