What can Slovenia, the hockey underdog, achieve at the Sochi Olympic Games? At least four matches will be played, and the lynxes will defend their honour and hope for a sensation – and each point won will be just that.

"Something big happened to us in Vojens, but it does not mean that we are flying to the Olympic Games to have fun for a fortnight! It is a great honour, a privilege, to represent one’s country at such an important event. We will do everything in our power to prepare optimally, to be competitive, and we'll give our best. We have our secret wishes, and some of the players have already revealed them. Each point would be a great success, but we won't give up at the very beginning. We are well aware, however, who will play against us," the selector Matjaž Kopitar said at the announcement of the hockey roster for the Olympic Games.

To join, or to separate the two best players?
"Until now we have always had two striking groups of five players; we are aiming for three such efficient groups, and a strong fourth, mostly for defensive purposes," the selector described the roster of the Olympic national team. At the most attention-grabbing happening in Sochi the national team will appear with the strongest possible team. The team's aces will be, naturally, Anže Kopitar and Jan Muršak, and the expert staf is obviously considering the idea of separating them occasionally, thus balancing the offensive lines.

The additional dimensions to the offensive line combinations opened this year also through Muršak's frequent appearances in the center position – the player from Pesnica does not like it much, but he is extremely successful at face-offs, which were a weak point of the Slovenian national team at the elite division World Championships. "It depends on the angle, the part of the match, the result. Jan is an extremely good player, and he often played at center position in his youth. With the arrival of the best two players we most certainly increased the width of our game, and our possibilities," admitted Kopitar Senior.

"I sincerely hope nobody will get injured"
Will Kopitar and Muršak play at the same time, or separately? "I already have an idea, but I would not like to talk about it yet. A whole month is left until the tournament. I checked the number of matches the individual players have to play until then; I sincerely hope nobody will get injured," 48-year-old selector from Hrušica draw attention to the biggest concern - health. At the moment two playmakers have health problems: Marcel Rodman and Žiga Jeglič. The older of the Rodman brothers has problems with triceps muscle on his arm, and therefore avoids risks, but he should start playing again in DEL league at the end of the week. "Jegla" underwent a minor procedure for elbow inflammation, but it was nothing major and he will be ready to play in the First German league within a week.

The Lynx team will assemble on Monday, February 3 – all the members of the national team will gather in Ljubljana, with the exception of the NHL player, Kopitar.

AK11 will fly from the NHL four days later
Already the next day, on February 4 at 7 a.m., the Olympic expedition will leave directly for Sochi, and by February 13 all the trainings at the Olympic hockey tournament scene will have been completed. "In the beginning we will train twice a day, and when the time of the matches approaches, once a day," explained the selector.

Anže Kopitar will join the lynxes in Sochi, as for the NHL players the transport will be organized to Sochi, as agreed between IIHF, NHL and the hockey players union. Kopitar will thus leave Chicago on Saturday, February 8, and land in Sochi the same day. Until his arrival only routine training will be held, and after the best Slovenian hockey player joins the team the training will become more specific, e.g. powerplay and shorthand play will be trained with greater intensity.

The warm-up match against the Eagles
On February 8 Slovenia will play the only preparatory match with Austria. All warm-up matches will be played unofficially, without the official measurement of time, and without judges. That's the reason the Ice Hockey Federation of Slovenia stopped looking for a sparring partner for the second match which is supposed to be held on February 10.