With an average age of nearly 30, Slovenia will have one of the oldest rosters among the 12 teams trying to qualify for the last three (or four) free places in the men’s ice hockey tournament at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
The roster does not include 36-year-old Slovenian legend Anže Kopitar but it does have a wealth of international experience, including four players who have played in five top-tier IIHF World Championships: defenseman Blaž Gregorc and forwards Robert Sabolič, Rok Tičar and Žiga Jeglič.
Of the 24 players named on the team’s roster that will play in Riga this weekend, 11 represented Slovenia at the 2018 Olympics in Pyeonchang and nine also played in 2014 in Sochi. In both of those two Olympic cycles, Slovenia wasn’t favored to win the final qualifying tournament but did.
“We know what awaits us in Riga,” head coach Edo Terglav began. “We have proven many times that when the going gets tough, Slovenians do what no one might expect. I think that this group of more experienced players, some of whom have already achieved this success twice, and young people who give extra energy, is the right combination.”
It is also mostly the same roster that played in this year’s World Championship Division I Group A in Bolzano, Italy. In that tournament, the Slovenes started slowly and opened with a loss to South Korea – the team that was eventually relegated – but rebounded to win three of their next four to finish second, and return to the elite tier for next season.
Most of the team plays in the multi-state ICEHL, either on Slovenian-based Olimpija Ljubliana or on teams in Austria or Hungary. Also, three players play for the Fischtown Pinguins in Bremerhaven, Germany, 21-year-old forward Matic Török plays for KooKoo in the Finnish Liiga, and two play in the Czech Extraliga, including forward Rok Macuh and veteran goalie Gašper Krošelj. Jan Drozg, a former Pittsburgh Penguins prospect, now plays in the KHL for Amur Khabarovsk.
Slovenia played two pre-tournament games against neighboring Austria, losing both by close 2-1 scores. In Riga, Slovenia will face host Latvia, France and Ukraine.
Goaltenders (3): Gašper KROŠELJ (Kometa Brno/CZE), Matija PINTARIČ (Grenoble/FRA), Žan US (Jesenice/SLO).
Defensemen (8): Rožle BOHINC (Olimpija/SLO), Aljoša CRNOVIČ (Olimpija/SLO), Jan ĆOSIĆ (Olimpija/SLO), Blaž GREGORC (Olimpija/SLO), Aleksandar MAGOVAC (Amiens/FRA), Bine MAŠIČ (Olimpija/SLO), Matic PODLIPNIK (Kitzbüheler/AUT), Žiga PAVLIN (Olimpija/SLO).
Forwards (13): Miha BERIČIČ (Olimpija/SLO), Jan DROZG (Amur Khabarovsk/RUS), Žiga JEGLIČ (Bremerhaven/GER), Žan JEZOVŠEK (Lindau/GER), Anže KURALT (Fehervar/HUN), Rok MACUH (Olomouc/CZE), Luka MAVER (-), Robert SABOLIČ (Olimpija/SLO), Rok TIČAR (Graz 99ers/AUT), Blaž Tomaževič (Olimpija/SLO), Matic TÖRÖK (KooKoo/FIN), Jan URBAS (Bremerhaven/GER), Miha VERLIČ (Bremerhaven/GER).
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