Slovenia men's national ice hockey team

The Slovenia men's national ice hockey team is the ice hockey team representing Slovenia internationally. It is governed by the Ice Hockey Federation of Slovenia. As of May 2025, Slovenia is ranked 15th in the world by the IIHF World Ranking. The team's biggest success is reaching the quarter-finals at the 2014 Winter Olympics.^[4] Their best record at the Ice Hockey World Championships is 13th place, achieved in 2002, 2005 and 2025.^[5]

Slovenia

Nickname(s)	Risi (The Lynx)
Association	Ice Hockey Federation of Slovenia
General manager	Dejan Kontrec
Head coach	Edo Terglav
Assistants	Gorazd Drinovec Andrej Tavželj
Captain	Robert Sabolič
Most games	Tomaž Razingar (212)[1]
Most points	Tomaž Vnuk (171)[2]
Team colors
IIHF code	SLO
Ranking
Current IIHF	15 2 (26 May 2025)[3]
Highest IIHF	14 (2014–15)
Lowest IIHF	20 (2020–21)
First international
Austria  1–0  Slovenia (Klagenfurt, Austria; 20 March 1992)
Biggest win
Slovenia  29–0  South Africa (Ljubljana, Slovenia; 15 March 1993)
Biggest defeat
Finland  12–0  Slovenia (Tampere, Finland; 28 April 2003)
Olympics
Appearances	2 (first in 2014)
IIHF World Championships
Appearances	31 (first in 1993)
Best result	13th (2002, 2005, 2025)

Seven players from Slovenia have been drafted into the National Hockey League (NHL) since 1998; Anže Kopitar and Jan Muršak have played in the league.^[6]

History

Slovenian players at the 2008 World Championship

Before Slovenia's independence, Slovenian hockey players played for the Yugoslavia national team. From 1939, when Yugoslavia took part in its first World Championship, to 1991, when the country disintegrated, 91% of all Yugoslav national team members were Slovenes, including the entire squad that represented Yugoslavia at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo.^[7]

Slovenia declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, and joined the International Ice Hockey Federation the following year.^[8] They first played as an independent nation at the 1993 World Championship, hosting the Group C tournament, the lowest tier.^[9] They played in the elite division for the first time in 2002,^[10] and at their first Winter Olympics in 2014.^[11]

Tournament record

Olympic Games

Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA
1964–1991	Part of Yugoslavia
1992	Did not enter
1994
1998	Did not qualify
2002
2006
2010
2014	Quarter-finals	7th	5	2	0	0	3	10	16
2018	Playoffs	9th	4	0	2	1	1	9	14
2022	Did not qualify
2026
Total		0 Titles	9	2	2	1	4	19	30

