Just as Slovakia was beginning preparations for this year’s IIHF World Championship, head coach Craig Ramsay was stricken with pneumonia. On April 23, just 16 days before Slovakia’s first game, it was announced that, although the 74-year-old was on the road to recovery, he wouldn’t be able to coach the team this year. As a result, assistant Vladimír Országh has taken over the reigns for this year’s Worlds.
On Friday, shortly before the team’s first game in Stockholm against Sweden, Hockey Slovakia put out a video on social media of Ramsay wishing the team well at the tournament.
Hi guys, this is the coach and I wish I was there with you. You’ve all worked so hard to get in this position – the team, the staff – a lot of hard work has gone into this but you can’t forget that the work has just started. You’re gonna play good teams but I believe if you play hard, if you play fast, take your shots … we can win. We can beat anybody. So you believe it, take it, move it forward and everybody you face, any country, doesn’t matter, you play your game and we’ll be okay.-
For Friday’s game, at least, Ramsay’s wishes were unable to help the Slovaks, who lost 5-0 to the tournament co-hosts. It’s only one game, but after having Saturday off, the Slovaks play Slovenia on Sunday and Austria on Monday – two must-win games if the team has hopes of finishing in the top four in Group A.
The road for the Slovakia is challenging this year as, for various reasons, there are no full-time NHLers on this year’s squad.
No Full-Time NHLers, 2 KHLers On Slovak World Championship Roster
Hockey Slovakia released a list of 26 players
that will be headed to Stockholm, Sweden for this year’s IIHF World
Championship. It includes no full-time NHL players, most
notably Juraj Slafkovský, whose decision not to play is
<a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/montreal-canadiens/latest-news/canadiens-slafkovsky-knows-what-the-problem-is">covered
in depth by Karine Hains on <i>THN</i>’s
Montreal Canadiens site</a>.
Ramsay has been head coach of the Slovak national team since 2017. Under his guidance, the team has reached the quarterfinals at three of the last four World Championships. Previously, Slovakia hadn’t made the quarters since 2013. His biggest achievement with the team so far has been a bronze-medal victory at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. Ramsay is under contract to coach the Slovak team through the 2025-26 season, which includes the Milan-Cortina Olympics.
Ramsay, who hails from Weston, Ont., played 14 years in the NHL for the Buffalo Sabres from 1971 to 1985, winning the Frank J. Selke Trophy as the league’s best defensive forward in his last season.
Ramsay has coached or worked in the front office almost continuously since retiring as a player. Prior to joining the Slovak national team, he worked for several NHL organizations and had head coaching stints with the Philadelphia Flyers and Atlanta Thrashers.
Predicting Slovakia's 2026 Olympic roster
By winning their group at the final round of qualifying this past weekend, the <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/international/latest-news/latvia-denmark-slovakia-and-maybe-france-qualify-for-2026-olympics">Slovaks have qualified for the men’s ice hockey tournament at the 2026 Winter Olympics</a> in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo.