Slovakia Hosts World Championships

Unfortunately it's getting drowned out by the excitement and drama of the Stanley Cup playoffs, the IIHF World Championships of Hockey is being hosted by Slovakia. But the built in hype of it surrounds the bigger picture of national pride on the line (instead of just a civic one), it's an event that collects the best of the best that makes it really exciting hockey.

Like a host city should, Slovakia welcomes everyone to the country for this year's World Championship with an official anthem song sung by Kristína Peláková called Life is a Game. The video for the song is an exciting sound of drum beats. It's main features more of exciting highlights from past years with dancers in body paint being patriotic. You can watch it here:I've seen and heard Kristína perform last year at the EuroVision 2010 competition and impressed me with her range of singing dance beats and more calming lullaby ballad tones.

This song, Life is a Game, is very Europop sounding, but sung in English instead of her native Slovak which I have gotten used to. Her prior hits have been Horehronie about the earthy beauty of central Slovakia and Ešte Váham. Personally, I hope this song can propel her to more international recognition. What do you guys think?

The games start April 29th in Košice and meet in Bratislava to end the 15th of May. I'll be covering the news from there once the tournament starts.

HC Košice Completes Three-peat as Slovak League Champs

Courtsey: HC Košice

While most other Leagues are trying for a unilateral parity, where any team can win the championship or at least have the chance at a great season, the HC Košice club has won their third consecutive Slovak league championship. They posted this victory against a strong showing of HK ŠKP Poprad.

This now makes 4 appearances in the Slovak Extraleague finals in 5 years including the dominating of cross-country rivals in Bratislava. Just like in America, they have already produced the new celebratory merchandise that fans scuttle to the sporting goods stores to be the first person on the block to wear. You can see the official team sweatshirt in the photo to the left. It looks nice.

Courtsey: HC Košice

There are a few familiar names on HC Košice as well as others who have spent time in the NHL or in other leagues. It must be a great feeling to see a fanbase so familiar with the championship round. I have been told by some other Slovak hockey league enthusiast sources that the league thrives off of sponsorships and the richer capital cities have more money to spend than some other smaller teams.Congratulations to HC Košice for making it this far once again.

HC Košice Wins Slovak Extraleague

Just as the NHL has a repeat of the Championship series, the Slovak Extraleague of hockey has crowned this year's champion - who just so happen to finish the regular season in third place.

HC Košice defeated their cross-country rival Slovan Bratislava 5-2 in the final match. And they paraded the trophy around the US Steel Arena - one of the 2011 world hockey championships. The standouts from HC Košice were Vlad Dravecký (left) a former LA Kings prospect and team captain Peter Bartoš who was once in the Minnesota Wild system.

I wish I knew a little bit more about the Slovak language to be able to translate some of these articles. But perhaps you and I can at least cycle through the pictures enough to get an understanding of what exactly happened.

[ Via: sportky topky.sk & HC Kosice Official Site]

Slovakia Lose Bronze to Finland

The hands down selection as the "dark horse" in these Olympic games tournament has to be the Slovaks. Now built evenly with good goaltending and developed scoring talent, the Slovaks made a very good run in 2010. It is something that I hope they build upon during the next few years and rise up

However, team Finland once again proved to be a spoiler for the Slovaks who now only have a 4th place finish to show for their otherwise successful run. Jaro Halak, playing with the confidence of being the #1 goaltender in Montreal, was the first player who stood out and stepped up to the challenge. He saw an enormous amount of rubber his way during the opening round loss to the Czech Republic, but bounced back to earn wins against the powerful Russian and Swedish squads.

The three other players who were worthy of representing the Slovak Olympic might were: Zedeno Chara, Marian Gaborik, and Pavol Demitra. Chara was crucial in the Russia and Sweden games while he constantly slammed opposing forwards into the boards. The tighter confines that most other European teams that weren't used to North American sized rinks. Gaborik was the scoring threat that the team used to have with the now-retired Peter Bondra. If he didn't score, Gaborik created a lot of second and third chances. Pavol Demitra was clutch when clutch mattered in some of the later games against Canada and Sweden. If it wasn't for him, the Slovaks might have finished lower than what they did.

