2003 IIHF World Junior Championship


23 DEC/02 - 'BORDER RIVALS'
1 JAN/03 -TOMAS SLOVAK: SLOVAKIA'S ROLE PLAYER
Dec 27 SVK 11 BLR 1
Dec 28 RUS 4 SVK 0
Dec 30 SUI 0 SVK 3
Dec 31 SVK 1 USA 3
Jan 2 SVK 0 FIN 6
Jan 4 SVK 2 CZE 0

Pre-Comp. Results
Dec. 20/20 déc.

CAN 5 vs SVK 0

Dec. 22/22 déc.
CZE 2 vs SVK 4

Team Profile

When Czechoslovakia split up on December 31, 1992, the International Ice Hockey Federation ruled that the Czech Republic should remain in the "A" pool of the IIHF World Junior Championships, while Slovakia was assigned to the "C" pool. The reasoning was that, historically, Czechoslovakia's junior teams had been made up largely of players from the Czech region.

The Slovaks worked their way back up to the "A" pool in the shortest possible time, and qualified to play in the 1996 WJC tournament in Boston.

Finally, in the 1998-99 season, Slovakia cracked the big time by winning a bronze medal at the 1999 WJC in Winnipeg. The players responded to the positive approach of coach Jan Filc, a bright new face, and Jan Lasak provided outstanding goaltending, including a 0-0 tie against Canada.

Last year the Slovaks shut out the Czechs 1-0 and tied Sweden, Switzerland and the U.S., yet finished in eighth place. That's how tough this tournament is.

The Slovaks will not have Marek Svatos, who scored seven goals in seven games to tie for the tournament lead with Canada's Mike Cammalleri last season. Svatos, who later helped the Kootenay Ice win the Memorial Cup, is ineligible this year due to his age.
However, Slovakia will have Igor Pohanka, who contributed five assists in seven games last season and led the Prince Albert Raiders of the Western Hockey League in scoring with 25 goals and 68 points in 58 games.

Slovakia will dearly miss two experienced Ontario Hockey League goaltenders in Peter Budaj of St. Mike's and Peter Hamerlik of Kingston, who are also ineligible to play. Jan Chovan, another OHL'er, who will likely will get the starting job, played 10 regular season games in 2001-2002 for the London Knights, and 20 games with the Belleville Bulls.

Stefan Schauer is the only returning defender, but Tomas Slovak of the WHL's Kelowna Rockets and Milan Jurcina, a 2001 draft pick of the Boston Bruins should shore up the blueline. In effect, Jurcina will be playing on home ice. He produced 20 points in 61 games with the QMJHL Halifax Mooseheads last season.

Richard Stehlik, a 6-5, 230-pound defender with a powerful shot, should also cause opposing netminders some worry. Stehlik was the leading Slovak scorer at the World Under-18 Championship with three goals and six points in eight games.

Jozef Fruhauf takes over the coaching reins from Julius Supler, who also was behind the bench for Slovakia at the 1994 Olympics in Norway. Fruhaulf served as General Manager last season.

Slovakia operates special hockey schools where promising prospects can practise during the school day and get away for three or four days for tournaments during the school year. Still the country has fewer than 15,000 registered players, compared to more than 500,000 for Canada. And there are only 40 indoor ice rinks in the country.

No
Name
Nom
Date of Birth
Naissance
Position
L/R
G/D
Height
Hauteur
Weight
Poids
Club
ƒquipe
1 CHOVAN Jan 07.09.83 GK L 184 84 Sioux City Musketeers
3 VARGA Milan 01.08.83 D L 177 77 HC Kosice
5 MACEK Peter 13.05.83 D R 188 83 Montreal Rocket
7 STEHLIK Richard 22.06.84 D L 195 109 Sherbrooke Castors
8 GRANAK Dominik 11.06.83 D L 183 76 Slavia Praha
10 SYKORA Juraj 19.09.83 F L 190 88 Slovan Bratislava
14 KOLOZVARY Ivan 16.02.83 F L 181 80 Dukla Trencin
15 VAZAN Michal 09.08.83 F R 180 78 MHC Martin
17 MARON Oliver 30.09.83 D R 181 80 Belleville Bulls
18 VALACH Stanislav 19.05.83 F L 188 85 Slavia Praha
19 SALIJI Samir 03.03.84 F L 184 88 HKM Nitra
20 SPIRKO Rastislav 21.06.84 F L 174 75 MHC Martin
21 LUKAC Michal 26.08.84 F L 185 81 Chicoutimi Sagueneens
22 SLOBODA Karol 16.05.83 D R 186 89 Ottawa 67s
23 POHANKA Igor 05.07.83 F L 193 92 Prince Albert Raiders
24 LIPKA Ratislav 09.05.83 F L 189 92 Prince Albert Raiders
25 SEVELA Peter 16.10.83 GK L 180 70 HKM Zvolen
27 SLOVAK Tomas 05.04.83 D R 185 93 Kelowna Rockets
28 TROLIGA Tomas 24.04.84 F R 196 96 HC Kosice
29 KOKAVEC Michal 01.03.83 F L 194 100 Ocelari Trinec
30 PETRIK Imrich 02.07.83 GK L 185 72 HK Presov

Title   Name
Head Coach   SPISAK Robert
Assistant Coach   FRUHAUF Jozef
General Manager   LENAR Lubomir
Equipment Manager   BAKA Lubomir
Physiotherapist   CULKA Dusan
Doctor   CARSKY Stanislav


SVK ALL-TIME RECORD
FICHE DE TOUS LES TEMPS DE SVK
YEAR GP W L T GF GA POS
ANNÉE PJ V D N BP PC RANG
2002 7 2 3 2 20 19 8th / 8e
2001 7 1 6 0 16 25 8th / 8e
2000 7 2 4 1 11 15 9th / 9e
1999 6 4 1 1 17 14 2nd / 2e
1998 6 3 3 0 26 18 9th / 9e
1997 6 2 4 0 23 26 6th / 6e
1996 6 2 1 3 24 23 7th / 7e
TOTAL 45 16 22 7 137 140  

 

For more information:
André Brin Director, Communications | Directeur, communications