While the second round of the National Hockey League playoffs occupies much of the attention of hockey fans, let’s not forget the World Hockey Championship, which has just begun.
Like every year, this tournament brings together several countries, most of which count on NHL players.
With the Olympics just around the corner, and the NHL in attendance, there are many more solid players at this tournament.
In fact, there are a few Montreal Canadiens players in attendance, while Kaiden Guhle (Canada), Cole Caufield (USA) and Juraj Slafkovsky (Slovakia) are in the Czech Republic.
In Slafkovsky’s case, well, he got the tournament off to a good start with a superb goal in a warm-up game, and yesterday he picked up two assists in Slovakia’s first game of the tournament, earning him the title of Slovak Player of the Game.
Despite this good start to the tournament on a personal level, it seems that what matters most to the Habs forward is winning.
Yesterday, despite his fine performance, Slafkovsky saw Slovakia lose 6-4 to Germany in the curtain-raiser.
And after the game, in an interview, Slafkovsky was in a bad mood.
He had been angry with the referees during the game, and after the match, Slaf was in an even worse mood, even taking the opportunity to complain about his hotel bed.
Backache-inducing hotel beds and bad referees: there won’t be any easy ones 😬 https://t.co/nCTNFZuFBo
– TVA Sports (@TVASports) May 11, 2024
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Indeed, the Slovak striker explained after the match that his back hurt because of the bed in his hotel, as reported by a Slovak sports website.
“My back hurts because of the hotel bed. I would have preferred to stay somewhere further away from the arena in something better. Unfortunately, that’s not my decision.” – Juraj Slafkovsky
Even though the hotel is only 350 meters from the arena where Slovakia will play all their group stage matches for this tournament, Slafkovsky would have preferred a hotel further away, but more comfortable.
In short, Slafkovsky let out all his frustration after losing to Germany, probably Slovakia’s closest competitor in this tournament.
The two countries are expected to fight it out for third place in the group.
Let’s see how Slafkovsky fares for the rest of the tournament, and whether he’ll find his bed more comfortable after a win.
Complaining about his bed isn’t ideal, but Slaf is still young and will learn to hold back his frustration more.
Slovakia’s next match is against Kazakhstan on Sunday.
To find out more, read the article on the Slovakian website here.
En Rafale
– A game that flew under the radar last night.
Boy, you can really see it in the slowed down version. Bennett’s left hand comes off the stick and the right hand smashes Brad Marchand in the head. Clear with the way Marchand’s head snaps afterward too https://t.co/bZuAn71ulB
– Joe Haggerty (@HackswithHaggs) May 11, 2024
– Exactly. I’d be happy with any of the four.
The more I think about it, the more optimistic I am about the draft.
Nick Bobrov has been criticized, but in hindsight, his selections seem to be paying off.
So if the Habs come out of the 1st round with either Demidov, Lindstrom, Iginla or Catton, I’m going to trust them and be happy.
– Anthony Desaulniers (@Anthodezo) May 11, 2024
– Trocheck is really having a great series.
Vincent Trocheck scores goals, helps run the power play, kills penalties, organizes teammate meals and a dozen things beyond that.
My feature on the @NYRangers do-it-all MVP, leading his current team in a series against his ex-teammates on the @Canes.https://t.co/Nh4FsCYySD
– Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) May 11, 2024
– Read about probably the best defenseman of his generation.
Why Avalanche’s Cale Makar is the ‘total package.’
Nicklas Lidstrom, Chris Chelios, Chris Pronger and Ray Bourque share their views on the electrifying Makar. My latest for@TheAthletic⤵️⤵️ https://t.co/89AZ5jABUd– Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) May 11, 2024
– A few statistics on Inter Miami.
Susceptible defensively when you can threaten them deep on the counter-attack.
8th worst defense.
18 goals allowed @cfmontreal and Redbulls are the only two teams to have beaten Miami to date ( 3-2 and 4-0)– Patrice Bernier (@pbernier10) May 11, 2024