Just wanna say, these guys may have not took home the cup at the Hlinka/Gretzky... but nevertheless the performance they put out there was breathtaking. Everyone on that squad fulfilled a purpose, each player stepped up when they had too. Hell, after that tourney I'd like to add Rastislav Elias, Adam Zlnka, Adam Sykora, Servac Petrovsky, Peter Repcik, and Maxim Strbak as honorable mentions. This team was nuts and I have nothing but respect for each and everyone of them. You guys did your country proud :)
Yep I wasnt breathing at all. They's game was awesome. That speed, precision shots, faceoffs and so on... That team played like one and they were having fun doing it. I'm proud of our guys 😉
Slovaks at 2026 Olympics will be lit. Top 6 of Slaf-Dvorský-Mešár and Honzek-Sýkora-Molnár, not to mention Ciernik, Ridzon, Sisik, Misiak with blue line composing of Fehervary, Cernak, Nemec, Strbak, Knazko, all of them captained by Tatar. Should be fun
Thank you for your support and enthusiasm towards the young Slovak hockey prospects. A great vid and last couple of days proved your words right. Weren't far off beating the Finns in the semis and wiping out the Swedes at the bronze medal game was a story on its own that is going to grow into a national legend. Where else to prove yourself better than at the Olympics?! Hats off to Craig Ramsey and Miroslav Satan for their monumental efforts 🤩💥
Dvorsky looks really promising. I actually didn't know about him until this year's Hlinka Gretzky Cup, but he played like a god there. I also read an interview with his father and he seemed like he knows whats up and they realize the most important thing now is to adapt to adult hockey, because most of promising players fail this adaptation
you are a wizard or something ? :D, great predictions & analysis man .. Slafkovsky - 1st pic (Habs), Nemec 2nd pick (Devils), Mesar 26th (Habs) with honorable picks of Sykora & Zilka .. I just hope your predictions for upcoming drafts will prove the punctuality :)
Indeed! It's truly amazing what they've done as of late. Next thing we need is for Czechia to improve and international hockey will be incredibly diverse moving forward.
This trend started between 2010 (Vancouver Olympics) and 2012 when Slovakia became runners-up at the World Championship. It was a bit of a fluke but it got kids interested. There was a general feeling that something must change. Young coaches were hired, U20 started to play as a "club" in the top league so that young players get ice time. Later, U18 started to play in the second-tier league amongst men. Retired "golden generation" of established NHL players brought in their experience. Miroslav Satan became president of Hockey Slovakia and implemented common philosophy for all age categories. Some promising players found their place in Finnish and Swedish clubs. After nearly two decades of heartache, maybe our team can finally return to respectability. I'd like them to be a team that no top contender can take lightly.
Most of these guys are turning heads at the Hlinka Gretzky Memorial Tournament right now! Maybe go over all notable players in the tournament when it's over? :)
There are even more prospects. For example Patrik Gabriel has interesting numbers in Finland U18 league and he started playing for U20 at the age of 17. But he never reached Hlinka Gretzky. The competition was so high.
Thank you for your interest in our players. I think that in the future Slovakia has the potential to get ahead of countries like Germany, Switzerland and maybe the Czech Republic. We probably won't get to the TOP 5 countries, I'm a realist. After many years of suffering, we have a great future and I hope that our players will win some medals in the future. I am looking forward to the junior under-20 championships for the coming years. I think that with a little luck we could repeat the year 2015, where we won bronze. But in the competition of Canada, USA, Russia, Sweden, Finland it will be very difficult.
I think they'll put up a good fight in December when the U20's roll around. And after we see how many will be available next season. The 2023 World Juniors could be their time to strike. That team's top-6 could EASILY snag a medal if everything starts clicking :)
absolutely agree with you. I don't think we'll be at the top this year, but we can advance to the semifinals in a next year and get a medal. Our leaders will be even stronger and a year older and better. We did not play the worst last year, but it was clear that this is not the case yet and our leaders were younger (16 years old) to compete with older guys from TOP countries. We had the youngest team on tournament. But, for example, we lost only 3: 1 against Canada and we did not play the worst.