[Via: NBC Oylmpics]

Slovakia Stuns US At World Junior Tournament

"So, do you like me now?" quipped Janus after spotting Erie GM Sherry Bassin in the mixed zone after Slovakia's 5-3 quarterfinal win.

I liked that Janus is showing some real signs of confidence in a young goalie. Despite not really been exposed to the media hype-machine, due to playing behind a underachieving Otters squad, Janus may now have the eyes of a few pro draft scouts bearing down on him in North Eastern Pennsylvania.

Blowing a three-goal lead and losing to Team Canada on New Year's Eve, as it turns out, wasn't the low moment for the Americans. They were supposed to have an easy time with Slovakia, a team slaughtered by Canada in a pre-tournament game and 8-1 losers to the Russians in the round robin portion of this tournament.

I am really glad to see that the Slovakian hockey programs have arrived on the national scene. Sure, the victory against Team USA is bitter-sweet, but the Americans will enjoy plenty more tournaments in the future.

"It's unreal," said Janus. "It was the best game in my life. I think its one of the biggest moments in Slovakia's history. It's unbelievable."

I hope he meant in Slovakia's sports history and not forgotten about the rich history that the Slovak people have struggled and survived through.

[Via: Toronto Star]

Slovak Extraleague Holds Their Own Against NHL

Since you know I am a Slovak culture enthusiast and often take a look at the sporting levels. The Slovak Extraliga is the top pro league in Slovakia to which one of my fantasies was always that the NHL would one day engage in exhibition games with the Slovak Extraliga. Today, this has come true.

I have heard a lot of criticism about the professional hockey leagues in Europe and their comparison to the level of play in the National Hockey League. The consensus is that the NHL is the top elite league where the best hockey players in the world go to play. But hockey fans and bloggers often comment about the drama and action of European leagues as they continue to gain notable popularity. But the Slovak Extraliga is not on the very top of premier leagues, only to be overshadowed by the Russian KHL, the Swedes and the Finish leagues.

HC Slovan Bratislava is the defending Slovak Extraliga back-to-back champs, so this would make it a natural first choice to build a relationship of exhibitions with. So, in order for the American hockey ambassadors to get used to the international ice sizes, Tampa Bay is burdened with the task of challenging other representatives in this unique form of hockey diplomacy.

Evgeny Artyukhin made it 1-0 for the Lightning in the first period before Slovan tied the score when Marek Uram got a goal in the second. Martin Kulha scored a power-play goal in the third and Lecavalier evened the score for the Lightning on a two-man advantage, sending the game into overtime.

For this result to happen, only one conclusion could be seen. I think that the Slovak Extraliga talent to take the Lighting as far as they did only signifies the growing strength of the team and perhaps put the League on the international conscious.

[Via: NHL.com]

Slovak Women Roll Bulgaria 82-0 in Olympic Hockey Qualifiers

I am not sure what to think of the latest news coming out of the IIHF over in Latvia where the Women's qualifying tournament where the winner would get an automatic entry in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, B.C. I didn't even know that there was even a women's hockey team in Slovakia!

But in 2006, I had criticized Women's Team Canada and rallied around team USA's criticism of the Canadian Women running up the score. But when one of my teams does it, I am in a load of public relations trouble and my back is to the spin wall.

Janka Culikova led Slovakia with 10 goals, while Martina Velickova scored nine. Fourteen different players scored at least one goal.

Well, it is nice to see that a lot of the players got involved with this one? And what the hell happened to Bulgaria? Did they go open net the whole game?

The best defense I could come up with was actually another person's reply on a popular hockey blog. The main counter-argument to the "running up the score" scenario is that the Lady Slovaks couldn't lay down and stall for time in the game. Were they expected to play keep away the whole game? No. They played until the final horn. It wasn't their fault that the Bulgarian women were not prepared at all.

