Big boost for Team Europe
Slovakia sending its best to World Cup 2016
Marian Hossa (left) and Andrej Sekera (middle), pictured with goalie Jan Laco during the 2014 Olympic Winter Games, are among the Slovak players who joined Team Europe for the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
Starting tomorrow a unique ice hockey team will take to the ice in Toronto.
Team Europe, as it’s called, will feature players from eight different European nations in the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. With no one country being represented, questions surround this group’s ability to be as competitive and motivated as the rest of the field which will be fighting for the flag on their chest.
Team Europe’s best advantage though, could lie in the fact that it gets to select the best ice hockey players from across the continent, rather than being restricted to picking players from one nation.
Granted, that does not count Czech Republic, Sweden, Finland and Russia, but this group won’t be lacking for talent and experience. One of the biggest contributing nations to the Team Europe roster is Slovakia, which will send NHL All-Stars like Zdeno Chara, Marian Gaborik, Jaroslav Halak, and Marian Hossa to Toronto along with Andrej Sekera and Tomas Tatar.
Team Europe’s biggest challenge will be to build a hockey team with players from different backgrounds and nationalities in a relatively short amount of time. The person tasked with the job, Team Europe General Manager and former Slovak national team forward Miroslav Satan, is aware that he is headed into uncharted territory with this team.
“Great players like Anze Kopitar or Mats Zuccarello never would be at the tournament like this, surrounded by talented NHLers. Due to Team Europe I think when this bunch of guys put to together, we get very strong team, which could compete with anyone on the tournament,” Miro Satan about Team Europe’s potential.
Satan won’t be working alone. Team Europe’s management includes a who’s who of international ice hockey talent rich in experience, starting at the top with German ice Hockey Association President and IIHF Council Member Franz Reindl and continuing on through with head coach Ralph Krueger.
“Both of them have the experience in Europe, the experience internationally but also in North America and the NHL,” said Reindl of Satan and Kruger. “They know international tournament and how to prepare a group for a tournament.”
“Ralph is also a leader and a great motivator, his teams play fast and fair and he’s a great ambassador for our sport.”
The 2016 World Cup of Hockey will be staged right before the beginning of the NHL season, rather than at its midpoint like the Winter Olympics or during the playoffs like with World Championship.
“We know this very important tournament that starts early in the season, the thing is that all teams will need to adjust,” said Chara. “Everyone would not have a lot of time for practice, so it will be interesting to see how every team get to their best performance. We have to make everything to get to best physically and mentally to make best results.”
While Slovakia has already qualified for the 2018 Olympics, Chara and the rest of Team Europe could get an additional advantage thanks some teammates that will be fitter than the rest come game time. Denmark and Germany will together send 11 players to Team Europe, most of them fresh from their Olympic Qualification tournaments. Frenchman Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Kopitar and Zuccarello also represented their teams in the Olympic Qualification where Norway, Germany and Slovenia earned the last spots for PyeongChang 2018 where they will join the top-8 hockey countries and host Korea.
“We are going to have same conditions as other teams. USA, Canada or Sweden, each of them starts the tournament in the beginning of season. We are not the favourites, but it will be very interesting to watch how the tournament will conclude. It looks our team is put together very good. Everything will depend on the current form,” said Gaborik.
“You'll never know, every game will be different. We believe that we could do some good in the tournament,” he added.
Chara was quick to point out that the challenges facing the team are big, starting in the preliminary round with Team Europe slated to go up against the Czech Republic, Team USA, and defending Olympic and World Champions Canada.
“Canada,” said Chare when asked to name the favourite of the tournament. “They play at home and on the other past big tournaments they finished in the first places. They have definitely best players in the world.”
“On the other side they will be under biggest pressure, which we could use for us,” added Satan. “Other teams will be very strong, but we believe we will be biggest surprise of the tournament.”
It’s a departure from your standard international hockey tournament, and with the inclusion of a Team North America comprised of under-23 players from Canada and the United States, the 2016 World Cup certainly has a unique flavour.
With puck drop coming up fast, the world will soon find out whether these European All-Stars can write their own history.