Bruins’ Chara leads gritty team of Slovaks
Otto Sykora, the general manager of the Slovakian hockey team, tried to explain why all this is so important to his country:
Why it’s important that Zdeno Chara carried the flag in the opening ceremony on Friday night;
Why it’s important that Lubomir Visnovsky plays in Sochi;
And why the ghost of Pavol Demitra still walks with its national team.
Sykora’s English is halting. But his message is clear as a clarion bell.
“In Slovakia, (hockey) is No. 1,” Sykora said. “It’s poor. Fifty per cent population, they play in filth. They don’t work. Fifty per cent population watches these games.
“These guys are special guys from the NHL. They are big heroes. This is just one chance to bring (them) all together, one time in four years.” And the country will stop for this. Tiny Slovakia and its population of some five million enters the Olympic tournament as the IIHF’s eighth-ranked team, but if it’s not the best team in Russia, it might be the most interesting.
There is the feel-good story involving the great Chara’s leave of absence from the Boston Bruins to carry the country’s flag; the intrigue over the status of New York Islanders defenceman Visnovsky; the loss of homerun hitter Marian Gaborik; and the emotional wallop of the Slovaks’ first Olympics after the death of national hero Demitra.
Four years ago in Vancouver, the Slovaks made a memorable run to the brink of the podium, upsetting Sweden 4-3 in the quarter-finals before falling 3-2 to Canada in a fierce semifinal that managed to scare the spit out of the entire host country. They then dropped a 5-3 decision to Finland in the bronzemedal game.
This time around, it’s hard to envision the Slovaks repeating the same heroics. But something strange and powerful happens when this group pulls on its country’s jersey.
Demitra died in a plane crash while playing in the KHL just over a year after the Vancouver Olympics.
At that season’s world championship in Zurich, the Slovaks went on a spirited run to the final, beating Canada in the quarter-final and the Czech Republic in the semis before falling to Russia.