Basically, I do not think that any hockey fan, any womens hockey fan, or any Slovak patriot can be proud of this game's turnout. I bet after the 20th goal, things just weren't fun anymore. The Bulgarians were deep on the wrong side of pathetic.

The last defense of the Lady Slovaks for this obliteration comes in the fact that both the Lady Italians beat them 41-0 and the Lady Croats beat them 30-1. So, folks, Bulgaria was just not ready to play at all.

However, there is a bright light of good to come of this

Slovakia, which also beat Croatia, Latvia and Italy, advanced to another qualifying group with Germany, Kazakhstan and France. The winner will secure a spot at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

I have never seen the Lady Slovaks in Olympic play mainly because they are a very young program. I hope they are able to make the 2010 games so that more generations will help grow the women's program in Slovakia and perhaps it will be as strong as the mens.


[Via: The Associated Press]

Slovak League Repeats Champions

Sometimes, I get too focused on the local NHL scene here, but now and again I will check out the leagues and games going on in other places... because this is one of the basic rules of this blog. Hockey is a global game now. I hope to reflect some of that here.

Having grown up exposed to my family's Slovak heritage, I have rooting interests where my families came from, Bratislava and Košice. They are on the opposite ends of the country, much like a comparison to Pittsburgh and Philadelphia is here.

My two favorite Slovak Extraliga Teams HC Košice and HC Slovan Bratislava faced off against each other in the championship finale. Both teams are traditionally the two teams that spend the most on talent as they can afford them. When the final game had played out, it was HC Bratislava able to repeat as league champions. Congratulations to Bratislava on their accomplishments. A few familiar names on Bratislava's roster stood out as former players here in the States. I would recommend checking out both teams websites (it would also help if you knew how to read Slovak) about the teams as well as some of the other teams in the league.

Hossa Brothers Find New Homes at Trading Deadline

I had not heard anything all day because of my day job, but once 3pm hit, I was quick in the car to turn on Hardcore Sports Network (Sirius #186) and hear about all the draft day trades.

Anyway, the reshuffling in the league that occurs once every season at the trading deadline is fodder for water cooler talk and no real superstars getting traded other than Hossa to Pens and Fedorov to Caps. Kinda boring. But exciting if you are a hockey wonk like me and know who all the players are.

People here in Pittsburgh are a little giddy with Hossa's arrival but a little saddened with the loss of 2 very popular players in Armstrong and Christensen. Colby was widely known as the "comedic relief" that gelled a group of guys into a team. Colby and Erik grew up in the Penguins organization they both will be truly missed.

This trade has some shades of the trade that was made during the first Stanley Cup bringing over Larry Murphy, Ron Francis, and Ulf Samuelsson, but surrendering a very popular John Cullen. But mostly all Penguins historians suggest that the trade then had built the franchise into what it is today.

Marian Hossa is a great player and I am really glad that he is here so I can once again invest some of my pride in my family's Slovak heritage. Hossa's arrival will only make one dangerous power-play unit even scarier.

The wrastlin' obsessed The Pens Blog looked at the trading deadline as if it were a storyline angle (a.k.a. "WORK") That's true hysteria! That is Def Leppard-esque hysteria!

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In an interesting twist of the day's trading action, Marian's little brother Marcel was traded from the New York Rangers to the Phoenix Coyotes in a 5 player deal. Has this ever happened before? Two brothers traded on the same day?

How Do You Say McDonald's in Slovak?

Here is an odd item as it was first seen featured on HC Košice's website a little while back. Did you ever wonder what Ronald McDonald would look like if he were a hockey player? Well, wonder no more!Yea, I know... quite silly!

2011 World Hockey Championship Bid Countries Announced

Ted Rogers Sportsnet staff either needs to go back to school to learn geography or math. Their headline suggests that 5 CITIES today put in their bid to host the World Hockey championships. However, the headline should say 5 COUNTRIES bid to host in 2011.

