Exodus slovenských hokejistov do nižších mládežníckych súťaží v Severnej Amerike

It’s been almost thirty years. On January 1, 1993, Czechoslovakia finally dissolved. Where did the ice hockey steps of these two countries follow? The Czech Republic remained in the top world group, and Slovakia went all the way to the third (C) category. “I put my skates back on because Slovakia was discriminated against. The Czech Republic took all the credit and we stayed at the bottom,” former forward Anton Šťastný told this site earlier. Several Slovak personalities said: “if Slovakia had not managed to advance to the B category in 1994 in Poprad and Spišská Nová Ves, and to the A group in 1995 in Bratislava, we might still be at the bottom today”. Communism reigned in socialist Czechoslovakia for 41 long years, and sport was one of the regime’s most important propaganda tools. And these methods of financing remained customary even after the collapse of the federation. The Czech Republic and Slovakia have revenues from the state (19 million euros) almost identical to the ten other best countries in the world (19.5 million euros) according to the IIHF ranking (1st to 13th place without Russia).How is it possible? Several experts agree that the US has the best development ice hockey program today. Ice hockey in America is managed by USA Hockey (it has nothing to do with the professional NHL), which has approximately 530,000 members. What amount does the state contribute to the running of this company? “We don’t have any funding from our government at any level. I think that’s kind of unique because I believe just every other association gets government subsidies,” said Dave Fischer, director of communications for USA Hockey. In terms of governmental support, Latvia is also in a tough spot, where ice hockey is the number one sport, just like in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Finland and Canada. “Usually we (four different institutions) receive something between 500 and 600 thousand euros,” explains Andris Aninš, the financial director of the local federation. Franc