HELSINKI – Isaac Newton didn’t coin the phrase “If I have seen further, it is by standing on ye shoulders of giants”, but he's made it famous.

As John of Salisbury explained it already in 1159, "Bernard of Chartres used to say that we are like dwarfs on the shoulders of giants, so that we can see more than they, and things at a greater distance, not by virtue of any sharpness of sight on our part, or any physical distinction, but because we are carried high and raised up by their giant size."

On Team Slovakia, and with Zdeno Chara, that could be interpreted literally. After all, the man is 206 centimetres tall, a full thirty centimeters taller than Libor Hudacek, the shortest player on the team.

But at 35, and with a Stanley Cup ring to show off, the 2009 Norris Trophy winner is also the team’s true leader in every way.

In Slovakia’s first game he played “only” 19:22, but when Slovakia needed him most, in the third period, coach Vujtek had him –  and a fellow veteran, Miroslav Satan – on the ice more than any other player on the team.

For Chara, the decision to play in his seventh World Championship was a simple one.

“It wasn’t a difficult decision, I just had to have a meeting with the Boston Bruins management, coaching staff, medical staff, and trainers and I told them I’d like to represent my country, and that was it,” he said on Saturday.

He was made captain of the team, and it’s on his shoulders a new generation of Slovak players will have to stand on to see better, and farther.

For example, goaltender Peter Hamerlik, 30, is in his third World Championship, but the game against Canada on Friday, was his first start on this level. Michal Sersen, 26, had one World Championship game under his belt before Friday. Mario Bliznak played his first 11:47 World Championship minutes against Canada.

While some of them aren’t exactly spring chickens anymore, they will now have to step into bigger roles than in the past.

Seven of the players on the team were born in 1985 and later, among them Hudacek, 21, and Tomas Tatar, 21, who’s spent a couple of seasons in North America, playing mostly in the AHL.

“Tatar is extremely talented, using his speed and skill. He’s already played a few games in the NHL, and he’s in a good system, Detroit is one of the best teams to develop players. He just needs to break into their lineup and stay there,” Chara said.

The Slovak team also has a new coach, Vladimir Vujtek, whose job it is to take the team to a new direction, and make sure the proud hockey nation stays competitive.

“He brings in a new structure and a new attitude. He’s proving to be one of the best coaches in Europe, having won a number of championships in the KHL, and he’s won in the Czech Extraliga,” Chara said.

“He’s smart and passionate about hockey,” he added.

Slovakia played a good game against Canada, but a good game alone isn’t enough in a short tournament in which each point counts.

“We didn’t give up. We did make some small mistakes that cost us the game. Team Canada is a great team, but it was too bad we couldn’t pull it off and take at least one point,” Chara said.

On Sunday, Slovakia will take on Finland, the host team that’s feeling good about themselves, even if they squeaked by Belarus on Friday with a 1-0 win.

“We’ll have to be aware for their key players. They’re playing at home and have a good team, we just have to play hard,” Chara said.

You can be sure that he’s going to show the Finns, and his team, how that’s done. And it’s not a monkey on his back, just a hockey team.

RISTO PAKARINEN