It seemed like in the early 2000's every 4th or 5th NHL draft pick was born in czechoslovakia. I've heard that after the end of Warsaw pact/communism and the '93 seperation, the transition for both countries to market economies was very difficult, so for 10+ years and the government had no money for youth development programs, less families could afford equipment and league fees, and the few that might develop into pros had to move away from their families to sweden/finland to join the player development systems there, so most better athletes went into football. In slovakia in particular there was a lot of corruption in the national program and Miro Šatan was appointed head of the national organization and has turned it around. Guys like Gaborik used their money to build rinks, buy equipment, etc. I remember after the loss to Finland in 2010 a lot of sadness bc it seemed like the last shot at a medal as the pipeline was drying up and their "golden age" players were nearing the end of their careers, but they seem to be turning it around with a good number of potential future top-tier NHL players. Sweden/Canada/Finland will always be very good, USA has really improved in terms of producing numbers of top young talent, Russia seems to be going into a slow decline (I think they've moved way from focusing on hockey country-wide, the focus more on football with bandy as a winter sport.) Germany could be the next powerhouse of the future, tho. They were just OK until the 90's, went into big decline but now seems to be an explosion of popularity of hockey there and being such a big euro country with money they could be a an emerging perenial top-5 country. But remember: smaller european countries will always have a hidden advantage of chemistry as most of their players will have many more years of their top players playing together ever since they were kids.
In my opinion I think you missed 2 solid young players with great potential, it's center Peter Repčík and perspective defender Maxim Štrbák, Repčík could be drafted already in 2022, Štrbák in 2023 possibly in 2024
After the H/G tourney, I grew a fat-love for Repcik, just knows where to be at all time, great fundamentals. Strbak is still growing and has lots of time before the draft. He was shaky at times, but his style is promising, and he has tons of potential. The Slovaks have a mad future ahead of them :)
i dont know if u saw it, but Servac Petrovsky has got too much unlucky at this tournament with scoring and taking points, but his play was one of the best in Team, This man is i think underated...
He's another one that really caught my eye. Fleet-footed skater, has a mind for offence, and a pretty deceptive wrister. Hit the post a few times so I'll vouch your claim that he was indeed, unlucky. Still really impressed me, and trust me, impressed a lot of people :)
Check out Jakub Chromiak, a brother of LAK prospect Martin Chromiak. He is 2024 draft eligible and has put up 9 points in 16 games in Slovakia men’s second best league as a defenceman when he just turned 15. Another exciting talent
And with due time, more will follow. Hockey is growing exponentially throughout eastern Europe and Asia, and even rinks are being developed in Africa, not at a high rate, but nevertheless the sport is reaching new territories, regardless of their ability to produce professional hockey players, seeing the sport we all know and love reach new grounds brings a smile to my face :)
@@MrSharkFIN not even gonna lie man... that actually was a video idea of mine that got scrapped up last year... but you may have just ignited the interest again ;)
Usually I use actual instrumentals of real songs, but these ones were just random free-to-use beats, and I sadly don't remember the sources.... I've failed you and I deeply apologize :(
Lol you have 4 players and already thinking you can again play with top 6 :D Dont get wrong Slovaks have some really good talent and I hope their hockey will go up, BUT they just won only one preseason cup, I mean USA had like a C team there and Canada wasnt even there lol so I would not make this such a big deal. And maybe I am wrong, but this will be exactly like Germany few years ago, you know they produce some sick talents like Draisailt, Stutzle, Reichel or Seider, but then they just succumb back to the mediocrity. Just look at the latest draft and the following drafts for Germany, there is literally no one interesting there. And same will be for Slovakia I am afraid, after the 2022 and 23 draft there will again be no one for several years. If they want to compete with the top teams they need to have at least 2 players in first round and at least 10 players on the draft EVERY year from now on and we all know that this is not happening. Those talent they have now are pretty sick, but again its just 3-4 players and thats just not enough. Just look at Slovak hockey in overall, their league is shit, they have like 6 players in the NHL playing freqently and four of them are over 30. In europe they just dont have enough really good players which are having bigger roles in top european leagues. Even in the Czech league Slovak players are not the stars of their teams mostly. So I really dont know how 4 players can turn Slovak hockey into a top level hockey nation again.
