Thursday, August 19, 2004
Slovakia: Palffy Out, Cibak In
Dagnabbit!!
The Slovak Hockey Federation announced today that Zigmund Palffy has pulled out of the World Cup of Hockey, and will be replaced by the pride of Liptovsky Mikulas: Martin Cibak.
Up until now, the Slovaks have escaped much of the injury devastation and player defections that have plagued the other countries. Regrettably, Slovakia did not get into the tournament unscathed and this is a major blow.
Unlike the deep squads from Canada and Czechia, the Slovaks do not have the depth to sustain losses to many of their front-line stars. Slovakia�s B-team has had difficulty against weaker teams like Hungary in the past few years, so big losses like Palffy will severely hinder the Slovak�s chances at conquest.
If all of the injured players decided to get healthy and form their own little team, they would probably kick some serious booty in the tournament...it�s getting ridiculous in that aspect.
Life goes on, and now the Slovaks are preparing for their training camp.
Right now, the projected lines to open up training camp:
Defence
Chara-Lintner
Visnovsky-Strbak
Majesky-Suchy
Obsut-Mezei
Forwards
Hossa-Demitra-Nagy
Gaborik-Stumpel-Bondra
Satan-Handzus-Bartecko
Orszagh-Hlinka-Radivojevic
Bartecko-Cibak-Somik
I�d love to see a reunion of the St. Louis Slovak Pak (Demitra-Handzus-Bartecko), but that seems unlikely as Demitra will be used primarily as a center.
---
Oh, and here is a picture of Hlinka�s car after it was smashed, thanks to the good(?) folks at hokej.idnes.cz. It would be hard to survive this devastation.
Comments:
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Ohh, you picked the most unbloodied photo at all, those pictures of Hlinka's car are realy scary. It is really sad, because this car Superb is the largest car ever made in CR and should be as safe as any german car.
I wonder if you understand czech, Jes?
Hugokv
I wonder if you understand czech, Jes?
Hugokv
# posted by 
: 12:00 am
: 12:00 am
Well HugoKv
1. My weblog is a public forum and, while not a 'family' site, I don't want to have excessive bad language and too much blood in pictures :)
2. My Czech is very bad... I know enough to read a few hockey articles and terms, and swear words! :)...I rely on others to help me out in the Czech/Slovak area of things...
1. My weblog is a public forum and, while not a 'family' site, I don't want to have excessive bad language and too much blood in pictures :)
2. My Czech is very bad... I know enough to read a few hockey articles and terms, and swear words! :)...I rely on others to help me out in the Czech/Slovak area of things...
That's a pretty formidable team the Slovaks have there. Very happy to see Vlady Orszagh on the squad too! He's a very important member of the predators and works his tail off every game.
My question is: who is the Slovak goalie? I can't think of a single NHL goalie from Slovakia.
- Jason
My question is: who is the Slovak goalie? I can't think of a single NHL goalie from Slovakia.
- Jason
# posted by : 10:39 am
: 10:39 am
Starting goalie is the Preds' old prospect Jan Lasak...he's the man!! He played last year in Russia b/c the Preds had no faith in him and went with Mason as the backup. Lasak has been present as the #1 man for all of Slovakia's big achievements since the breakup of Czechoslovakia.
Backup will be Capitals farmhand Rastislav Stana and 3rd goalie is Peter Budaj, an Avalanche farmhand.
Backup will be Capitals farmhand Rastislav Stana and 3rd goalie is Peter Budaj, an Avalanche farmhand.
I saw Lasak up close in one of the few games he played in Nashville, and I was pretty impressed with him. He gave up three goals, but there was basically no defense in front of him (unless Cale Hulse and Bill Houlder count as 'defense'). If Lasak hadn't worked so hard, the score probably would have been 9- or 10-0.
I was kind of disappointed when Nashville decided not to pursue him, but I also think he's too good to be just a backup to Vokoun. He dserves a lot more playing time than he'd ever get in Nashville.
- Jason
I was kind of disappointed when Nashville decided not to pursue him, but I also think he's too good to be just a backup to Vokoun. He dserves a lot more playing time than he'd ever get in Nashville.
- Jason
# posted by : 12:38 pm
: 12:38 pm
I remember when Lasak played a game here against the Canucks.
He was a-w-f-u-l
Lasak's biggest failing is that he can really collapse after letting in a squeaker.
In some games, he'll let in a soft goal and he'll just totally lose his composure. He's too emotional for his position (like a young Kolzig, minus the temper) and needs to learn to shake off goals. As long as he doesn't get beaten by a 'weak' goal, he can be nearly unbeatable. In international tournaments, he hasn't lost his composure and has carried Slovakia well.
as long as Russia pays well and the Preds play Vokoun so often, I don't think Lasak has any future with that club.
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He was a-w-f-u-l
Lasak's biggest failing is that he can really collapse after letting in a squeaker.
In some games, he'll let in a soft goal and he'll just totally lose his composure. He's too emotional for his position (like a young Kolzig, minus the temper) and needs to learn to shake off goals. As long as he doesn't get beaten by a 'weak' goal, he can be nearly unbeatable. In international tournaments, he hasn't lost his composure and has carried Slovakia well.
as long as Russia pays well and the Preds play Vokoun so often, I don't think Lasak has any future with that club.
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