SLOVAKIA
Slovakia
Last Year: Slovakia failed to win a game in regulation last year, finishing 4th in their pool and missing out on the playoffs. They avoided relegation by beating Latvia in that round but fell to Finland to finish classified in the 8th position.
Returning Players: F Marko Dano, F Martin Reway, F Milan Kolena, D Richard Buri, D Patrik Luza, D Tomas Rusina, G Richard Sabol
Key Missing NHL players: none
Ottawa Interests: Reway plays for the Gatineau Olympiques of the QMJHL
Key Players: F – Dano is in his third World Juniors, and also played for Slovakia at the World Championship last year. D – Richard Buri is a 6’5″, 210 lbs defender who has been playing in the USHL this season. G- Sabol was with the team for last year’s tournament but didn’t play.
Draft Watch: The Slovaks will have 4 potential picks in the upcoming draft, but none are expected to be top round picks – G Maximilian Pajpach, F Patrik Koys, F Robert Lantosi and F Pavol Skalicky. They could also ice 2 players who aren’t eligible until the 2015 draft.
Key To Victory: Slovakia will likely have less than a handful of NHL draftees in its lineup. Their biggest advantage year after year tends to be familiarity , with most of their players playing on the same club team during the season. That, plus the influx of the better players like Reway, Dano and Buri should solidify the lineup, but they are still in tough.
Projected Round Robin Finish: This could be the year that the Slovaks face relegation, with a pretty strong German side that should compete to get a quarterfinal spot. Still, the Slovaks should have enough to finish 4th in the group.
Potential Finish: A quarterfinal appearance might have to be good enough, as a 4th place finish in the group virtually assures them of being fodder for the host Swedes in the first elimination round.