Slovakia before the World Championship: Ostrava will see a lot of familiar faces from the extraliga, the main drivers will be a trio from the NHL

The Slovak national ice hockey team has released its roster for the 2024 World Ice Hockey Championship. Czech fans can expect to see plenty of familiar faces from the Tipsport Extraliga, but most importantly, they can look forward to the first two picks of the 2022 NHL Draft – Juraj Slafkovski and Simon Nemec.

Published

6 months ago

8. 5. 2024

Lukáš Matoušek

Slovensko — Zdroj: Markéta Křížová, HC Kometa Brno

It hasn’t happened for a long time that Slovakia was one of the medal contenders at the World Championships. This year the competition will be high, but our neighbours are coming with great motivation and hope. We can’t be surprised, as the number one pick in the 2022 draft will be wearing their jersey.

Juraj Slafkovsky has had a successful season in the NHL this year and has shown everyone that he can be one of the driving forces of his team when he avoids injuries.

He played all 82 regular season games for the Montreal Canadiens this year, scoring 50 points on 20 goals and 30 assists.

It is Slafkovsky, joined by Tomas Tatar and Simon Nemec, who is expected to be one of the main faces of the Slovak team, which has been waiting for more success since 2012.

Back then, the Slovaks won silver medals, but since then, finishing in the quarter-finals of the tournament has remained their best result.

Slovakia’s nomination for the 2024 World Cup

Goalkeepers:
Samuel Hlavaj
Matej Tomek
Stanislav Škorvánek

Defenders:
Peter Čerešnák
Martin Fehérváry
Frantisek Gajdos
Andrej Golian
Mário Grman
Michal Ivan
Patrik Koch
Simon Nemec

Forwards:
Peter Cehlárik
Lukáš Cingel
Viliam Cacho
Marko Daňo
Martin Faško-Rudáš
Marek Hrivík
Libor Hudacek
Miloš Kelemen
Andrej Kudrna
Martin Pospíšil
Pavol Regenda
Juraj Slafkovský
Tomas Tatar
Matúš Sukel

Slovakia will play in Group B in Ostrava, where they are among the favourites to finish among the top four to advance to the quarter-finals. The Slovaks will play their first game against Germany, and will say goodbye to the group in a duel with Sweden.