The hockey-mad country of Slovakia is not expected to challenge for the gold medal at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. But don't tell that to team captain Zdeno Chara and his teammates. They are there to win. And they want to do it to honour their fallen hockey hero - Pavol Demitra.
It has been over two years since the country mourned the death of Demitra, who of course was killed in the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash that claimed 43 lives. Yet he very much remains in the thoughts of players and coaches, as Stephen Whyno of the Canadian Press found out.
"Pavol Demitra was a big part of it," assistant coach Vladimir Orszagh said. "It was just the goals he scored and the happiness, how happy he was when he scored in the Olympics and how fans after world championship we came back and there was like 20,000 people in the stands waiting for us."
"Pavol is always with us," said former NHL forward Branko Radivojevic, who replaced the injured Marian Gaborik on the Olympic roster. "Everybody thinks of him, and we remember him. He's a great guy, he's still with us. But we got to look forward."
Here's the full story.
TSN has a similar story running on their website and on SportsCenter. Here's a direct link to that video.
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