photo: © Tomas Lengyel
The last time Slovakia played in the top division of the IIHF Ice Hockey U18 World Championship was in 2019 in Sweden. That year, the Slovaks finished dead last and were relegated to Division I Group A.
The following season, the Slovak Ice Hockey Association started trying to rebuild its youth program and revived “Projekt 18” – a team that plays together all season long, similar to the extremely successful United States National Team Development Program.
To help with player development, recently retired Slovak hockey legend Jozef Stumpel was hired as a team consultant. Remembered as a longtime NHLer, Olympian and member of Slovakia’s lone World Championship team in 2002, Stumpel had been a great two-way centre with lots of knowledge on the finer points of the game.
“I came in and started helping guys with faceoffs and working with the power play,” said Stumpel. “It’s a good school for me too because I’m learning how to coach and teach the guys. It’s good for their development and my development too.”
After three years in Piestany, the U18 team is now based in Poprad, where a new rink has been built by a private sports high school, which the players attend. The team plays a schedule of games in two leagues: Slovakia’s top U20 league and second-tier professional league. In addition, the team plays against other U18 national teams at regular international breaks in the season, where they’re joined by other players from abroad.
This wasn’t Slovakia’s first attempt to concentrate junior national teams together, but this one seems to be more successful.
“We started the ‘Projekt U20’ a long time ago, but I think those guys should already be playing in the men’s league and learning from the older guys,” said Stumpel. “I think the U18s are a better idea because you can develop them more easily. I think that’s the right way.”
From what we’ve seen of the Slovak U18 national team since then, the results have been spectacular. They got some attention when they went to the final of the 2021 Hlinka Gretzky Cup – a tournament they had previously done poorly in. Players have included 2004-born Juraj Slafkovsky and Simon Nemec – the first two picks at last year’s NHL Entry Draft – and 2005-born Dalibor Dvorsky.
Unfortunately, two straight years of pandemic-related cancellations meant that the Slovaks didn’t have a chance to play for promotion until last year. With a roster that wouldn’t have been out of place in the top division, the Slovaks won five straight Division I Group A games on home ice.
“We were missing some of our top guys but we were working with what we had,” said Stumpel. “Playing against those other teams was hard because the pressure was on us. Everyone expected us to win and some of those other teams are hard to play against, and we knew we probably had to beat them all if we wanted to go up to the top group.”
Slafkovsky, who was playing in the Finnish Liiga playoffs with TPS Turku, missed the tournament. Nemec, who was also in the midst of professional playoffs with Stumpel’s hometown HK Nitra, played one game.
“That game against Norway was very important and we wanted to make sure we won it, so he came in,” said Stumpel. “It was a good example of the federation having good cooperation with the club.”
He further elaborated: “You have to work with all the local clubs and all the coaches and have everybody on the same page. That’s the key because they’re the ones that are working with the really young kids. They’re the ones that bring them into hockey in the first place so that you’ve got lots of young boys and girls to start with, and you need to instill good habits in them, on and off the ice. Then, when it comes time for the national program, there are lots of good players to choose from and we can take them to the next level.”
And of course that doesn’t stop with the U18 national team. The players move up to the U20 level – where the Slovaks put on a solid performance at the most recent IIHF World Junior Championship – and then to the senior men’s team, where in recent years Craig Ramsay has forged a team identity that has yielded positive results – including an Olympic bronze medal.
“It’s all connected. It has to be.”
Last summer, after three seasons at the helm of the Projekt U18 team, Ivan Fenes was promoted to head coach of the U20 national team. Former assistant coach Tibor Tartal is now head coach of the U18s and Stumpel is now a full-time assistant coach.
He said of his relationship with Tartal: “I try to help him and we understand each other pretty well. We’re on the same page as far as player development.”
Does Stumpel have aspirations of moving up in the coaching ranks?
“I don’t know,” he responded. “Right now I’m still learning how to be a better coach. It’s the same thing as being a player. I think I could be an assistant coach on a professional team now because that’s what I played for so long, so I’m used to it. But coaching the young guys is different – it’s more teaching. It’s been so long since I played at this level that I have to remember.”
As for this year’s U18s, the Slovaks play in Group A in Porrentruy, Switzerland against Czechia, Sweden, Canada and Germany. Despite being freshly promoted to the top division, the team’s aspirations go well beyond just staying up.
“I think we can compete with everyone, but it depends on us,” he said. “We want to win as many games as we can in the group and put ourselves in the best possible position for the quarter-finals and then, you know, take it game by game. I definitely don’t think we’re an outsider. I think we have good potential and we can play with any of them.”
