Reconciliation did not come with the decision to nominate Slovak players from the KHL for Olympic qualification, rather the opposite. Camps of supporters and opponents of the return of players from the Russian competition continue to stand behind their own. Tomáš Marcinko, a Slovak in the service of Kometa Brno, made it clear which opinion he is closer to.
Photo: Martin Baumann
Slovak ice hockey players during the World Cup in 2018 – from left Mário Grman, Christián Jaroš, Adam Jánošík, Dávid Bondra, Tomáš Marcinko, Michal Čajkovský, Patrik Rybár and assistant coach Róbert Petrovický.
The leadership of the Slovak Ice Hockey Association has decided that anyone can be called up to the Slovak team. The SZĽH thus decided on the basis of a survey among Slovak clubs.
52 percent of clubs spoke in favor of KHL players starting in the national team, 38 percent were against and 10 percent abstained from voting.
“I’m sorry that instead of the union saying “play where you want”, it left it to a kind of suspicious vote of the clubs.
We don’t even know how many clubs actually voted, it is obvious from the statements that not all of them voted. This is about throwing responsibility on others,” said Marcinko in an interview for Sportnet.
There are currently nine Slovaks in the KHL – goalkeeper Patrik Rybár, defenders Christián Jaroš, Martin Gernát, Michal Čajkovský, Mário Grman and forwards Tomáš Jurčo, Adam Ružička, Michal Krištof and Adam Liška. Coach Craig Ramsay called Gernát, Grman and Liška.
Objections to the new order were also heard from the players’ cabin – when Calgary forward Martin Pospíšil learned that there would be a trio from the KHL in the team for the Olympic tournament in Bratislava, he let himself be heard saying that he had to think about his participation.
He wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to play with his brother Kristián, but at the same time stated that “sometimes the sports side has to go to the side”.
Pospíšilovci finally announced via the social network that they did not change their opinion regarding the participation of players from the KHL, but decided to accept the national team invitation.
Kristián Pospíšil is Marcink’s teammate in Brno. “He told me that he would prefer to focus only on his performance and not on how the nomination will look.
Unfortunately, hockey life also brings such situations. There are worse things happening in Slovakia at the moment, but this is also an unpleasant problem,” said former representative Marcinko.
According to him, Slovakia is sending a negative signal to the world of sports and beyond. “For the past two years, the national team functioned well even without players from the KHL.
I don’t think that three players will save her, even if they are quality hockey players. I know them well and they will certainly be an asset on the ice.
But is it worth the signal we send to the world? It’s not worth it,” added Marcinko.
Source: sportweb.pravda.sk