They are Latvia, Belarus, Finland, Sweden and Slovakia. But thinking that they would increase their chances in hosting the event, 4 of those countries has submitted at least named two cities for hosting the World Championships. The winning city will be announced in Latvia in May during next years Championships.

• Minsk, Belarus
• Helsinki and Turku, Finland
• Budapest and Szekesfehervar, Hungary
• Bratislava and Kosice, Slovakia
• Stockholm and Malmo, Sweden

Already, I'm sure Jes will take up the cause so as to not let the "evil" Swedes get the choice over the kind and humble people of Slovakia. *wink* Does anyone care or possibly fathom thinking that far to the year 2011? Yea, that's what I thought too? Why announce the host city that early?


[Via: Sportsnet.ca]

Canada and Bloggers don't give Slovakia much of a chance

I guess I'll be the only one tonight watching the World Cup game wearing my Slovak hockey jersey and waving my Slovak mini-flag.

After surfing around the internet through my favorite blogs, I have been dissapointed to see that nobody has given Team Slovakia a chance when they play their quarterfinal tournament game tonight at 7pm EST.

I'm sure these are the same people who didn't give the Czechs much credit before they blew out Team Sweden.

Granted, the Canadians did beat Slovakia soundly in the preliminary rounds, and GM Gretzky seems to think that "they're ready".

I'll be watching tonight on ESPN and I'm sure that my Canadian friends will be watching on CBC. Check back here as I plan to talk about tonight's game and celebrate a Team Slovakia win.

USA v. Slovakia - Who am I rooting for??

After disappointing losses to the Canadians, the two smarting clubs America and Slovakia faced one another tonight at the Xcell Energy Center in St. Paul, MN.

I don't make it secret, I'm very proud of my ethnic background and I root for the Slovaks when I can, but tonight, I was truly prepared for a night of great hockey. I was not at all disappointed.

I was however upset at the "team B" broadcasters that they got out for the game. Both Mike Emrick and Darren Pang (former goaltender for the Chicago Blackhawks) insisted the entire night to mispronounce them as "slow-vack-ee-ah". I wondered if this game was covered by the CBC at all.

In addition to that, the announcer Mike Emrick had reported on air about goaltender Jan Lasak not being in the Nashville Predators system. "He's a soft shelled taco in a hard taco world," repeated Emrick from a Predators scout. I couldn't help it as to take a comment like that personally. The Slovak people are a proud honorable people. When our heart or courage is challenged, it's considered a serious issue.

Of course, the Predators are serious with Tomas Vokoun, their Czech-born goaltender. It would be best for Lasak to find work somewhere else.

The game was played with more emotion from a desperate Team USA. They knew they had to win, or wind up facing the invincible Team Canada in Toronto for the semi-finals. Team Slovakia held their own through most of the game. They kept it 2-1 up until the last few moments of the 3rd period. The winning goal was a fluke as NY Islander forward Jason Blake went into the net along with the puck. Since they didn't see him hit it with an arm or leg, they counted the goal. Cheap goal.

The funniest portion of the ESPN coverage was the reaction that Darren Pang gave to Coach Barry Melrose who was safely secure in the ESPN Bristol, CT studios. Barry praised the Americans, but Darren Pang added later, "He'll say nice things when they're winning, but he'll throw them under the bus when they start losing".

I'm glad I taped the game on the VCR.

IIHF World Championships

If once wasn't enough, USA and Slovakia lock horns once again in the Czech Republic for the IIHF World Championships of Hockey, but this time it's for the Bronze Medal and Third Place in the tournament.

Andy Roach scored the games only goal as Team USA came out on top to shut out Team Slovakia 1-0.

Canada won the Tournament's top honor by defeating Sweden.

NHL Player to Slovak Parliment

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) - Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda said Tuesday that former NHL star Peter Stastny will lead his party's list of candidates in elections for the European Parliament.

How about that! If you don't pay your taxes! He'll send you to the penalty box!