Wednesday, February 6, 2002
Slovakia could be benched
Palffy fears country might come up short in bid to make hockey tourney
By BRUCE GARRIOCH -- Ottawa Sun
SALT LAKE CITY -- As the Slovakian hockey team prepares to open the Olympics on Saturday, its bench has the potential to look like a pickup squad at the local arena.
While Slovakia GM Peter Stastny is holding onto until Friday's deadline to present his 23-man roster, it's doubtful he'll have a full lineup when the country begins its qualifying round against Germany.
Los Angeles winger Ziggy Palffy, who is being released by the Kings to play Saturday, told the Sun he expects Slovakia to have between 12-15 players on the bench because players are being parachuted in and out.
Reinforcements, which include Senators defenceman Zdeno Chara and winger Marian Hossa, will arrive for Sunday's game against Latvia.
It's not known what kind of look Slovakia will have in the game against Austria on Tuesday.
"I don't think we're going to have a full bench," said Palffy, who has a wealth of international experience. "As far as I know, all we're going to have is a two lines and four defence from Europe. From there, it's anybody's guess.
MANPOWER WILL BE DOWN
"If they're going to use the NHL players, they're going to have to keep spots open for them when they arrive. That means we'll have to be short for some games. It's not fair, but what can you do?"
Under IIHF rules, Stastny must enter a roster with a minimum of 15 skaters and two goalies by Friday. Because the likes of Peter Bondra, Michal Handzus, Ladislav Nagy, Chara and Hossa are being shuttled in and out, that's going to make it difficult.
Stastny can add players to the roster to reach the maximum of 15, but he can't subtract because of injury. This is going to cause a logistical nightmare because the players who have been released are only available for one game.
"They can add players up until two hours before game time, but once the rosters have been entered, then they're locked. You can't make substitutions for injury or illness," IIHF spokesman Dave Fitzpatrick said yesterday.
"Once the event starts, there is no minimum that a coach has to put on the game sheet. Should a team have only 14 players and two goalkeepers available and healthy to play a game, then those are put on the game sheet for that game."
Should Slovakia make it out of the preliminary round, it will be fine. On Feb. 14, Stastny is allowed to declare a new roster, which means he'll be able to add the likes of Marian Gaborik, Chara and Hossa for the tourney.
Still, qualifying with a small roster will be tough. German hockey, for one, has improved significantly.
Palffy, meanwhile, suggests moving the qualifying tournament to the summer.
"Before I went to Albertville (in 1992), we took part in a summer tournament (in Sheffield, England) to decide whether we were going to play or not. That worked out pretty well because you didn't go (to the Olympics) and decide," he said.
"This is hard on our country. We feel like it could work better, but our NHL teams have been as fair to us as they can. Hopefully, we can win enough games that we're able to return to play in the big tournament against teams like Canada and the United States."
2002 Games Men's Hockey Coverage
