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A limited number of Slovak hockey players met in Bratislava at a meeting before leaving for the Winter Olympics in Beijing. Juraj Slafkovský, 17, was among the fourteen players to be welcomed by the coaches.
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The great talent of Slovak hockey is one of three juniors who worked their way up to the final nomination, as well as 17-year-old Šimon Nemec and 19-year-old Samuel Kňažko.
Slafkovský and Nemec experienced their premiere in the senior national team a year ago in preparation for the World Hockey Championships. They were so impressed by the performances that they fought their way to the championship itself. Subsequently, they were not missing in the team that won the promotion to the Olympics in qualifying.
In December, they were to be among the leaders of Slovakia at the U20 Hockey World Championships, which, however, were canceled after a few days due to a widespread coronavirus infection. The Slovaks managed to play only two matches, the last on December 28.
Since then, Juraj Slafkovsky has been unlucky on his heels. He brought a coronavirus from the championships and had to take a break. Then the contagion spread to his Finnish team TPS Turku and they had to postpone the matches.
He started the first duel after the junior tournament almost after the month of January 22nd. However, he only managed to play in it for six minutes. In the second period, he hit his opponent in the head and neck with his elbow, for which he wandered prematurely under the showers.
“I wanted to finish it, it moved away from me and I no longer knew how to control my hands and I hit him unhappily. Things like that happen, I’m not the first or the last. I just have to learn from it and move on. ” described the situation from his point of view at an online press conference.
The disciplinary commission of the highest Finnish competition awarded him up to six match distances for a foul. “Personally, I did not expect such a punishment. But they probably know why I got him. I personally can’t explain it. “
He had already served two matches. There are still four that he could survive while in the national team, as the Finnish league does not stop. However, he did not know whether this would be the case or whether he would have to sit down in the rostrum after returning.
“Hard to say. They told me that today’s TPS match should also count. Then there would be only three left and I don’t know if they will end for the next week or after the Olympics, ” said the robust striker.
How did he come to the camp after all these events from the last month in tune? “I arrived in a good mood. I’m looking forward to being able to play good hockey and after a long time I’ll probably play the whole match. “
Juraj Slafkovský
Source: http://hc.tps.fi/
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He didn’t do much science even from a long break without a match. “It simply came to our notice then. I’ve already played maybe 50 games this season. I had time to train a little and improve on some things, “ found a positive on the Slafkovský break.
He will only travel to the Olympics at the age of 17. What are they most looking forward to? “For the whole atmosphere, how it will work there. Of course, also for hockey and a lot of experienced players who will play against us. “
Does he also have sports that he would like to go to if they were allowed to do so? “Like everyone from us skiing and Petra Vlhová, but I don’t know how it will all work there.”
He is not worried that the Olympic hockey tournament will turn out as badly as the U20 Ice Hockey World Championships, which they canceled for several positive cases. “In my opinion, it will be far better organized than the turn-of-the-year tournament. Such a situation will probably not happen again. I might say it will never happen again in my life, that they will take care of it. Anything can happen, but I think it will all go smoothly. ” added the hockey player, to whom they estimate the selection in the top ten in the next draft.
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