BRATISLAVA – The Slovak national inline hockey team is ready for today’s start of the 2017 IIHF Inline Hockey World Championship in Bratislava. The team from the host country wants to show its best in front of the home crowd.

IIHF.com sat down with national team head coach Imrich Antal, who remembers well the last home success when Slovakia made it to the final in 2008 and earned the silver medals, the highest placing ever.

How was the preparation before the IIHF Inline Hockey World Championship going?

We started on Monday. We were working on the system, which we want to perform in the tournament. We played a pre-competition game with Germany. We needed to see how our 16 players would show up during the game.

The tournament will be hosted by your country. Does the team feel kind of pressure before the opening game?

The boys are very serious about this tournament. We had a tragic story in our team as one member of our equipment staff died last year. He used to be with us every championship and he was a very good friend of mine. We had a meeting because of that and all players want to fight for him too.

What are the main differences between ice hockey and inline hockey for a coach?

There are many things. There are various types of forchecking. When the players are entering the offensive zone, they are keeping an eye on how the whole action looks like. If they see there is not a chance to make the attack, they come back to make another forcheck. Most important are still power plays and penalties. If we eliminate our opponents in these types of play, we can go far.

Last time the World Championship was hosted by Slovakia, the home team earned silver medals. Is this team strong enough to repeat this success?

I have been working in hockey in different levels for a long period of time. Every time I was working with national teams, everyone wanted to represent Slovakia the best they could. On the other side, you never know how it goes. Our focus is to show the kind of performance that will satisfy our fans. In 2008 we had a great team spirit, but that happens every time.

That year you had big names such as a Lubomir Visnovsky or Richard Kapus on your team. What about this year?

There was a chance to have Tomas Tatar, who is playing in Detroit. We talked to him during the winter, but his medical problems cut him off from the tournament. We spoke with Michel Miklik, who represented Slovakia in the last Ice Hockey World Championship in Cologne, but he was tired after the whole season. Also we were trying to get Miroslav Preisinger and Martin Bakos, but their clubs didn't allow them to go. At the end of the day I think we still have a competitive team, which can make a good result.

You have big favourites in your group such as defending champion Canada and record champion USA. Can Slovakia play an equal game with these teams?

Canada is the defending champion from two years ago. We lost there in the semi-final game against the Finns in shootout. To be honest, we can´t compare with these team. First of all, we played our national league only for five weeks. The Americans played it for 12 months so it´s very hard for us to compete with them. Nevertheless, we can put together a quality team that can play games at equal level even with teams like that. Our players can put a huge effort into it and that´s why we are able to keep up with the world's top nations. I am very grateful to the boys that they are willing to sacrifice their personal free time and come to represent Slovakia.

Can playing in front of the home crowd make a difference?

I always counted on our fans. At decisive moments, they always pushed the team forward. When we started in 2008 with 200 spectators and ended the tournament in front of almost 4,000 fans, it was unbelievable. I was very pleased that they came in such numbers. The boys will try as hard as they can, but it doesn't always go as planned. But I see the boys are ready to take on this challenge and to please Slovakia again.

Click here for the live stream of the World Championship. The first game begins at 13:00 in the Division I tournament, which will be broadcast by Fanseat. The games from the main rink will also be available on IIHF.com

JURAJ HUDAK