WC hockey | Slovaks are armed at the World Cup. They received additional reinforcements from overseas

Twenty-seven-year-old Koch signed a one-year, two-way contract with Arizona as an undrafted free agent last June and left extra-league Vítkovice after three years. He got a chance in the NHL in one game. He started on March 7 in a 2-5 home loss to Minnesota. For Tucson in the regular season of the AHL, he collected 15 points for a goal and 14 assists in 63 games and did not score in two playoff games. He already appeared at the WC in 2019 at home in Košice and Bratislava and last year in Riga.

Kelemen, who is three years younger, also went to Arizona as an undrafted player the year before from Mladá Boleslav. In his first season in the NHL, he played 14 games and scored one goal. In this season, he got a chance in the Coyotes jersey in 10 games and scored an assist. On the farm, he scored 32 points (16+16) in 54 duels in the regular season. In two playoff duels, he came up empty-handed. In 2022, he won bronze at the Olympic Games in Beijing and competed at the World Championships in 2021 and last year.

Defenders Šimon Nemec from New Jersey, Martin Fehérváry from Washington and forwards Juraj Slafkovský from Montreal, Martin Pospíšil from Calgary, Tomáš Tatar from Seattle and Pavol Regenda from Anaheim, who spent most of the season on the farm in San Diego, have already confirmed their participation in the championship in the Czech Republic. in the AHL.

The Slovaks will present themselves in the basic group B in Ostrava, starting on Friday, May 10, with a match against Germany. Then Kazakhstan, the United States of America, Poland, France, Latvia and Sweden await them.