What about cehlarik, Krištof etc.. In khl svedish or finnosh league? They win golden helm :) and many good u20 player Like fehervary, ružička, bondra..
Just won only one preseason cup? No, they win summer hockey cup in germany, they destroy germany (4:1?, idk), denmark u20 8:1 and in finál they destroy czech 3:0
I agree that Slovak hockey has not been among the top 6 in the world for a few years. But 12 years ago, we started investing tens of millions of dollars in a project to educate a new "golden generation" of Slovak hockey. Junior hockey academies are being established all over Slovakia where juniors also devote legends such as Zdeno Chára, Petrovický, Bondra sr, Satan during the summer ... They offer their experience to young players. I think that this project is successful after 12 years and now we can see a new golden generation that has one goal, to bring the Medal and return Slovakia to the Top countries
@@FWFarenholtz Do not responding to that troll. He is from the Czech Republic. As soon as I saw the comment, I thought he was an envious Czech, and looking at his profile, I confirmed it. Loss of words.
Lol, they've had a few down years considering they've had to reinvent themselves in the post-Cold War development era, but they'll be back with star talent in no time.
@@lukebruce5234 Ended with CSSR? 12 Medals for the Czech since, 4 for Slovakia. I believe both of these coutries are gonna add a bunch of medals in the coming years :)
@@Sokyyyy All of these guys were brought up in the CSSR. Once the last players brought up in the CSSR started retiring Czech hockey started massively declining.
Just wanna say, these guys may have not took home the cup at the Hlinka/Gretzky... but nevertheless the performance they put out there was breathtaking. Everyone on that squad fulfilled a purpose, each player stepped up when they had too. Hell, after that tourney I'd like to add Rastislav Elias, Adam Zlnka, Adam Sykora, Servac Petrovsky, Peter Repcik, and Maxim Strbak as honorable mentions. This team was nuts and I have nothing but respect for each and everyone of them.
You guys did your country proud :)
Yep I wasnt breathing at all. They's game was awesome. That speed, precision shots, faceoffs and so on... That team played like one and they were having fun doing it. I'm proud of our guys 😉
wow, dude, you surely have vast knowledge about our young prospects. Well done!
@@casicadaminuto1 Thank you :)
Video aged well, Slafkovsky became Bejing 2022 MVP with 7 goals, and highly contributed to Slovak bronze medal.
and now joining elite company by being selected 1OA in draft
And now nemec and slaf are 1 and 2 ovr at 2022 nhl draft
This video aged well. Their Hlinka Gretzky cup run is the best I think I've ever seen Slovakia play.
These youngsters make me feel like we, Slovaks, might experience 2002 all over again in the future
I really hope so. As a Canadian, I love Slovakia's hockey spirit!
Always high during tournaments and each year with better result
What was 2002?
@@dillon6320 We won the world championships in 2002
@@communistball927 Oh okay.
Slafkovsky #1
Nemec #2
Mesar #26
This aged well.
Sýkora #63
Slovaks at 2026 Olympics will be lit. Top 6 of Slaf-Dvorský-Mešár and Honzek-Sýkora-Molnár, not to mention Ciernik, Ridzon, Sisik, Misiak with blue line composing of Fehervary, Cernak, Nemec, Strbak, Knazko, all of them captained by Tatar. Should be fun
Thank you for your support and enthusiasm towards the young Slovak hockey prospects. A great vid and last couple of days proved your words right. Weren't far off beating the Finns in the semis and wiping out the Swedes at the bronze medal game was a story on its own that is going to grow into a national legend. Where else to prove yourself better than at the Olympics?! Hats off to Craig Ramsey and Miroslav Satan for their monumental efforts 🤩💥
Dvorsky looks really promising. I actually didn't know about him until this year's Hlinka Gretzky Cup, but he played like a god there. I also read an interview with his father and he seemed like he knows whats up and they realize the most important thing now is to adapt to adult hockey, because most of promising players fail this adaptation
Great video, appreciate your effort. Greetings from Slovakia 🇸🇰
Great video and it is totally true...hlinka gretzky cup is proving it...greeting from Slovakia :)
Finals bound ;)
you are a wizard or something ? :D, great predictions & analysis man .. Slafkovsky - 1st pic (Habs), Nemec 2nd pick (Devils), Mesar 26th (Habs) with honorable picks of Sykora & Zilka .. I just hope your predictions for upcoming drafts will prove the punctuality :)
Hopefully the magic doesn't run out :)
Excellent 1 y prediction mate. I hope you bet at least 100.
