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Slovakia's spirit isn't injured.(NHL)
Slovakian forward Miroslav Hlinka was watching the clock closely. In the penalty box during an exhibition game against Sweden, time was running out on his penalty and he was looking up, not ahead. Had he been looking at the ice, he would have noticed the play coming his way. He would have seen teammate Michal Handzus and a Swedish player heading toward the penalty box. But Hlinka was focused only on the clock. When the penalty ended, he flung open the door just as Handzus went to check a Swedish player against the boards. Instead of finishing his check, Handzus hit the opening for the door and tore a biceps.
It was some seriously bad luck for the Slovaks, and it wasn't the team's last head-shaking moment.
This World Cup was supposed to be Slovakia's time to shine, to take down the bigger guys despite not having a No. 1 NHLer in goal. In the 1996 World Cup, Slovakia didn't win a game. More recently, the 2002 Olympics were a great disappointment for this country of 5.4 million and its idolized hockey players. Forced to play in the qualifying round (before all NHL players were released to participate), the Slovaks didn't make it into the main tournament. So here, in this World Cup of Hockey, where they were guaranteed a place at the adult table and expected to have their best players, they would show the world what Slovaks could do.
At least, that was the plan. But the best-laid plans ... well ...
Before the games even began to count, Slovakia lost half of its core to injury.
Winger Ziggy Palffy backed out before training camp because of a shoulder injury. Center Handzus and winger Peter Bondra (broken thumb) were sidelined in pre-tournament games, and a puck off the hand in practice ended the tournament for defenseman Ivan Majesky (broken finger).
"Palffy, Handzus, Bondra.... That's almost half of our core," said Peter Stastny, Slovakian hockey legend and the team's general manager. "You have six or seven players that are your core on any team, and you build around them. We lost three core players."