Tomáš Tatar “absolutely” wants to play in Milan 2026 Olympics

Tomáš Tatar’s first World Championship was in 2012 and he won a silver medal with the Slovak team. This year was his fifth and second as team captain, but the 33-year-old winger is still searching for his second medal. Slovakia’s tournament came to an end on Thursday with a 6-3 quarterfinal loss to Canada.

Tomáš, you guys were underdogs going in and falling quickly behind 2-0 didn’t help your situation.
“Against a team like that, you don’t make it easy on yourself when you start slow. If you want to have success against Canada, you have to start on time and not get behind. After that, we did give it a battle, we gave it everything we’ve got and I’m very proud of the team. But like I said, it’s really difficult to chase a team like that.”

You were basically playing at home all week in Ostrava. Did it seem a little different in the large arena in Prague?
“To be honest, they were still supporting us. Maybe it wasn’t as loud, but still, we’re very grateful for our fans. They came to support us today in Prague and they were awesome throughout the tournament in Ostrava.”

Overall, how would you evaluate your team’s World Championship?
“Our goal was to make it to the quarterfinals, which we did. We have to be happy with that. It would have been nicer to win and be playing this weekend, that’s for sure, but it’s not great when you catch Canada on the other side. We lost a few points at the start of the tournament, which would have put us in a better position. But, you know, for the young team that we have, it’s a great experience that these guys will use for future World Championships or Olympics or whatever. Some of these young guys will play many more of these.”

You’re still a young guy yourself. Do you see yourself playing at the 2026 Olympics in Milan?
“Yeah, absolutely. We still have to qualify in August. I don’t really know how that’s gonna work out with the NHL – I need to find out about that. But I played in Sochi and I really enjoyed it. I think a lot of NHL guys – especially the younger generation who haven’t played in the Olympics yet because of Covid and everything else – I’m sure they’re very hungry. The NHL teammates I had during those years were very disappointed and so was I. It’s an incredible thing to be part of and I hope to be in Milan.”

Some of your Slovak teammates here won bronze medals in Beijing. What have they told you about that experience?
“Well, it’s a different tournament with the NHL guys not being there. I don’t mean any disrespect to that tournament, but it’s just a different quality. To be a bronze-medal winner at the Olympics has to be so cool and I was very proud of our players who accomplished that, but I think it would be even cooler if we could do that with all the NHL players there.”