In 1908, the

International Ice Hockey Federation The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF; french: Fédération internationale de hockey sur glace; german: Internationale Eishockey-Föderation) is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 83 m ...

, an international organization that still runs most of the international hockey tournaments today, was established. In

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

(as a part of former

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

), Canadian-styled ice hockey was popularized during the European Championships in

High Tatras The High Tatras or High Tatra Mountains ( Slovak: Vysoké Tatry; pl, Tatry Wysokie; rue, Высокі Татри,'' Vysoki Tatry''; hu, Magas-Tátra; german: Hohe Tatra; french: Hautes Tatras), are a mountain range along the border of norther ...

in 1925. In 1929 the first official tournament took place in Slovakia. The

Tatra Cup The Tatra Cup ( sk, Tatranský pohár) is an annual ice hockey tournament held in Poprad, Slovakia. It is the second oldest club tournament in Europe, after the Spengler Cup. The first installment of the Tatra Cup took place in 1929 in Starý S ...

is the second-oldest ice hockey tournament in Europe, after the

Spengler Cup The Spengler Cup is an annual invitational ice hockey tournament held in Davos, Switzerland. First held in 1923, the Spengler Cup is often cited as the oldest invitational ice hockey tournament in the world. The event is hosted by the Swiss tea ...

in Switzerland. The first organization of Slovak ice hockey was established under the name of Slovenská župa kanadského ľadového hokeja as a part of the

Slovak Ice Hockey Federation The Slovak Ice Hockey Federation ( sk, Slovenský zväz ľadového hokeja, SZĽH) is the governing body that oversees ice hockey in Slovakia. Paul Loicq Award recipient Juraj Okoličány served as chairman and vice-president of the federation fr ...

in what was then Czechoslovakia. The first organized competition was held in 1930. Throughout the course of ice hockey history in Czechoslovakia, many Slovak players became eligible to play for the Czechoslovak national team. Among those who were able to achieve this was

Ladislav Troják Ladislav Troják (15 June 1914 – 8 November 1948) was the first Slovak ice hockey player in the national team of Czechoslovakia and also the first Slovak hockey player with a title of World Champion ( 1947 World Championship). Troják wore t ...

; A native of

Košice Košice ( , ; german: Kaschau ; hu, Kassa ; pl, Коszyce) is the largest city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the river Hornád at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains, near the border with Hungary. With a population of app ...

who left for

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

in 1934 to play for the

LTC Praha LTC (Lawn Tennis Club) Praha was a Czech ice hockey club founded in 1903 in Prague. The main sport in this club was originally tennis, with hockey being a minor sport; hockey at the time rather meaning bandy. This changed in 1927 when there was a ...

, which was at those times considered to be the best ice hockey team in the country. From there, he was only a step away from playing for the national team. Czechoslovakia and its successor states are rated as being among the leading nations on the international scene, thanks to their triumphs in the

Winter Olympic Games The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were he ...

and the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

. However, the Slovak national team had to face a difficult challenge in 1993 after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. According to the

IIHF The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF; french: Fédération internationale de hockey sur glace; german: Internationale Eishockey-Föderation) is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 83 m ...

regulations, it had to compete with countries with little or no ice hockey tradition at all to prove being worthy to compete at the highest level. Within only a few years of independent existence as a young nation, it would mark its biggest triumph ever by winning the world championships in Sweden in 2002. As of July 2017, a total of 76 outfield players and four goaltenders with Slovak citizenship have played at least one game in the National Hockey League. The players in the following list have the most scorer points in the NHL.

References

History of Slovakia by topic {{icehockey-stub

See also

References