Indeed! It's truly amazing what they've done as of late. Next thing we need is for Czechia to improve and international hockey will be incredibly diverse moving forward.
My lovely country 😍😍
Bro, you are a fortune teller
This trend started between 2010 (Vancouver Olympics) and 2012 when Slovakia became runners-up at the World Championship. It was a bit of a fluke but it got kids interested. There was a general feeling that something must change. Young coaches were hired, U20 started to play as a "club" in the top league so that young players get ice time. Later, U18 started to play in the second-tier league amongst men. Retired "golden generation" of established NHL players brought in their experience. Miroslav Satan became president of Hockey Slovakia and implemented common philosophy for all age categories. Some promising players found their place in Finnish and Swedish clubs. After nearly two decades of heartache, maybe our team can finally return to respectability. I'd like them to be a team that no top contender can take lightly.
This aged pretty well. I hope it continues like that.
SILVER IS HOME!
This is great for hockey awesome content!
Last 2 drafts:
Slafkovsky #1
Nemec #2
Dvorsky #10
Honzek #16
Mesar #26
Gajan #35
Strbak #45
Misiak #55
Sykora #63
Pekarcik #76
Ciernik #120
Petrovsky #185
Zlnka #204
Jedlicka #219
Unbelievable for Slovakia
Most of these guys are turning heads at the Hlinka Gretzky Memorial Tournament right now! Maybe go over all notable players in the tournament when it's over? :)
Maybe... Maybe...
There are even more prospects. For example Patrik Gabriel has interesting numbers in Finland U18 league and he started playing for U20 at the age of 17. But he never reached Hlinka Gretzky. The competition was so high.
lovely stuff
Thank you for your interest in our players. I think that in the future Slovakia has the potential to get ahead of countries like Germany, Switzerland and maybe the Czech Republic. We probably won't get to the TOP 5 countries, I'm a realist. After many years of suffering, we have a great future and I hope that our players will win some medals in the future. I am looking forward to the junior under-20 championships for the coming years. I think that with a little luck we could repeat the year 2015, where we won bronze. But in the competition of Canada, USA, Russia, Sweden, Finland it will be very difficult.
I think they'll put up a good fight in December when the U20's roll around. And after we see how many will be available next season. The 2023 World Juniors could be their time to strike. That team's top-6 could EASILY snag a medal if everything starts clicking :)
absolutely agree with you. I don't think we'll be at the top this year, but we can advance to the semifinals in a next year and get a medal. Our leaders will be even stronger and a year older and better. We did not play the worst last year, but it was clear that this is not the case yet and our leaders were younger (16 years old) to compete with older guys from TOP countries. We had the youngest team on tournament. But, for example, we lost only 3: 1 against Canada and we did not play the worst.
It seemed like in the early 2000's every 4th or 5th NHL draft pick was born in czechoslovakia. I've heard that after the end of Warsaw pact/communism and the '93 seperation, the transition for both countries to market economies was very difficult, so for 10+ years and the government had no money for youth development programs, less families could afford equipment and league fees, and the few that might develop into pros had to move away from their families to sweden/finland to join the player development systems there, so most better athletes went into football. In slovakia in particular there was a lot of corruption in the national program and Miro Šatan was appointed head of the national organization and has turned it around. Guys like Gaborik used their money to build rinks, buy equipment, etc.