The following season, the Slovak Ice Hockey Association started trying to rebuild its youth program and revived “Projekt 18” – a team that plays together all season long, similar to the extremely successful United States National Team Development Program.
To help with player development, recently retired Slovak hockey legend Jozef Stumpel was hired as a team consultant. Remembered as a longtime NHLer, Olympian and member of Slovakia’s lone World Championship team in 2002, Stumpel had been a great two-way centre with lots of knowledge on the finer points of the game.
“I came in and started helping guys with faceoffs and working with the power play,” said Stumpel. “It’s a good school for me too because I’m learning how to coach and teach the guys. It’s good for their development and my development too.”
After three years in Piestany, the U18 team is now based in Poprad, where a new rink has been built by a private sports high school, which the players attend. The team plays a schedule of games in two leagues: Slovakia’s top U20 league and second-tier professional league. In addition, the team plays against other U18 national teams at regular international breaks in the season, where they’re joined by other players from abroad.
This wasn’t Slovakia’s first attempt to concentrate junior national teams together, but this one seems to be more successful.
“We started the ‘Projekt U20’ a long time ago, but I think those guys should already be playing in the men’s league and learning from the older guys,” said Stumpel. “I think the U18s are a better idea because you can develop them more easily. I think that’s the right way.”
From what we’ve seen of the Slovak U18 national team since then, the results have been spectacular. They got some attention when they went to the final of the 2021 Hlinka Gretzky Cup – a tournament they had previously done poorly in. Players have included 2004-born Juraj Slafkovsky and Simon Nemec – the first two picks at last year’s NHL Entry Draft – and 2005-born Dalibor Dvorsky.
Unfortunately, two straight years of pandemic-related cancellations meant that the Slovaks didn’t have a chance to play for promotion until last year. With a roster that wouldn’t have been out of place in the top division, the Slovaks won five straight Division I Group A games on home ice.
“We were missing some of our top guys but we were working with what we had,” said Stumpel. “Playing against those other teams was hard because the pressure was on us. Everyone expected us to win and some of those other teams are hard to play against, and we knew we probably had to beat them all if we wanted to go up to the top group.”
Slafkovsky, who was playing in the Finnish Liiga playoffs with TPS Turku, missed the tournament. Nemec, who was also in the midst of professional playoffs with Stumpel’s hometown HK Nitra, played one game.
“That game against Norway was very important and we wanted to make sure we won it, so he came in,” said Stumpel. “It was a good example of the federation having good cooperation with the club.”
He further elaborated: “You have to work with all the local clubs and all the coaches and have everybody on the same page. That’s the key because they’re the ones that are working with the really young kids. They’re the ones that bring them into hockey in the first place so that you’ve got lots of young boys and girls to start with, and you need to instill good habits in them, on and off the ice. Then, when it comes time for the national program, there are lots of good players to choose from and we can take them to the next level.”
And of course that doesn’t stop with the U18 national team. The players move up to the U20 level – where the Slovaks put on a solid performance at the most recent IIHF World Junior Championship – and then to the senior men’s team, where in recent years Craig Ramsay has forged a team identity that has yielded positive results – including an Olympic bronze medal.
“It’s all connected. It has to be.”
Last summer, after three seasons at the helm of the Projekt U18 team, Ivan Fenes was promoted to head coach of the U20 national team. Former assistant coach Tibor Tartal is now head coach of the U18s and Stumpel is now a full-time assistant coach.
He said of his relationship with Tartal: “I try to help him and we understand each other pretty well. We’re on the same page as far as player development.”
Does Stumpel have aspirations of moving up in the coaching ranks?
“I don’t know,” he responded. “Right now I’m still learning how to be a better coach. It’s the same thing as being a player. I think I could be an assistant coach on a professional team now because that’s what I played for so long, so I’m used to it. But coaching the young guys is different – it’s more teaching. It’s been so long since I played at this level that I have to remember.”
As for this year’s U18s, the Slovaks play in Group A in Porrentruy, Switzerland against Czechia, Sweden, Canada and Germany. Despite being freshly promoted to the top division, the team’s aspirations go well beyond just staying up.
“I think we can compete with everyone, but it depends on us,” he said. “We want to win as many games as we can in the group and put ourselves in the best possible position for the quarter-finals and then, you know, take it game by game. I definitely don’t think we’re an outsider. I think we have good potential and we can play with any of them.”