At a press conference today the head coach of Slovakia’s national ice-hockey team, Glen Hanlon, announced the first 15 players of the pre-championship lineup for the upcoming IIHF World Championships.
The squad was put together for the warm-up games and so far the keepers have not been selected, although the top tips to fill these spots are NHL players Jaroslav Halak and Peter Budaj. Hanlon said the number 3 spot would go to one of the rising stars from the Slovak league, who would get a chance to show their skills in the warm-up games.
Hanlon said that the choice of players was not easy, but was thankful for the fact that there are so many experienced Slovak players to choose from, who play all over the world. The first preparation match will be away to Finland on 1 April, but those chosen for the warm-up games have no guarantee of a final place in the squad for the World Championships.
Players selected so far:
Ivan Baranka (Spartak Moscow), Peter Podhradsky (Dinamo Minsk), Dominik Granak (Dinamo Moscow), Richard Lintner (SaiPa), Ivan Svarny (Litvinov), Michal Sersen (Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg), Miroslav Satan (Dinamo Moscow), Juraj Mikus, Stefan Ruzicka, Branko Radivojevic (Spartak Moscow), Martin Cibak (Severstal Cherepovets), Rastislav Dej (Karlove Vary), Tomas Surovy (Dinamo Riga), Milan Bartovic (Liberec), Marcel Hossa (AK Bars Kazan).