I remember after the loss to Finland in 2010 a lot of sadness bc it seemed like the last shot at a medal as the pipeline was drying up and their "golden age" players were nearing the end of their careers, but they seem to be turning it around with a good number of potential future top-tier NHL players. Sweden/Canada/Finland will always be very good, USA has really improved in terms of producing numbers of top young talent, Russia seems to be going into a slow decline (I think they've moved way from focusing on hockey country-wide, the focus more on football with bandy as a winter sport.) Germany could be the next powerhouse of the future, tho. They were just OK until the 90's, went into big decline but now seems to be an explosion of popularity of hockey there and being such a big euro country with money they could be a an emerging perenial top-5 country. But remember: smaller european countries will always have a hidden advantage of chemistry as most of their players will have many more years of their top players playing together ever since they were kids.
Germany and Swiss maybe but definitely not the Czechs
@@dillon6320 Why not? Everything is possible. Czech hockey go down too...
MVP Slafkovsky and bronze 🤩
This aged well
The only guy who I think you missed out is Samuel Kňažko who already signed with CBJ but worth a mention I think
Didn't that age well... wow
and here we are after 2022 draft :))) !
Dvorsky seems to be now like a top 3-5 pick for 2023 Draft
Juding from the bronze medal the Slovaks won on the Olympics 2022, you were right!!
In my opinion I think you missed 2 solid young players with great potential, it's center Peter Repčík and perspective defender Maxim Štrbák, Repčík could be drafted already in 2022, Štrbák in 2023 possibly in 2024
After the H/G tourney, I grew a fat-love for Repcik, just knows where to be at all time, great fundamentals. Strbak is still growing and has lots of time before the draft. He was shaky at times, but his style is promising, and he has tons of potential. The Slovaks have a mad future ahead of them :)
i dont know if u saw it, but Servac Petrovsky has got too much unlucky at this tournament with scoring and taking points, but his play was one of the best in Team, This man is i think underated...
He's another one that really caught my eye. Fleet-footed skater, has a mind for offence, and a pretty deceptive wrister. Hit the post a few times so I'll vouch your claim that he was indeed, unlucky. Still really impressed me, and trust me, impressed a lot of people :)
Is that the one who's Ronald's son?
@@giampaolofini1535 Ronald is Petrovicky, not Petrovsky. But there is his Ronald's nephew Rayen Petrovicky in U20.
Great video Kai, god it’s 2:46 am here lol.
Thought I'd treat the Europeans to some primetime content ;)
Slovaks beyond 2023 NHL Draft: Tobias Pitka and Jakub Chromiak
Man you couldnt even know how right you were.
Jencko, he is at different level, the biggest tallent of 2005 in Slovakia
Showing promise in Sweden, hope he can string a quality season together next year :)
Check out Jakub Chromiak, a brother of LAK prospect Martin Chromiak. He is 2024 draft eligible and has put up 9 points in 16 games in Slovakia men’s second best league as a defenceman when he just turned 15. Another exciting talent
I've seen that name crawl into my searches before. I've got my eyes peeled :)
Add Adam Zlnka to the list for 2022, one of the best slovakian player in the Hlinka Gretzky 2021
Absolutely loved Adam Zlnka, gonna keep an eye on him this season ;)
I have the next name for you - Samuel Honzek. He is a pure goal scorer. Top scorer in his team in Slovakia. At 16.
I believe 8 goals in the men's league already?.. Definetly gonna be a treat to watch next year, maybe he comes to the CHL too who knows :)
Keep tabs on these guys... I warned ya :)
Also, audio sounds a bit "bassy", won't let that happen next time ;)
Another talent from HK Nitra, only 17 years old Adam Sykora. Already playing for the A team.
One of my favourites in the entire draft class, he emits pure energy. Perfect depth player IMO :)
dobrý deň
I played with one of the good players from hk nitra his name is roman urban
Hopefully we see the rise of more teams because it’s been Canada Russia USA and Sweden for the last 20 years
Germany and Slovakia are only rising...
And with due time, more will follow. Hockey is growing exponentially throughout eastern Europe and Asia, and even rinks are being developed in Africa, not at a high rate, but nevertheless the sport is reaching new territories, regardless of their ability to produce professional hockey players, seeing the sport we all know and love reach new grounds brings a smile to my face :)
@@FWFarenholtz Still waiting for hockey to reach the continent of Antarctica. There's already "rinks" there so it should be happening soon!
