A Tough Test for Slovak Players Ahead of the Home Championship

The tournament is named after Vladimír Országh, a former Slovak ice hockey player who played in the NHL for the New York Islanders and Nashville Predators, won a gold medal at the 2002 Ice Hockey World Championship, and later became a Slovak league champion as a coach.

Although the Országh Cup is primarily a club-level tournament, organizers regularly invite national teams from various age categories to use the event as game preparation ahead of major international tournaments. This year’s edition will feature 16 teams, including clubs from Slovakia, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic.

For the Slovak U20 national team, the tournament is a welcome opportunity to evaluate the performance of its players before finalizing the roster for the World Championship.

Coach Michal Salajka commented on the opportunity to participate:

“We thank the organizers and the leadership of the Slovak Ball Hockey Union for allowing us to compete in the tournament.”

Regarding the squad selection, he added:

“The roster took a bit longer to finalize and was complicated by a few player injuries, which forced us to make changes. But we’re glad to be going to the tournament with a strong lineup, and we’ll use the matches to test the players. This will be their last chance to fight for a spot on the World Championship team.”

The Slovak roster for the Országh Cup 2025 includes 22 players: 2 goalkeepers, 8 defensemen, and 12 forwards.

Slovakia U20 Roster – Országh Cup 2025

Goaltenders:

• Marián Mališ (Považská Bystrica)
• Marcel Tencer (Popradskí Piráti)

Defensemen:

• Michal Rokos, Marek Brejčák (both Popradskí Piráti)
• Peter Baník (Vranov nad Topľou)
• Matej Mozga (Pruské)
• Dávid Pollák (Skalica)
• Samuel Tisovčík (Devínska Nová Ves / LG Bratislava)
• Michal Feranec (Topoľčany)
• Lukáš Kaššai (Prešov / Košice)

Forwards:

• Ján Šatka, Nikolas Rexa, Miroslav Vráblik, Dávid Mozga (all Pruské)
• Dominik Daubner, Michal Valentín (both LG Bratislava)
• Adrián Jankovič, Michal Franek (both Martin)
• Jakub Štefaňák (Vranov nad Topľou)
• Ľuboš Makó (Košice)
• Matej Zajac (Považská Bystrica)
• Richard Marek (Skalica)

Photo: Tournament logo