19-05-2025
Dalibor Dvorský Was A Healthy Scratch Against Latvia; Slovak Coach Explains
On Sunday, Slovakia's chances of advancing to the IIHF World Championship quarterfinals were dealt a fatal blow when the team lost 5-1 to Latvia.
It was somewhat of a surprise when Dalibor Dvorský of St. Louis Blues prospect was not in the Slovak lineup for the game, but it was assumed he must have been dealing with some sort of physical ailment. After the game, however, coach Vladimír Országh revealed that he had benched the 19-year-old winger and explained why.
''Dalo' is a generational talent,' the Slovak coach began, as reported by Dominik Dubovči of 'One day, if he does things right and is well-adjusted – which I think he is – he will be the leader of the national team. But we cannot consider young Dalibor a leader right now. He is in his first World Championship and he played in a junior league last year.
'He hasn't grown into that role yet. He still lacks a lot of things to be there. We decided to leave him in the stands because he was struggling with shooting, he wasn't getting chances and he had quite significant problems on defense. He also needs to work on his physical play.
'This is a huge learning process for him. He's great on the power play, but here the opponents read him and quickly got to him. We also want to protect him from the pressure. He understands that, in short, and he'll be ready for the next game. But we can't expect a 19-year-old kid to be a difference-maker here.'
Dalibor Dvorský's Timeline Over The Next Few Days, From AHL to World Juniors At first,
it was uncertain whether he'd be playing. Then he was coming, but nobody was sure exactly when. On Thursday, Dalibor Dvorský revealed to Slovak media his timetable for the next few days.
Dvorský has one assist in five games for Slovakia this tournament, but nobody on the team has more than two points. The Slovaks' struggles are not a big surprise as no full-time NHLers are on the team. The most experienced player on the team is San Jose Sharks prospect Pavol Regenda, who has 19 NHL games under his belt. Dvorský played two for the Blues this season.
There has been a lot of discussion in Slovakia about why Tomáš Tatar, Juraj Slafkovský, Martin Pospišíl and Šimon Nemec are absent this year despite their teams either missing the playoffs or being knocked out in the first round. Slafkovský's war of words with the Slovak Ice Hockey Association and Pospišíl's – and possibly other players' – objections to the inclusion of KHL players on the team get mentioned.
Martin Pospíšil after Olympic qualifiers: 'It was never anything against the players' from the KHL Martin Pospíšil was calm and reflective after Slovakia's 3-1 victory over Kazakhstan on Sunday in Bratislava, which
qualified the team for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.
'I don't think it's that they don't want to play for us,' said Országh. 'Last year they all came, including for the Olympic qualifiers. This year there were a lot of reasons, but the guys had long seasons, the Olympics are ahead of them... I completely understand them. We talked a lot with the guys and discussed the reasons.'
Országh, 47, was suddenly promoted to head coach of the Slovak team in April after Craig Ramsay had to step aside due to a bout with pneumonia. Országh played 289 NHL games with the New York Islanders, Nashville Predators and St. Louis between 1997 and 2006. He represented Slovakia at five World Championships and the 2004 World Cup of Hockey.
'When my generation played in the NHL, we had the same setup,' said Országh. 'I certainly don't want to make excuses for that. The difference is that there were 30 of us playing in the NHL, so there were always players who could come. We don't have that many hockey players there today.'
Predicting Slovakia's 2026 Olympic roster By winning their group at the final round of qualifying this past weekend, the
Slovaks have qualified for the men's ice hockey tournament at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo.
