Slovakia's spirit isn't injured

Sporting News, The, Sept 13, 2004 by Kara Yorio

Slovakian forward Miroslav Hlinka was watching the clock closely. In the penalty box during an exhibition game against Sweden, time was running out on his penalty and he was looking up, not ahead. Had he been looking at the ice, he would have noticed the play coming his way. He would have seen teammate Michal Handzus and a Swedish player heading toward the penalty box. But Hlinka was focused only on the clock. When the penalty ended, he flung open the door just as Handzus went to check a Swedish player against the boards. Instead of finishing his check, Handzus hit the opening for the door and tore a biceps.

It was some seriously bad luck for the Slovaks, and it wasn't the team's last head-shaking moment.

This World Cup was supposed to be Slovakia's time to shine, to take down the bigger guys despite not having a No. 1 NHLer in goal. In the 1996 World Cup, Slovakia didn't win a game. More recently, the 2002 Olympics were a great disappointment for this country of 5.4 million and its idolized hockey players. Forced to play in the qualifying round (before all NHL players were released to participate), the Slovaks didn't make it into the main tournament. So here, in this World Cup of Hockey, where they were guaranteed a place at the adult table and expected to have their best players, they would show the world what Slovaks could do.

At least, that was the plan. But the best-laid plans ... well ...

Before the games even began to count, Slovakia lost half of its core to injury.

Winger Ziggy Palffy backed out before training camp because of a shoulder injury. Center Handzus and winger Peter Bondra (broken thumb) were sidelined in pre-tournament games, and a puck off the hand in practice ended the tournament for defenseman Ivan Majesky (broken finger).

"Palffy, Handzus, Bondra.... That's almost half of our core," said Peter Stastny, Slovakian hockey legend and the team's general manager. "You have six or seven players that are your core on any team, and you build around them. We lost three core players."

Slovakia didn't lose only possible points from Palffy, Bondra and Handzus, it also lost their leadership and experience. And Majesky was one of the team's top three defensemen, along with Zdeno Chara and Lubomir Visnovsky.

That put even more responsibility on goalies Jan Lasak, a former Predator now playing in the Czech Elite League, and Rastislav Stana, a Capitals prospect. There was pressure up front, too, where the Slovaks still had a who's who of elite scoring talent with Marian Hossa, Pavol Demitra, Marian Gaborik, Miroslav Satan, Jozef Stumpel and Richard Zednik, who was coming back from hernia surgery. Ladislav Nagy was there too, but he was battling an abdominal injury.

"We have great goal scorers," Hossa said, believing Slovakia could make it through the quarterfinals and into this weekend's final four. "We have to keep shooting. We talk about it. It must be a group effort. We have to improve on specialty teams. That's going to be a big part of our success in this tournament."

So, Visnovsky quarterbacked the top power-play unit, and Chara tried to be his most intimidating self at regular strength and on special teams to help take some of the heat off the goalies. Despite dealing with one blow after another, Slovakia's players and fans weren't ready to pack it in.

"The fans are getting crazy at home," Hossa said. "There's a lot of pressure on us. They are expecting big things."

SPEED READ

* U.S. World Cup coach Ran Wilson made a gutsy and politically incorrect move by benching veteran winger Brett Hull. Hull didn't do anything to help the team in the first two games of the tournament; he might actually have been hurting the U.S. Sitting Hull was the right move--the smart move--no matter the result. The only thing smarter might have been not putting Hull on the team in the first place.

INSIDE DISH

G Robert Esche's outstanding first period against Canada in the United States' first World Cup game proved America has at least one goalie ready to replace Mike Richter. But it is almost as important that Esche's hip withstood the game. TV analyst and former goalie Darren Pang says he expected Esche to bounce back from offseason surgery because Esche doesn't rely on his hips to move from post to post on his knees, unlike a strictly butterfly goaltender.... Swedish G Tommy Salo didn't fare as well in his World Cup outing. Salo had one chance to make up for his 2002 Olympics disaster against Belarus, but he squandered the opportunity with a shaky round-robin game against Germany.... The biggest disappointment early in the World Cup was Russia's decision to not play Alexander Ovechkin against the U.S. or Canada in the round-robin portion of the tournament. Ovechkin is ready to play at this level.... Canada seems to have the highest-quality depth at the World Cup. After losing D Ed Jovanovski in the first game of round-robin play, Canada played D Scott Hannan, who would crack the top six on the majority of Cup teams. D Wade Redden might be out for the tournament, too, leaving Canada with only six healthy defensemen.... Canucks RW Todd Bertuzzi's 10-day trial will begin January 17. A delayed start to the season would save commissioner Gary Bettman from having to make a decision on Bertuzzi before then. The NHL's suspension and the legal ramifications should be separate, which is not to say Bertuzzi should be reinstated now. Because of the precedent set by Marty McSorley's one-year suspension and the clear premeditation of the act, Bertuzzi must be suspended for at least a year.--K.Y.