The Olympic tournament in Milan awaits Slovakian hockey players from February 11. However, the European part of the team will go directly to the venue about a week earlier than the overseas part. The management of the national team will be able to take the so-called taxi team to Milan for the first days.
Eight players should come to Slovakia from overseas: Samuel Hlavaj, Erik Černák, Martin Fehérváry, Šimon Nemec, Dalibor Dvorský, Martin Pospíšil, Pavol Regenda and Juraj Slafkovský.
In order for the Slovaks to train fully, they can take eight substitutes, one substitute for one overseas player – one goalkeeper, three defenders and four forwards. They will be selected from a list of ten substitutes for the position of striker, five for the position of defender and two goalkeepers.
Among the substitutes are also players from the AHL, head coach Vladimír Országh revealed that Martin Chromiak and Adam Sýkora are there. However, they will not be able to be in the taxi team in Milan.
“There will be no players from the AHL in the taxi team. If they are nominated, which they can only be when someone is injured, then we can add a player from the AHL. But he would not arrive until February 8.” Országh expressed.
Nominated goalkeeper Adam Gajan also works overseas, but he plays in the NCAA, so it is possible that he will be released earlier than the remaining players from the AHL and NHL. They will arrive together with all NHL hockey players from other countries on February 8.
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Slovakia already knows the nomination of the hockey team for the Olympics in Milan. However, we did not know the composition of the implementation team, Miroslav Šatan revealed this at Wednesday’s press conference, where he answered journalists’ questions.
Only players from Europe will be in the taxi team. The situation is slightly complicated by the fact that the Slovak extra league does not have a break during the Olympics.
“We have a group of players, I don’t want to say names unnecessarily, there is a chance that some of them will play in the Olympics. The substitutes are in communication with us and they know that they are substitutes. It is possible that they will be approached to go with us. Maybe it will mainly concern players from Czech clubs, but there are also other competitions.
Slovak clubs have said that they want to play during the break, which is strange to me, but they want and take the risk that one of the players could be withdrawn and be a part of it. The Olympics and the national team have priority in this,” said the general manager of the national team and president of the union Miroslav Šatan on this topic.
Országh then explained how long the players from the taxi team would be able to stay with them. “They will probably go with us for the first week until the overseas players arrive. We will keep that to ourselves, we will see how the situation develops. The nomination can only change based on injuries.” repeated Országh.
When the players from overseas arrive, the hockey players from the taxi team will have to leave Milan.
Slovakia will play in the basic group at the Olympics with Finland, Italy and Sweden.
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The head coach of the Slovak national hockey team, Vladimír Országh, completed a work trip abroad at the beginning of the new year, during which he met several Slovak hockey players from the NHL. He also spoke about this at Wednesday’s press conference, where he answered questions about the nomination for the Olympics.
