It was not a nice win, says Halák

"The first step is the hardest”, was said before match against Slovenia. After the game everyone says that they hope it would be true. Slovenia was a harder opponent than everyone possibly expected. They achieved the first goal and defended the score excellently.

Slovakian goaltender Jaroslav Halák ended the game with fourteen successful saves. "We should get the game out of our heads as soon as possible and focus on the next match. Slovenians were stern. We let them rush on our net two on one too many times. We should avoid that and defend better."

After the Slovenian lone goal by defenseman Kranjec the home team became nervous. The only person who did not seem like that was Halák. "When the score is 0:1 every shot is critical". Slovakia outshot their opponent 45:15 though breaking the Slovenian barricade was a tough quest.

"We did not have screening player in front of the net. Their goalie saw everything so we made it much easier for him", said Halák about Robert Kristan his opponent in the net. "I know, it was not a nice win, but we confirmed our role as favorite and won. The next time everyone must play a lot better, including me," comments Halák on his play.

There had been much bigger surprise earlier in the afternoon when Russia was beaten by Germany 2:0. "I was watching one third of the game. Russians did not make up anything. Germans shot the first goal and defended their keep. Russians had some good chances but German goalie was incredible. I think this match is huge edification for all of us," stated the Slovak goaltender.

He stayed among the media crew for the longest time. About the atmosphere at the stadium he said: "It was awesome. Fans were pushing us forward. Sometimes it seemed to have the negative effect for everyone was trying to score and forgot about defending".

 

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