If you had to name five famous Slovak hockey players, it would probably not be a problem for you. Well, if you were to remember the names of their wives, it would probably be a harder nut to crack. At the same time, the partners of hockey players are the ones who create the background for their success. One of them is Ingrid Šatanová, who has been a couple with Miroslav Šatan for an incredible 26 years. As usual, their love story started at the hockey stadium.
Big honor from IIHF today!!
Congrats to all other inductees!! pic.twitter.com/hdeRv881no— Miroslav Šatan (@miro81s) May 26, 2019
The sister of a friend from the newspaper
Šarky or The Silent Killer. Even so, Miroslav Šatan was nicknamed by his hockey colleagues. As a 19-year-old talented player, he was drafted to the NHL from Jacovies near Topoľčany, where he was selected by the Canadian Edmonton Oilers in 1993 out of the 111th overall pick. He dreamed of nothing else. Four years later, the Oilers management sent him to the Buffalo Sabres. A young Slovak, Ingrid, was also studying near Buffalo at the time. From the Bratislava conservatory, she went straight to a private singing studio. At that time, she had no idea that one day she would marry a famous hockey player.
Miro Šatan did not know Ingrid, but he was a friend of her brother. “In the United States, I lacked newspapers, so this friend mailed them to me. I found a photo in the newspaper that I really liked,” he mentioned Miro Šatan in the Late Night show. Ingrid, a talented Slovak opera singer, was in that photo. “That friend didn’t admit to me that he has such a pretty sister,” laughed the famous hockey player. When Šatan came a few months later to support the Slovak team at the World Championships, his “newspaper friend” also wanted to come and watch the match.
“But I have two tickets, so you have to take your sister too,” Satan said slyly to his friend. Judging by the way she shook his hand at the first meeting, it might seem that she was there out of compulsion, but in the end she completely fell for the young hockey player’s charm.
He did not confess to his parents
When Ingrid met Miro, she knew nothing about hockey, but in the end she dedicated her whole life to him. “Throughout my husband’s career, I have been building my relationship with this sport. It was a religious order, there was basically no time for anything else,” admitted for the Hey Mom portal. Ingrid moved to the United States, where she studied opera and Miro became an NHL star.
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Ingrid had concerts in America and sang anthems in stadiums before NHL games, where her partner always came to support her. When she had to sing the first hymn, she was very nervous, after all, there were 19,000 people in the audience. “I was getting ready on the penalty bench and Miro walked in front of the goalkeeper with a hockey stick and encouraged me,” she mentioned for romantic gestures.
While the entire NHL knew that Ingrid was Miro’s girlfriend, the parents at home in Slovakia had no idea about their relationship.
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