Country #49 Slovakia 🇸🇰
This is a few days ago now . It’s been a busy few days and this was the first day here in Slovakia 🇸🇰 when we got up we were greeted with some breakfast and told we would be helping kids train in the afternoon then a pickup game at night . After our light breakfast we relaxed then went to have some pizza at a local shop where we couldn’t understand the menu :) of course this is expected in a very small town like Hurbanovo which has around 8,000 residents .
The highlight of the morning was seeing Ninka on the advertisement for the local beer league here called the PHL . That’s pretty cool . It’s good to see the kids here getting attention like this and especially Ninka who is obsessed with playing hockey . After our pizza we went back to our hosts place and mucked about until it was time to go teach kids how to skate and play hockey . The rink in Hurbanovo is new and is in a metal enclosure next to the brewery who might possibly had a hand in the construction of the rink … I could be wrong .
It’s a bit smaller then NHL size and is appropriate for 4v4 hockey but today we are teaching children and I’m lacing up my skates and Stefan is giving me a pair of hockey gloves and Ninka is letting me use one of her sticks which is way too small and for the first time in ages I’m not a goalie on ice . The class has grown over the last month from around 8 kids to 20 some odd kids coming to learn the basics from Stefan . Before they all arrived we had the ice to ourselves skating and passing the puck to each other having fun .
When the kids jumped on I saw this little fella who was having trouble skating and wasn’t holding his stick properly so I took him aside and put the stick in his hand right . He was really eager to learn , didn’t know any English but we found a way to communicate . I stayed there with him passing the puck getting him comfortable and made sure he was having fun , even got him skating a bit and he was fearless . It made my day seeing all these kids running drills and having fun skating and shooting pucks . The parents all loved it too . When we got off the ice we were thanked by a few parents and I’m sure this class will grow more and more . Stefan and Ninka are doing a good thing here !
We wandered around the park next to the rink after where I found some hockey art painted on the wall separating the park and the brewery which is obviously there for security reasons . All that delicious beer isn’t free after all . After our stroll we headed back to the house to relax and watch some hockey on tv before we went to play our game in Nove Zamky at night .
Nove Zamky is a bigger town and has a bigger rink where there is a pro team that plays in the Slovakian extraliga . When we arrived Boris Horsky was at the front door and when he saw me he was so excited and gave me a big hug . Not sure if he knew I was coming and it was great to see a familiar face . He came with the Slovaks to Toronto last year where we hosted them for a few games and I showed them around . We had some good times . He did warn me that we are playing against each other and he wants to score on me :)
The ice rink is very dimly lit with the two strips of lights down the middle turned off apparently to save a couple bucks do to high costs but I adjusted to it quickly . When the puck dropped my team jumped into the lead and never looked back . I was in good form Making some big saves and holding onto rebounds . Boris didn’t score but had his chances , even had a breakaway . He’s a skilled player and the level was pretty decent . My team won 10-4 . The other goalie played amazing and honestly giving up 10 goals in a pickup game that’s 75 minutes is good so I was pretty stoked I only let in 4 over this time .
When we got back to the dressing room there was a table filled with BBQ ribs and pork . OMG it was so good and possibly the best meal I’ve had on this trip . Can you believe the best meal I had was in a locker room ? Kathleen and Martina came into the room after everyone was clothed so they could eat also and Kathleen was impressed with the food . We hung out for about an hour eating and drinking then headed back to the house to get ready to go out again .
Last stop of the night was at Kristina and Ivan’s place to watch MMA with their friends . Everyone was having a good time and we jumped in and I had a couple glass’ of scotch and watched some European MMA which had a couple Slovakian fighters competing so it held some importance to the locals . There was a big upset knockout and everyone went ballistic when this fighter nicknamed the Pirate knocked out this Czech fighter knick named the Terminator …. Bottles were guzzled when that happened . We were dozing off after that but hung tight until the end and then went back to the house to call it a night . What an amazing first day in Slovakia 🇸🇰