Slovak team has weapons, but also lot to prove

 Giant defender Zdeno Chara will anchor Slovakia's World Cup entry

The Slovaks released their roster Wednesday for the Aug. 30-Sept. 14 tournament, a lineup led by perhaps the most dangerous offensive arsenal in Marian Hossa and Peter Bondra of the Ottawa Senators, Ziggy Palffy of the Los Angeles Kings, Miro Satan of the Buffalo Sabres, Richard Zednik of the Montreal Canadiens, Marian Gaborik of the Minnesota Wild, Pavol Demitra of the St. Louis Blues and Michal Handzus of the Philadelphia Flyers.

The defence is anchored by Zdeno Chara of the Ottawa Senators.
(Article continues after the roster listing)

Roster:

Goaltenders
Peter Budaj -- Hershey (AHL)
Jan Lasak -- HC Pardubice
Rastislav Stana -- Portland (AHL)

Defence
Zdeno Chara -- Ottawa
Richard Lintner -- Djurgardens IF
Ivan Majesky -- Atlanta
Branislav Mezei -- Florida
Jaroslav Obsut -- Manitoba (AHL)
Martin Strbak -- Pittsburgh
Radoslav Suchy -- Phoenix
Lubomir Visnovsky -- Los Angeles

Forwards
Lubos Bartecko -- Sparta Prague
Peter Bondra -- Ottawa
Pavol Demitra -- St. Louis
Marian Gaborik -- Minnesota
Michal Handzus -- Philadelphia
Miroslav Hlinka -- Zlin
Marian Hossa -- Ottawa
Ladislav Nagy -- Phoenix
Vladimir Orszagh -- Nashville
Zigmund Palffy -- Los Angeles
Branko Radivojevic -- Philadelphia
Miroslav Satan -- Buffalo
Radovan Somik -- Philadelphia
Jozef Stumpel -- Los Angeles
Richard Zednik -- Montreal

And they enter the NHL/NHLPA tournament with the memory of their mistreatment at the Salt Lake Olympics in 2002, when Slovakia was not among the six countries given automatic entry to the main tournament, having to qualify in the preliminary round.

With the NHL not taking its break until the main part of the Olympic round robin, the Slovaks suffered the indignity of having to play in the preliminary round without its NHL stars and with a half-empty bench as GM Peter Stastny frantically tried to convince individual NHL clubs to release players for selected games.

It was a disaster, an embarrassment to both the NHL and the Slovaks as they failed to advance.

Now they arrive at the World Cup with their full complement of NHL stars.

"We've all put the Salt Lake Olympics behind us,'' Chara said Wednesday on a conference call. "We can't do anything about it now. It's in the past."

"But this is something where we can prove to other people and to the world that we are a good enough team to compete with the best. And I think we proved that in the last four-five years at the world championship.''

For Canadian hockey fans who are not too familiar the annual IIHF tournament, the Slovaks won silver in 2000, gold in 2002, bronze in 2003 and were fourth this year in Prague after losing a controversial semifinal to Canada.

They are currently third in the IIHF World Rankings behind Canada and Sweden, a testimony to their rise in international hockey after splitting from the Czech Republic.

And they felt they had the best team in Prague before losing 2-1 to Canada in the semifinals. The Slovaks were furious that Canadian forward Rob Niedermayer wasn't penalized on the winning goal when he appeared to knock down netminder Jan Lasak behind the net. Shawn Horcoff had an open net for the winner.

"It was tough to swallow for sure,'' Chara said. "I think they all realized it was a mistake made by an official. But what is done is done. It was tough because we felt that we were the better team.''

The opportunity for revenge arrives Sept. 1, when Slovakia plays Canada in a World Cup round-robin game at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

"When we play Canada again, we won't be looking at it as payback but obviously we'll want to win,'' Chara said.

Slovakia, which will hold its August training camp in Ottawa, was the fourth country to announce its World Cup roster following Canada, Sweden and Germany. The United States will release its roster Thursday while Russia goes Monday.

As impressive as the Slovaks are up front, there's not much else after Chara on defence. Richard Lintner (Djurgaarden, Sweden), Ivan Majesky (Atlanta Thrashers), Branislav Mezei (Florida Panthers), Jaroslav Obsut (Manitoba Moose), Martin Strbak (Pittsburgh Penguins), Radoslav Suchy (Phoenix Coyotes) and Lubomir Visnovsky (L.A. Kings) round out a very average blue-line.

But the biggest question mark is in goal, where Nashville Predators farm-hand Lasak is the No. 1 man. While he did lead the Slovaks to the IIHF World Championship gold in 2002, he hasn't been able to crack the Predators lineup and in fact was so frustrated with being buried in the AHL that he played the rest of this season in the Russian league.

Peter Budaj of the AHL's Hershey Bears (Colorado Avalanche) and Rastislav Stana of the Portland Pirates (Washington Capitals) round out the Slovak goaltending, which many will consider suspect.

"Maybe, people always try to find weaknesses,'' Chara said. "But we do have a good enough team to do well. Obviously we have some young goaltenders but we feel comfortable with them. They all play in North America and they know the style. They're getting better every year.''

Rounding out the forwards are Lubomir Bartecko (Sparta Prague, Czech Republic), Miroslav Hlinka (HC Zlin, Czech Republic), Ladislav Nagy (Phoenix Coyotes), Vladimir Orszagh (Nashville Predators), Branko Radivojevic (Philadelphia Flyers), Radovan Somik (Philadelphia Flyers) and Jozef Stumpel (L.A. Kings).

The head coach is Jan Filc, who led Slovakia to the 2002 IIHF World Championship gold medal in Gothenburg, Sweden.