Juraj Slafkovskis | Photo: IIHF
In the upcoming U20 World Championship, the Slovakian national team will likely have to do without Juraj Slafkovski and Filip Meshar, journalist Matejs Deraj reports.
This year, both hockey players were drafted by the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League (NHL). Slafkovskis was chosen with the first number, and Meshar – with 26. “Slafkovskis will not play with a very high probability, Meshar’s participation in the tournament is “not recommended” by the club. Perhaps the federation will manage to agree on Meshar’s participation,” writes the journalist.
Slafkovský is almost sure not to play and Mešár’s start is “not recommended” by the Habs. Most likely none of them will be part of this August team, maybe the federation can reach an agreement about Mešár.
— Matej Deraj (@MatoDeraj) July 18, 2022
In the past season, 18-year-old Slafkovskis represented the Finnish league club TPS, scoring 10 (5+5) points in 31 games of the main tournament, while in 18 “play-off” battles he had another seven (2+5) points. Also, the striker played for the Slovak national team in the Beijing Olympics, scoring seven goals in seven matches, as well as in the World Championship, where he had nine (3+6) points in eight games.
It has already been reported that the U20 World Championship was canceled at the end of 2021 due to an increase in the number of Covid-19 cases. Later, the International Ice Hockey Federation decided that the tournament will be held in Canada from August 9 to 20. After the elimination of Russia and Belarus from the group of participants, the Latvian national team, led by Artis Ābols, has also received a place among the world’s strongest U20 teams.
