During the 2009 World U20 Championship in Ottawa I had a conversation with a Russian journalist which went like this: “Do you know why Marian Gaborik has become such a sniper and how Zdeno Chara became good at blocking shots?”

Not sure if this was meant to be a joke or serious, I shrugged my shoulders.

“Because they learned to play hockey with no goaltending,” he said with a smile. The Russian U20 juniors were leading 6-1 after 40 minutes against their Slovak counterparts and eventually ran up to score a lopsided 8-1 victory.

Slovakia’s U20 national team goalie Jaroslav Janus took exception. Although he did let in three goals on 14 shots against the Russians, he earned his country a quarterfinal spot coming up big in the shootout against Finland. In that quarterfinal, he caught the attention of the world with a whopping 44-save performance against Team USA, followed by 46 saves against Sweden in the semi-finals.

Was Janus to become an elite talent or did he just peak at the right moment? That question along with the Russian journalist’s remark kept bugging me.

To date, just four Slovak goalkeepers have made it to the NHL, a number that is far below that of forwards and defencemen. In total, 70 Slovak players made it to the big show meaning that the goalies make up less than 6%. The quartet also never panned out as clear starting goaltenders either, accumulating 281 games. Jan Lasak had two brief stints with the Nashville Predators while Rastislav Stana tended the net six games for the Washington Capitals. In Denver, Peter Budaj failed to grab a starting spot and has settled in as a backup goaltender while Jaroslav Halak excels from time to time in Montreal but faces stiff competition from Carey Price.

Compared to other Slovaks making the NHL the number is indeed shy. After all, the country has provided the league with offensive wizards like the Stastnys, Stan Mikita, Marian Gaborik, Miroslav Satan, Peter Bondra, Pavol Demitra, Marian Hossa or Zigmund Palffy. Also defensively they have enriched the NHL with solid players as Zdeno Chara, Lubomir Visnovsky, Robert Svehla, Lubomir Sekeras and more recently Andrej Meszaros, Andrej Sekera and Milan Jurcina.

The parallel between the four goalies is that they all moved to North America at an early age. Let’s turn to the most probable starter for Slovakia during the upcoming Olympics, Halak, to find his views on the matter.

“When I was young there was not much focus on goalies and you were on your own mostly,” Halak remembers. “Our junior team did have a goalie coach, but we never did anything special on the ice, I was just told what I did right and wrong. In Ruzinov, where I started, we had goalie practice just once per week.” At the age of 18 he left for North America and soon found out things were different, not just off the ice.

“The training methods are superb here and you get far more shots on net, everyone of them being dangerous. That makes you a better goaltender,” says Halak, who does see things improving in Slovakia.

“Things are getting better now. There are regular goalie camps being organized and training methods have been updated. Five years ago they were only teaching us old school stuff.”

Jan Lasak agrees that things are getting better in his homeland. “There are more qualified coaches now, but we still have a lot of ground to make up,” he says. Lasak started the season in the Czech league with HC Pardubice, had a short stint in Slovakia with HC Kosice before signing a temporary contract with Russia’s Atlant Mytishchi. He is therefore entitled to compare goaltender training methods in different countries.

“My spell in the United States ranks top. The level was completely different than in any other country. This was mainly due to the presence of coach Mitch Korn in Nasvhille, a true personality and the best coach I’ve ever met,” Lasak claims. “In the Czech Republic things are also good since they really care about their goalkeepers, but they do not have special goalie coaches, nor in Russia.”

I decided to keep my focus on the Slovak league and turn to MHC Martin goalie Karol Krizan. The 29-year-old participated in two World U20 Championships and five World Championships as well as the 2006 Olympic Winter Games. After four years in Sweden and a few months in Switzerland, he’s been back in Slovakia. He has honed his skills in his homeland and never moved to North America.

“Back in my junior days we had more goalkeepers and I benefited from that as I was allowed to practice with the men’s team from time to time. To make the first team and get some ice time was very motivating for me during practices,” said Krizan. “Practice sessions in Slovakia do not really differ much from those in Sweden or Switzerland, perhaps only some small variations in specific exercises.”

