today 10:01
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Although these were the most important moments in their careers so far, the Slovak hockey players did not leave their humor even before the decisive raids in the quarterfinals with the USA.
They gave him courage and confidence and finally enjoyed a surprising triumph over one of the favorites of the entire Olympic tournament. The Slovaks equalized in the last minute during the power play and also survived a ten-minute 3-on-3 extension, in which the Americans hit the throat. The raids had to decide on the advance.
“We were all positive and confident. I myself joked that we can’t lose against college students. I am glad that my words have been confirmed and we have won, ” told the TASR centers of the second attack Libor Hudáček.
In his words, he did not want to denigrate the quality of the opponent, who has up to 14 players from the university NCAA in the team. On the contrary, to give your teammates optimism to the decisive moments of the quarter-final duel: “In my opinion, this is, in fact, already the best team in the tournament. I’m glad we matched them and stepped up the pressure. In the end, we succeeded and Cehlo and Pať won us in the raids. “
The team thought of the shooters, the goalkeeper Patrik Rybár caught all five raids and the striker Peter Cehlárik was the only one to score.
“Great match, it was very fast, we flew up and down and I’m glad that we prepared so well for them and we were able to play with them. When one goes to fight for medals, it is only a few times in one’s life. We all enjoy it and I hope that the audience at home, too, ” said Hudáček, who already has precious metal from a big tournament.
At the 2012 World Cup in Helsinki, he enjoyed silver: “It can’t be compared, this is the Olympics.”
Slovak hockey players also reached for the precious metal at the “special” Olympics: