The Slovenian men’s ice hockey team qualified for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics following a 2-1 upset over host Denmark in Group F Olympic qualifying in Vojens on Friday. On Thursday, Slovenia had upset higher-ranked Belarus, 4-2.
Jesenice native David Rodman, who plays in Germany’s 2nd Bundesliga and spent two years with the QMJHL’s Val-d’Or Foreurs from 2001-03, scored both goals in Slovenia’s historic victory.
“This is a miracle,” said Matjaz Kopitar, Anze Kopitar’s father and the head coach of the Slovenian national team. Slovenia will be placed in Group A in Sochi, where they’ll compete against the host Russia, Slovakia and the United States. Slovenia was ranked 18th in the 2012 Men’s World Rankings. Denmark was ranked 12th; Belarus 13th.
Anze’s brother, Gasper, appeared in both Slovenian wins. When I traveled to Mora, Sweden on assignment with FOX Sports during the lockout, I asked Anze about being on the ice when Gasper, 20, scored his first professional goal. “I think I was probably happier than him,” he said. The two appeared together in a pre-Olympic friendly evaluation tournament in Ljubljana last November, marking Anze’s first appearance with the national team in nearly five years.
No decision has been made on whether NHL players will be released for the 2014 Olympics, though it is a near-certainty that they will. Scott Burnside of ESPN.com has an explanation of the procedural hurdles that remain before the agreement is finalized.
We’ll have comments from Kopitar and his teammates following practice on Saturday. The team was off Friday.
Narc Staches
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Kenny44 Reply:
February 8th, 2013 at 7:25 pm
@Lake Forest, still Movember on the Slovenian calendar?
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kingarella Reply:
February 8th, 2013 at 11:29 pm
@Kenny44, that is a Belarus foto. Slovenians do not look that ugly. Somebody please change that foto
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kingarella Reply:
February 8th, 2013 at 11:30 pm
@kingarella, sorry, not belarus, but swedish club foto. My apologies to Belarus and everyone else who read my comment.
Still exited and can’t think straight
Slovenia have 1 PRO CLUB and cca 140 PRO PLAYERS!
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Duncanz Reply:
February 8th, 2013 at 4:06 pm
@JureEe, That club must win a lot of Slov Elite League championships!
It’s like having one candidate for President!
Things haven’t changed much since the wall fell …
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JureEe Reply:
February 8th, 2013 at 4:10 pm
@Duncanz, well.. one club bancrupted one year ago.. but basicly both clubs had (one still) been playing in Austrian league…
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Duncanz Reply:
February 8th, 2013 at 6:15 pm
@JureEe, That blows my old iron curtain, autocratic, central planning theory then.
that is great news. good for Anze as he FINALLY gets to go to the Olympics
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Super Awesome!!! The NHL better let their players compete for their countries. What do you do if you’re Kopitar and they don’t let you go? I’d quit the NHL.
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Purple and Gold Reply:
February 8th, 2013 at 4:17 pm
@Dooms,
I think the NHL should let them go, that being said I’d keep my ~7 mil a year and stay in the NHL either way.
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Dooms Reply:
February 8th, 2013 at 4:44 pm
@Purple and Gold, 7 million is no chump change, but it’s not like Kopitar couldn’t make a nice living in the Swedish Elite league. I promise repersenting your country means a hell of a lot more to these guys, as it should.
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kingarella Reply:
February 9th, 2013 at 12:42 am
@Dooms, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tw9zqWYTHd0
from 12:42 – Tomaž Razingar – real sportsman face, at that moment, he doesn’t care about $$$, just the olympics. Pure sport. Money is killing it. Totally agree with Dooms
I’m all for Kopi showin his skills on a global stage, but are the Porn-Staches part of the uniform? If so, I must vote ” Nay. Nay. Nay. “.
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I’m all for Kopi showin his skills on a global stage, but are the Porn-Staches part of the uniform? If so, I must vote ” Nay. Nay. Nay. “.
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What a group of death! pretty sure Slovenia has minimal chances of getting through that group. Everyone knows Russia and the US are hockey powerhouses but Slovakia is no slouch boy, let me tell you. Stoked they made it….Kopi deserves to be able to compete in the Olympics.
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DesertKing Reply:
February 8th, 2013 at 4:20 pm
@BrokeKingsFan,
Just remember 1980……..
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BrokeKingsFan Reply:
February 8th, 2013 at 4:25 pm
@DesertKing, I guess anything is possible…
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DesertKing Reply:
February 8th, 2013 at 6:03 pm
@BrokeKingsFan,
Deke'r Reply:
February 8th, 2013 at 6:28 pm
@BrokeKingsFan, ….no doubt….just look at the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs….
is there another Kopitar brother that has flown under the radar or does everyone from Slovenia look the same when sporting the Staches? The 3rd guy in that picture (from what I can see of him) looks just like em…
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jess Reply:
February 8th, 2013 at 4:56 pm
@BrokeKingsFan,
Yes he has a secret brother who goes by the name of Krossbar.
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11 or 3 Reply:
February 8th, 2013 at 5:28 pm
@jess, hilarious
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JonRosen Reply:
February 8th, 2013 at 5:12 pm
@BrokeKingsFan, I had the pleasure of visiting Mora during Movember. There were a few “greasy” staches, to borrow from the hockey vernacular.
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11 or 3 Reply:
February 8th, 2013 at 5:30 pm
@JonRosen, these guys (the kopi brothers) would have been perfect for the old oakland a’s. run into peter forsberg anywhere?
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I know who I’ll be rooting for in the 2014 Olympics. Go Slovenia!
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Debra Turull Reply:
February 8th, 2013 at 7:25 pm
@Jon G, I will be too since I’m half Slovenian. My Mom, who is Slovenian is actually watching the Kings now because of Kopi. Before him, she didn’t even know which end of the stick to use. But, for now Go Kings!!!!
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Congrats to the Kopitar family and to all of Slovenia for a job well done! See you all in the Olympics but in the mean time Anze, lets will some freaking NHL games as the Olympics are a ways away yet. Do not tarnish the Cup by not making the playoff’s this year.
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King Alex Reply:
February 8th, 2013 at 4:56 pm
@King Alex, Win some games…smartphone…dumb user…….
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Selfish answer: noooo there goes a chance to have our star rest while the others play.
Kopitar fan answer: we’re going to Sochi!!
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Awesome news for Anze!
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Wow! Awesome! I guess I’ll have to root against Kopi for one game at least. First for everything.
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Why does Gaspar remind me of Nacho? http://youtu.be/AL34fiauhq4
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LBlocal Reply:
February 8th, 2013 at 5:51 pm
GaspEr (self edit) gKg!
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Sign Gasper to a UFA deal.
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Subby Reply:
February 8th, 2013 at 6:31 pm
@luc20rules, yusss
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Ok, now I want to hide under a rock.
http://www.rotoworld.com/player/nhl/1112/willie-mitchell
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LBlocal Reply:
February 8th, 2013 at 6:50 pm
@luc20rules, December 27,2012 via Twitter:
Willie Mitchell @Willie_Mitch33
I heard a shinny game @SilverStarMR is happening at 6pm tonight. Come join the party! #vernon #hockey pic.twitter.com/0jY8Fuz6
So, I wonder. When exactly was WM’s surgery & ‘set-back’? Was the medical procedure recommended by the Club’s medical staff? What was the initial prognosis/recovery period? Did the event (above) have any relevance? As WM was ‘healthy’ on 06.12, is he currently getting paid under new CBA? Is the problem something else besides the knee? #Conjecture
gKg!
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luc20rules Reply:
February 8th, 2013 at 9:56 pm
@LBlocal, This is what I have pieced together. Original operation was basic clean up of loose cartilage in the knee. Original prognosis was he would be able to skate late Dec 2012. He wasn’t healing on pace and didn’t get the expected strength back in the knee on the original time table. He tried to skate on around Jan 22nd doing very light work for about 20 mins, but it swelled. Stopped for a week tried again more agressively about a week later even was non-contact at practice around Jan 30th again swelled up. Last go around that I read about Feb 5th skated haven’t heard anything since so assuming it swelled again. Yes he is being paid as he signed an 2yr extention last April. Actually I believe he and Quick were paid even during the lockout because they were technically injured and couldn’t be locked out. To my knowledge it is only the knee.
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Kenny44 Reply:
February 8th, 2013 at 7:30 pm
@luc20rules,
I was looking at the likings.com team roster and Willie was not listed (although Greene was). Don’t think it means anything, just weird
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PRMan Reply:
February 9th, 2013 at 9:02 am
@Kenny44, When Kopitar was injured, neither player was activated to the team roster. Once Kopitar got injured they added him to the roster and sent someone down to Manchester. Since Mitchell has never been healthy enough, he has been a non-roster player so far this season.
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Feel free to tell me when to bust out the “Germans bombing Pearl Harbor” morale speech.
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Duncanz Reply:
February 8th, 2013 at 6:29 pm
@DessertKing, You watching the Ducks game as well?
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Kenny44 Reply:
February 8th, 2013 at 7:31 pm
@Duncanz,
Every now and then I look up when they show the Stars’ bench. They’ve got a “bench buster” too.
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Duncanz Reply:
February 8th, 2013 at 8:31 pm
@Souray44, Maybe teams are realizing they draw a sliver more attention than the ‘Dancing Boys’.
DesertKing Reply:
February 8th, 2013 at 9:48 pm
@Duncanz,
Nope, had too work. Dang kid of mine got accepted to 4 colleges with 1 in the top 20 in the world and the other at #21. Just my luck.
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SLG1013 Reply:
February 9th, 2013 at 9:26 am
@DesertKing, Congrats… that’s awesome. I have a son who’s an honor student in 10th grade so I will be in the same boat in a couple years (I fear and I hope)… You must be very proud, as I am with what my son has accomplished so far…
Breaking OT update:
Ducks down 0-2 to Stars end of 1st Period.
But don’t worry objective SoCal hockey fans, there’s still 40 mins left.
Nasty game, too. Kings should watch it for ideas re aggression and fluid movement of skates and puck on the PP.
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Kenny44 Reply:
February 8th, 2013 at 7:37 pm
@Duncanz,
Objective? How about uncommitted (like an SC recruit)? Or agnostic, like the guy who prays only when he really hopes to get some immediate return?
I agree that both of these teams are using a gear that the Kings just haven’t found yet
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Duncanz Reply:
February 8th, 2013 at 8:18 pm
@Kenny44, Yes, but by objective I meant Kings fans who can also appreciate the talents and achievements of our friends who’ve flown south a little.
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Kenny44 Reply:
February 8th, 2013 at 8:48 pm
@EmilyLittellanz
Oh, that’s very different. Never mind.
(You didn’t SAY objective Kings fans)
Duncanz Reply:
February 9th, 2013 at 1:10 am
@KennyCobain44, Well, I figured most people that come here are not primarily Ducks fans, except for @phil god sykes, @SVELTEY, & @purge73.
Yellowhorn is with Manchester now
Call that kid up. Ive seen what he can do with the puck in person and let me tell ya he is amazing. I’m pretty sure he is friends with Clifford and thats why he went to play with him on the Reign in the off season. Maybe a small reason Clifford’s hands have developed a bit?
who knows!
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Real 7 Reply:
February 8th, 2013 at 7:04 pm
@Subby, as I don’t keep up with the ECHL, thought you were funnin’ – here he is with a purdy shootout goal…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=AJ46fyGf89Y
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DesertKing Reply:
February 8th, 2013 at 7:45 pm
@Real 7,
We were there that night and the kid is a natural scorer. He doesn’t seem to play too much defense though and is small like Lokti and Moeller.
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Duncanz Reply:
February 8th, 2013 at 8:13 pm
@DessertKing, … or St Louis?
DesertKing Reply:
February 8th, 2013 at 8:19 pm
@Duncecanz
Good point. Haven’t seen St. Louis play too much, but offensively I would say Yellow Horn has more skills. He isn’t afraid to drop the gloves either.
Subby Reply:
February 8th, 2013 at 8:28 pm
@DesertKing, yeah me too!
Subby Reply:
February 8th, 2013 at 8:27 pm
@Real 7, I was there for that goal
I just happen to go that night aha
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Can we have an Olympic break NOW??
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Kenny44 Reply:
February 8th, 2013 at 7:57 pm
@Munchrat,
Yeah, our boys came out of the break lethargic. They need a nap!
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So we have Quick and the Ducks have Fasthe. If they want someone with a cool goalie name they should at least spell it right. Go Quickie, GKG!
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LVKINGS88 Reply:
February 8th, 2013 at 7:46 pm
@TheRussianKing, Fukufuji.
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Shakes Reply:
February 9th, 2013 at 7:51 am
@LVKINGS88, #NeverForget
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I see Torres got lit up today?
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Kenny44 Reply:
February 8th, 2013 at 7:39 pm
@kissmyblarneystones,
Dude, where’s the link? Throw me a frickin’ bone!
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kissmyblarneystones Reply:
February 8th, 2013 at 7:58 pm
@Kenny44,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0iAdzO6WZw
Sorry for the delay!
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Kenny44 Reply:
February 8th, 2013 at 8:04 pm
@kissmyblarneystones,
Thanks! That Torres is a ball of hate.
Jamal Mayers, you’re no Todd Bertuzzi!
kissmyblarneystones Reply:
February 8th, 2013 at 8:41 pm
@Kenny44,
What are the chances that his first game back after suspension is vs the BH’s
Kenny44 Reply:
February 8th, 2013 at 8:46 pm
@kissmyblarneystones, yeah, and they didn’t waste ANY time getting Mayers out there after him. Too bad Scott is gone, at least for this night.
This is awesome and a credit to Anze!
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Please change th picture. this are Kopi and Gasper dressed in colors of hockey club MOTA from sweden (look like belarus national dres) http://www.iihf.com/channels1213/oqm/group-f.html
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Sorry MORA
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Anyone watchin the ducks game?? another BS goalie interference call
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LVKINGS88 Reply:
February 8th, 2013 at 7:45 pm
@McDonalds, Yup, this isn’t hockey anymore, they’ve pussified it with calls like that and the one against Kopi.
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Ellerby knows how to scrap pretty well !
http://youtu.be/pndSGQjCdCA
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DesertKing Reply:
February 8th, 2013 at 9:42 pm
@Subby,
He is a big dude and he has the Westy clap too.
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luc20rules Reply:
February 8th, 2013 at 10:05 pm
@Subby, Nice, its been a while since I have seen a guy in a hockey fight drop to the fetal position.
Speaking of the Westy Clap, I really miss the all out celibration of Kip Brennan after winning a fight.
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For Sunday sec. 125 row 5.
I hope that the Joe is silent the whole time.
I hope that this is worth the bother.
6 hrs round trip
Fuel
Weather
I hope that I forget that this is on NBC, available in the quiet of my own living room.
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luc20rules Reply:
February 8th, 2013 at 10:07 pm
@Robert R, Hope you have a great time. I will be looking for something that says Stanley Cup Champion Los Angeles Kings in the stands on TV.
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KJ Reply:
February 8th, 2013 at 10:17 pm
@Robert R, have a great time…I hope it’s all worth it!!!
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Kenny44 Reply:
February 8th, 2013 at 11:23 pm
@Robert R,
Better hope the Kings bring their PK for a roadie in Detroit, Make sure to tell anyone that will listen that Little Caesar’s pizza sucks
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kissmyblarneystones Reply:
February 9th, 2013 at 11:59 am
@Kenny44,
For $5 bucks it’s ok.
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DesertKing Reply:
February 8th, 2013 at 11:54 pm
@Robert R,
Safe trip! thank you for representing
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Duncanz Reply:
February 9th, 2013 at 12:45 am
@Robert R, Have a bucket of Wings for me!
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Robert R Reply:
February 9th, 2013 at 2:01 am
@Duncanz, (decided I just had to attend–self-sacrifice and all that baloney. After all, how else does one earn the adulation of hockey women?)
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KC23 Reply:
February 9th, 2013 at 8:03 am
@Robert R, I’m pulling for you to have an awesome time. Be safe.
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Robert R Reply:
February 9th, 2013 at 11:37 am
@KC23, Heads up for flying octopus
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Duncanz Reply:
February 9th, 2013 at 11:52 am
@Robert R, Maybe you can fry them up like squid..
Yes, very happy hockey times for Slovenia lately.. Won Division 1 World Championship/Qulified for Elite grouop Championships next or this year, won the Stanley Cup with our bellowed Kings & Kopi and now qualified for Olympics on this tournament. And we still get to defeat Ukraine tomorrow…hehe..Couldn’t wish for more, ok maybe Kings winning some more games this season wouldn’t hurt also. Hopefully all this sparks Kopi’s form a bit, it sure would help us.
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We haven’t seen a single game this year when the Kings looked anything like what we saw in the last 2 months of the season last year. Very disappointing.
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Duncanz Reply:
February 9th, 2013 at 11:55 am
@KC23, Come to think about it, we’ve barely seen a shift..
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Doughty broke up with Scuderi … JR said.
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Gustavo Reply:
February 9th, 2013 at 9:58 am
@goldielocks,
All things seen from the girlie point of view, uh? Funny.
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