## Országh Nominated 22 Players for Kaufland Cup – Olympic Warm-up
BRATISLAVA – The coach of the Slovak national hockey team, Vladimír Országh, has nominated a total of 22 players for the December Christmas Kaufland Cup – a tournament warm-up before the Olympic tournament in Milan.At the home event in Banská Bystrica, an experienced team with several leaders will compete against Norway and Latvia. One of them is Tomáš Tatar, the striker of Swiss Zug. The official hockeyslovakia.sk portal informed.
Among the defenders, the most experienced are Peter Čerešňák with 120 national team starts and Marek Ďaloga with 112. Martin marinčin, the key defender of Třinca, will play again in the national team. Among the forwards, his teammate Libor Hudáček is the most experienced with 133 starts for the national team. Tatar, Marek Hrivík, Lukáš Cingel and Peter Cehlárik will also bring experience to the team. For the first time as the WC 2024 in Ostrava, Marko Daňo will also be represented in the national team.
“When creating the nomination, we tried to take into account the fact that it is a warm-up before the Olympics. About half of the team presented themselves at the German Cup, the other was made up of players who were absent due to busy schedules at the club, be it players from Kometa Brno, Třinac or Hradec Králové.
We knew from the beginning of the season that we only had five games to prepare for the Olympics. Three are behind us and as we haven’t seen some players in action at international level, they will come now.” said head coach Országh on the occasion of the creation of the list.
The attacking trio Takač – sukeľ – Okuliar, which presented itself in an excellent light at the German Cup, will be presented together again. Sukeľ scored 5 goals, exactly half of the 10 Slovak goals in three duels in Landshut.
Takač assisted him on five and Okuliar added three more assists. They pleased Országh so much that he nominated all three again and will give them a chance to confirm their high-quality interplay in December as well. In Banská Bystrica, the national team coach will try to find other optimal compositions of defensive pairs or attacking trios.
“these tournaments are not only for us to prepare for the
Slovakia Announces roster for 2025 Kaufland Cup
Slovakia has announced its roster for the Kaufland Cup 2025,an international ice hockey tournament. The team features a mix of players currently competing in leagues across Europe, including the Czech Extraliga, Swedish Hockey League, and Swiss National League.
Roster Breakdown
Goalkeepers:
* Eugen Rabčan (HC’05 Banská Bystrica, Slovakia) – 3 national team starts
* Stanislav Škorvánek (Moutfield HK, Czech Republic) – 18 national team starts
Defenders:
* Peter Čerešňák (HC Dynamo Pardubice, Czech Republic) – 120 games, 9 goals
* Marek Ďaloga (HC Kometa Brno, czech Republic) – 112 games, 11 goals
* František Gajdoš (HC Verva litvínov, Czech Republic) – 39 games, 1 goal
* Michal Ivan (Bílí Tygři Liberec, Czech Republic) – 80 games, 5 goals
* patrik Koch (HC Oceláři Třinec, Czech Republic) – 86 games, 3 goals
* Martin Marinčin (HC Oceláři Třinec, Czech Republic) – 45 games, 6 goals
* Dávid Mudrák (Moutfield HK, Czech Republic) – 37 games, 2 goals
* Mislav Rosandič (HC Košice, Slovakia) – 78 games, 4 goals
Attackers:
* Peter Cehlárik (Leksand IF, Sweden) – 70 games, 31 goals
* Lukáš Cingel (HC Kometa Brno, Czech Republic) – 82 games, 13 goals
* marko Daňo (HC Oceláři Třinec, Czech Republic) – 51 games, 7 goals
* martin Faško-Rudáš (Bílí Tygři Liberec, Czech Republic) – 59 games, 9 goals
* Marek Hrivík (HC Vítkovice Ridera, Czech Republic) – 59 games, 15 goals
* Libor Hudáček (HC Oceláři Třinec, Czech Republic) – 133 games, 32 goals
* Miloš Kelemen (HC Dynamo Pardubice, Czech Republic) – 36 games, 10 goals
* Oliver Okuliar (Skelleftea AIK, Sweden) – 34 games, 8 goals
* Kristián Pospíšil (HC Kometa Brno, Czech Republic) – 34 games, 7 goals
* Matúš Sukeľ (HC Verva Litvínov, Czech Republic) – 96 games, 19 goals
* Samuel Takáč (HC Slovan Bratislava, Slovakia) – 54 games, 13 goals
* Tomáš tatar (EV Zug, Switzerland) – 79 games, 19 goals
Kaufland Cup Schedule
Slovakia will play two games in the Kaufland Cup:
* December 10: Slovakia vs. Norway – 18:00 local time
* December 12: Slovakia vs. Latvia – 18:00 local time
Norway and Latvia will also face off on December 11th at 18:00 local time.
Source: TASR (via List/Facebook/Hockey Slovakia)