Chicago Blackhawks right wing Marian Hossa will lead Slovakia at the Vancouver Olympic Hockey Tournament commencing in February 2010. Former Washingston Capitals star, Peter Bondra is the general manager for the Slovakia hockey teams and he made the the team roster announcement. Bondra can make changes to the roster up until February 14, 2010.
Hossa is one of 12 NHL players on the 23-player roster announced December 29, 2009. The other big guns on the team include Boston Bruins defenceman Zdeno Chara and New York Rangers forward Marian Gaborik (picture right). Gaborik is tied for top goal scorer in the NHL so far this season with 26 on the season.
Former Buffalo Sabres star Miroslav Satan will make his fourth Olympic appearance which is impressive by any standard.
The other NHL players are goalies Peter Budaj of Colorado and Jaroslav Halak of Montreal; defencemen Milan Jurcina of Columbus, Andrej Meszaros of Tampa Bay, Andrej Sekera of Buffalo and Lubomir Visnovsky of Edmonton; and forwards Pavol Demitra of Vancouver, Michal Handzus of Los Angeles and Tomas Kopecky of Chicago. Of these players Demitra, Meszaros, Budaj, and Jurcina all played on the Slovakia Olympic hockey team at the Turin Olympics.
Slovakia finished fifth at the 2006 Turin Games are not considered to be strong contenders in this Olympic Hockey tournament. There first game will be against the Czech Republic on February 17, 2010.
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