Scribbling #32: We. Love. Hockey.

There is at least one thing that really connects Slovaks, Canadians and Americans, and it's not the distance apart from one another.  All of those countries, especially Canada, really, really, like hockey.  The World Championships are being held here in Slovakia, where the little big country is hosting a lot of great teams.  Currently, games are split between Kosice in the east and the country's capital, Bratislava, in the west.

My first (and only, so far) ice hockey game was watching the Calgary Flames vs. The Edmonton Oilers.  I was surprised how fast it was, and how good the guys were on the ice.  It's even more aggressive than rugby, as people are practically thrown over barriers and across the ice to get at this little puck thing.  There was also a great synergy to the crowd, and really felt that the best man should win, with supporters poking fun at each other, rather than swearing and fighting with each other like that other great English export, football hooliganism.

Quite recently, Slovaks and sport are doing pretty well for themselves on an international level.  In football (or 'soccer' for those exotic creatures known as 'Amer-eee-caaans'), Slovakia quite soundly defeated Italy, the 2006 World Cup champions.  It was looking a little sketchy towards the end, but in all, Slovakia caught them with their collective pants down.  During the Winter Olympics, they gave the Canadian team a run for their money, making a population six times greater than theirs all sit on the edge of their sofas, clenching their buttocks.  Of course, after that amount of body-slams, the Canadian team eventually won, and went on to win gold.  Hey, if the team that wins against yours ends up being the overall winner, then it doesn't sting as much, right?

Slovakia is still a young country, since it split from the Czechs back in 1993.  It has a thousand-odd years of history, sure, but as a country now it is still pretty young.  Unfortunately for them, it meant that the country's team had to play against a bunch of real no-hopers before they were allowed to play with the big boys.  Winning against Sweden in 2002 put paid to that, and as a team, they do have hope.  And after playing with the Canadians earlier this year, they may be a little more aggressive...