yesterday 15:41
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The Slovak hockey players fought their way to the semifinals of the tournament at the Olympic Games for the second time in history with Wednesday’s victory over the USA 3: 2 after the raids. Coach Craig Ramsay proved it with the team, most of whom are players from the Slovak and Czech top competitions.
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This was noticed by Czech commentators, who immediately set out to compare the Beijing results of the two once common state elections.
The Czech national team, which has a lot of players from the same leagues to choose from, unlike Slovakia, ended up in the fight for the playoffs, when they lost 2: 4 to Switzerland, while for the Helvetians it was the only win in Beijing. The Czechs took the final ninth place, which is the worst result for them at the Olympic Games in the history of independence and the federation.
The six-time world champions (1996, 1999-2001, 2005 and 2010) and holders of gold medals from the 1998 Olympic Games in Nagano and bronze medals from the Turin 2006 have only won the top four twice at the top events in the last five years (Olympic Games 2018, World Championship 2019).
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In his analysis on the Nova TV website, the Czech sports editor Jakub Martinovský selected several difference factors. “It is already clear to everyone that something is wrong with Czech hockey for a long time and that it cannot produce players who can compete with the world’s best,” stated.
Subsequently, he did not spare praise for Slovak hockey: “The results of the Slovak national hockey team prove that it is possible to have a lot of music for little money. In the list of our eastern neighbor we will find 14 players who work in the Czech or Slovak highest competition. The Czech team had six in Beijing.”
Among other difference factors, the commentator mentioned goalkeepers or young players. The goalkeeper Patrik Rybár had a huge share in the first step of Slovakia among the best four since the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver. He achieved a success rate of 94.29 percent in the quarterfinal match. For the team, his interventions were crucial in overtime. He eliminated several unloaded chances in it and a few minutes later also all US raids.
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The fisherman has an almost 96% success rate in the entire tournament, which is far more than the Czech goalkeeper Šimon Hrubec (85.62%) in the same number of matches. Although he is one of the best goalkeeper of the Russian KHL, he cannot prevail in the national team for a long time.
The difference player of the Slovak team was also 17-year-old Juraj Slafkovský, who with five goals leads the table of shooters at the Beijing Olympics and asks for a high place in the first round of the entry draft of the overseas NHL. The Czechs shot a lot, but out of 150 attempts they converted only ten and their staff lacked the most productive players of the local extra league Filip Chlapík and Milan Gulaš.
Another Slovak young man, 18-year-old Šimon Nemec, who deserved his assistance at the tournament, deserved praise when he was with Slafkovský in the only goal of the Slovaks in the Swedish net. According to experts, both are said to be in the top ten of this year’s NHL draft.
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