Based on the words of the goalies things seem to be pretty equal within Europe whereas in North America there seems to be more focus on goaltending. Yet this wasn’t the reason for Janus to take the plane to Canada. “I left for the Ontario Hockey League when I got drafted because I felt I would get more chances in that league than in the Slovak Extraliga,” Janus says. “The Erie Otters coach had faith in me and gave me ample opportunities.”

Perhaps that touches on another major difference. In Europe a netminder who has outgrown the junior league often finds himself on the bench or in the stands with the first team where a veteran is sucking up the majority of games.

Lasak was the only one of the four goaltenders who did not play junior hockey in North America. “Perhaps it had been better to leave earlier but I feel that any goaltender who has the opportunity to play in the Extraliga should stay,” he proclaims. “A reason many juniors move over is to increase their chances to get drafted though.”

This season several young goalkeepers like Julius Hudacek (21, HC Kosice), Branislav Konrad (22, Slovan Bratislava), Zdenko Kotvan (20, HK 36 Skalica) and Vladimir Kovac (22, Dukla Trencin) are getting regular ice time in Slovakia’s professional league, but this hasn’t been exactly the case in recent seasons when goalkeepers left for Canadian junior hockey.

According to Dusan Gregor this was not solely about coaches not giving them opportunities. The 2004 Slovak coach of the year currently coaches MHC Martin and is also critical at the youngsters themselves. “It’s a tough question but in my opinion young goalkeepers do get enough opportunities to play,” Gregor feels. “On the other hand one, not just juniors, should earn the chance and should be willing to fight for this,” he says, indicating this is not always the case. Despite this the coach is not against young goaltenders leaving their home country on an early age. “The level of junior hockey is top in North America, especially for goalies. So if a goaltender can optimize his skills there, I’m all for it.”

The 2010 World Juniors recently ended and saw Slovakia back in the relegation round where they finished eighth. Neither goaltender Marek Ciliak nor Tomas Halasz identified themselves as the fifth Slovak goaltender in the NHL. A fact not deemed very worrying by most Slovaks.

Lasak: “Slovakia is a small country with few arenas so it’s not easy to produce a lot of NHL goalkeepers.” Karol Krizan adds another factor that leads to the low number. “There are so many great Canadian and American goaltenders that it’s difficult to compete with them. I think we can be satisfied with the numbers we have over there.” Dusan Gregor is on the same line pointing out that a simple comparison can not be made due to the fact that Slovakia is one of the smallest ice hockey nations (from the top 8) in Europe. “If you would do a study based on the total number of Slovak players in the NHL, I think we are doing not too bad.”

The current group of young goaltenders in the Slovak Extraliga could be a boost for future Slovak goaltending. After years of stalled development, Slovak hockey teams have upgraded their goalie practices which could lead to another Budaj or Halak.

“Slovak goalkeepers need to get that global mentality in their heads, so far nobody succeeded in bringing that to our country,” Jan Lasak states. “Hopefully this happen before I finish my career and I can see a star goalie in the NHL hailing from Slovakia.”

Notebook:

• Slovakia announced its Olympic roster in late December. Other than obvious selections Peter Budaj and Jaroslav Halak, the position of the third goalie was still open. Rastislav Stana of Russian club Severstal Cherepovets was given the nod. Stana participated in the 2002 Olympics in which he played one game.
• Slovan Bratislava’s strong season is marked with the team scoring the most goals (131) and conceding the fewest (63) in 31 games. Branislav Konrad (aged 22) has a big role between the pipes. Acquired last season, Konrad has established himself as a starting goaltender and  leads the Extraliga in goals against average (2.00) and save percentage (94.32%). On top of that he has posted a league best three shutouts.
• Also at the  junior level, Slovan Bratislava gets top notch goaltending. 1992-born Filip Orcik tops the goaltending charts in the U18 league whereas Tomas Pek is amongst the best goalies in the national U20 league.
• Although lacking elite NHL goaltenders, Slovakia does hold the record for most shutouts at the World U20 Championships. Jaroslav Halak collected four shutouts back in 2004 and 2005, a number unmatched so far. A large group of goalies follow with three clean sheets including the likes of Nikolai Khabibulin, Kari Lehtonen and Henrik Lundqvist.

JOERI LOONEN