World Championships in Hockey 2025: The second rival of Slovakia is Slovenia (analysis)
Stockholm. In the world, they often mistake the country’s name for a similar flag. Slovak hockey team will start in his second match at Hockey World Championships 2025 against Slovenia.
Slovenia’s hockey team regularly penetrates between the elite category and 1. Last year, the Slovenes managed to advance again despite the opening loss with South Korea 2: 4.
This year, the Slovenian selection is undergoing a minor generation variation. Coach Edo Terglav brought 8 players under 21 to the championship and the main goal of players with a feature on the jerseys will be a rescue in the elite category.
Up to 10 representatives headed by Captain Robert Sabolič were delivered by Slovenian champion HK Olimpija Ljubljana working in the multinational Icehl.
In addition, there is an interesting mix of players from various competitions from the University NCA to the French highest competition to the Russian KHL.
The limited gaming base allowed participation in the World Championship and players from the second Czech highest competition (defender Miha Štebih from HC Slavia Třebíč) and the third German league (striker Zan Jezovšek from EV Lindau).
Goalkeepers
Among the three Slovenian goalies is missing a long -time support Gašper Krošelj. The position of the goalie unit should be acquired by the Czech goalkeeper Lukáš Horák.
A native of the bridge won the title with Litvín 10 years ago, but he caught the last 2 seasons in Olimpi Ljubljana, which fulfilled the condition for the start in the Slovenian jersey.
In the opening match at the tournament he showed several brilliant interventions against Canadian stars And a total of 40 shots stopped.
Defenders
The defense is dominated by three veterans who have the best years behind – Blaž Gregorc plays at home in Slovenia, Alexandar Magovac in France and Matic Podlipnik in the Alpine Hockey League.
Experience in the tournament is gathered by two youngsters from Canadian junior competitions OHL and QMJHL-19-year-old Urban Podrekar and 18-year-old talented Jan Goličič, whose drafted in the 4th round of Tampa Bay Lightning a year ago.
Attackers
The biggest threat to the opponents should be the right wing of the Matic Török. The 21-year-old attacker collected a respectable 28 points (12+16) in the Finnish league in the Kookoo Kouvoula jersey. In the first attack, the band comes alongside Captain Sabolič and another player of the championship of Ljubljana of the year.
The second attack consists of a pair of youngsters from the University NCA – NACE Langus and Filip Sitar, complemented by Jan Drozg from Kunlun Red Star, China. The 26-year-old striker drafted Pittsburgh Penguins has been working in KHL for three years and is one of the national team’s support.
Although the balance of the World Championship is favorable, the Slovaks have two losses against Slovenia at the Olympic Games. First they lost in 2014 in Sochi, Russia 1: 3 and four years later in Pyongyang, South Korea, 2: 3 after separate raids.
Match forecast
An unpopular opponent, but we have to score! The first match of the Slovenians against Canada (0: 4) indicated that the Slovak national team is not expecting a light match at all, perhaps even the most important in the tournament.
Although quality is clearly on the side of Slovakia, the Slovenes will put a tough resistance and the difference in the score will not be significant. The Canadians were able to break the opponent in power play and that could be an effective recipe for success in the match.
