Slovak ice-hockey players after winning against Denmark. From left: David Romaňák, captain Peter Cehlárik and Jakub Minárik. (source: TASR)
Slovak ice-hockey players have started readying themselves for next year's World Championship by winning the Deutschland Cup tournament in Germany, held last week.
The national team defeated Austria 1:0, Germany 6:2 and finally Denmark 3:2 in shootout, claiming their first win in eight years, fifth in total.
"The game was fast and our boys gave their best throughout the entire tournament. In many cases they dictated the flow of the game, they were active. Considering that we had a fairly young team supplemented by new players, it was not visible at all. The results speak for themselves," said Slovak Ice-hockey Federation chair Miroslav Šatan after the tournament, as quoted by the TASR newswire.
This was the first time the national team won the cup with coach Craig Ramsay at the helm.
"Finally, my time has come. In the past, we had great rosters, especially last year when we beat Germany in the last game only to find out we were one goal short of winning the tournament. It's a tough event. There were many young players who had a chance to make their mark, and we were no exception. Our players did a great job," said Ramsay, as quoted by the TASR newswire.
Although this was the first time defenceman Adam Žiak and goalkeeper Rastislav Eliaš donned the national Jersey, Ramsay praised both, saying that they came off like they have been playing with the team for quite some time. Šatan was also very satisfied with their performance.
In December, the national team will continue preparing at the Kaufland Cup in Poprad, Slovakia, this time facing the Latvian and Norwegian national ice-hockey teams.