@@MrSharkFIN not even gonna lie man... that actually was a video idea of mine that got scrapped up last year... but you may have just ignited the interest again ;)
@@FWFarenholtz 🧐
Šimon Nemec- (Pronunciation) Shimon Ňemets, (Ň as a softer N)
Music ?
Usually I use actual instrumentals of real songs, but these ones were just random free-to-use beats, and I sadly don't remember the sources.... I've failed you and I deeply apologize :(
@@FWFarenholtzah unlucky
Aged very well 😂
Výslovnosť mien lvl 1000
10 points in 24 games in the U18 is not good production.
Go Habs go ;-)
na videu je velka vatšina mojej nitry či už dali gol alebo dostali....42
R.V. Will rise from HPK to take the 2025 draft
Adam Nemec in 2026 >:)
i am from Slovakia LOL
You're from Slovakia LOL LMAO funniest thing I heard all day 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Miroslav satan is Šatan
You were right.. Lol
I could have never predicted that, round of applause to that entire team :)
@@FWFarenholtz Literally entire country celebrated even my mother who does not like sports 😂. Thank you from slovakia🇸🇰
this aged so badly kazakhstan slovakia 4-3 loss slafkovsky didnt participate in the ice hockey world championship slovakia 9th
Your lack of patience and ADHD are showing 🤡
Not really... sorry 🤷🏼♂️
Lol you have 4 players and already thinking you can again play with top 6 :D Dont get wrong Slovaks have some really good talent and I hope their hockey will go up, BUT they just won only one preseason cup, I mean USA had like a C team there and Canada wasnt even there lol so I would not make this such a big deal.
And maybe I am wrong, but this will be exactly like Germany few years ago, you know they produce some sick talents like Draisailt, Stutzle, Reichel or Seider, but then they just succumb back to the mediocrity. Just look at the latest draft and the following drafts for Germany, there is literally no one interesting there.
And same will be for Slovakia I am afraid, after the 2022 and 23 draft there will again be no one for several years. If they want to compete with the top teams they need to have at least 2 players in first round and at least 10 players on the draft EVERY year from now on and we all know that this is not happening. Those talent they have now are pretty sick, but again its just 3-4 players and thats just not enough.
Just look at Slovak hockey in overall, their league is shit, they have like 6 players in the NHL playing freqently and four of them are over 30. In europe they just dont have enough really good players which are having bigger roles in top european leagues. Even in the Czech league Slovak players are not the stars of their teams mostly. So I really dont know how 4 players can turn Slovak hockey into a top level hockey nation again.
That's not a fun way to look at it man. Look on the brighter side :)
What about cehlarik, Krištof etc.. In khl svedish or finnosh league? They win golden helm :) and many good u20 player Like fehervary, ružička, bondra..
Just won only one preseason cup? No, they win summer hockey cup in germany, they destroy germany (4:1?, idk), denmark u20 8:1 and in finál they destroy czech 3:0
I agree that Slovak hockey has not been among the top 6 in the world for a few years. But 12 years ago, we started investing tens of millions of dollars in a project to educate a new "golden generation" of Slovak hockey.
Junior hockey academies are being established all over Slovakia where juniors also devote legends such as Zdeno Chára, Petrovický, Bondra sr, Satan during the summer ... They offer their experience to young players.
I think that this project is successful after 12 years and now we can see a new golden generation that has one goal, to bring the Medal and return Slovakia to the Top countries
@@FWFarenholtz Do not responding to that troll. He is from the Czech Republic. As soon as I saw the comment, I thought he was an envious Czech, and looking at his profile, I confirmed it. Loss of words.
its over for Slovakia
its only the beginning
Lol, they've had a few down years considering they've had to reinvent themselves in the post-Cold War development era, but they'll be back with star talent in no time.
@@dabluebandit no lol both Czech and Slovak hockey is done for, it ended with CSSR
@@lukebruce5234 Ended with CSSR? 12 Medals for the Czech since, 4 for Slovakia. I believe both of these coutries are gonna add a bunch of medals in the coming years :)
@@Sokyyyy All of these guys were brought up in the CSSR. Once the last players brought up in the CSSR started retiring Czech hockey started massively declining.