World Championship

Key

	Promoted to higher division
	Relegated to lower division

Championship	Pld	W	OTW	T	OTL	L	GF	GA	Coach	Captain	Position
1920 – 1992	Part of Yugoslavia
1993 Bled and Ljubljana, Pool C	7	5	0	0	0	2	78	16	Rudi Hiti	Drago Mlinarec	4th in Pool C
1994 Poprad and Spišská Nová Ves, Pool C	6	2	0	0	0	4	26	27	Rudi Hiti	Marjan Gorenc	5th in Pool C
1995 Sofia, Pool C	4	2	0	0	0	2	28	15	Rudi Hiti	Tomaž Vnuk	7th in Pool C
1996 Jesenice and Kranj, Pool C	7	5	0	0	0	2	41	19	Vladimir Krikunov	Nik Zupančič	3rd in Pool C
1997 Tallinn and Kohtla-Järve, Pool C	5	3	0	1	0	1	25	8	Pavle Kavčič	Tomaž Vnuk	2nd in Pool C
1998 Ljubljana and Jesenice, Pool B	7	5	0	1	0	1	28	15	Pavle Kavčič	Bojan Zajc	2nd in Pool B
1999 Odense and Rodovre, Pool B	7	2	0	1	0	4	14	17	Pavle Kavčič	Tomaž Vnuk	5th in Pool B
2000 Katowice, Pool B	7	0	0	2	0	5	16	31	Rudi Hiti	Nik Zupančič	7th in Pool B
2001 Ljubljana, Division IB	5	4	0	1	0	0	44	6	Matjaž Sekelj	Tomaž Vnuk	1st in Division IB
2002 Gothenburg, Karlstad, Jönköping	6	3	0	0	0	3	18	26	Matjaž Sekelj	Tomaž Vnuk	13th
2003 Helsinki, Tampere, Turku	6	0	0	1	0	5	12	37	Matjaž Sekelj	Tomaž Vnuk	15th
2004 Gdańsk, Division IB	5	5	0	0	0	0	33	5	Kari Savolainen	Tomaž Vnuk	1st in Division IB
2005 Vienna, Innsbruck	6	2	0	0	0	4	12	32	Kari Savolainen	Robert Ciglenečki	13th
2006 Riga	6	0	0	2	0	4	14	26	František Výborný	Dejan Varl	16th
2007 Ljubljana, Division IB	5	5	0	—	0	0	29	5	Ted Sator	Marcel Rodman	1st in Division IB
2008 Quebec City, Halifax	5	0	0	—	1	4	6	22	Mats Waltin	Marcel Rodman	15th
2009 Vilnius, Division IA	5	4	0	—	0	1	21	7	John Harrington	Tomaž Razingar	2nd in Division IA
2010 Ljubljana, Division IB	5	4	1	—	0	0	29	10	John Harrington	Tomaž Razingar	1st in Division IB
2011 Bratislava, Košice	6	1	0	—	1	4	15	24	Matjaž Kopitar	Tomaž Razingar	16th
2012 Ljubljana, Division IA	5	5	0	—	0	0	17	9	Matjaž Kopitar	Tomaž Razingar	1st in Division IA
2013 Stockholm, Helsinki	7	0	0	—	2	5	12	27	Matjaž Kopitar	Tomaž Razingar	16th
2014 Goyang, Division IA	5	4	0	—	0	1	15	6	Matjaž Kopitar	Tomaž Razingar	1st in Division IA
2015 Prague, Ostrava	7	1	0	—	0	6	9	22	Matjaž Kopitar	Tomaž Razingar	16th
2016 Katowice, Division IA	5	4	0	—	0	1	18	8	Nik Zupančič	Jan Urbas	1st in Division IA
2017 Cologne, Paris	7	0	0	—	1	6	13	36	Nik Zupančič	Jan Muršak	15th
2018 Budapest, Division IA	5	2	0	—	0	3	15	15	Kari Savolainen	Jan Urbas	5th in Division IA
2019 Nur-Sultan, Division IA	5	2	0	—	0	3	21	12	Ivo Jan	Anže Kopitar	4th in Division IA
2020 Ljubljana, Division IA	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic[12]
2021 Ljubljana, Division IA	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic[13]
2022 Ljubljana, Division IA	4	4	0	—	0	0	22	5	Matjaž Kopitar	Mitja Robar	1st in Division IA
2023 Tampere, Riga	7	0	0	—	0	7	9	27	Matjaž Kopitar	Jan Urbas	16th
2024 Bolzano, Division IA	5	3	0	—	0	2	14	8	Edo Terglav	Robert Sabolič	2nd in Division IA
2025 Stockholm, Herning	7	1	0	—	1	5	9	29	Edo Terglav	Robert Sabolič	13th
2026 Zürich, Fribourg				—

Team

Current roster

Roster for the 2025 IIHF World Championship.^[14][15]

Head coach: Edo Terglav

No.	Pos.	Name	Height	Weight	Birthdate	Team
4	D	Aleksandar Magovac	1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)	91 kg (201 lb)	(1991-02-09) 9 February 1991 (age 34)	Gothiques d'Amiens
6	D	Miha Štebih	1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)	92 kg (203 lb)	(1992-04-07) 7 April 1992 (age 33)	Horacka Slavia Trebic
8	F	Marcel Mahkovec	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)	84 kg (185 lb)	(2003-12-17) 17 December 2003 (age 21)	HK Olimpija
10	F	Miha Beričič	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)	88 kg (194 lb)	(2004-04-15) 15 April 2004 (age 21)	HK Olimpija
12	F	Nik Simšič	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)	86 kg (190 lb)	(1997-03-12) 12 March 1997 (age 28)	HK Olimpija
13	F	Nace Langus	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)	87 kg (192 lb)	(2004-12-05) 5 December 2004 (age 20)	Augustana Vikings
14	D	Matic Podlipnik – A	1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)	82 kg (181 lb)	(1992-08-09) 9 August 1992 (age 33)	Kitzbüheler EC
15	D	Blaž Gregorc	1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)	95 kg (209 lb)	(1990-01-18) 18 January 1990 (age 35)	HK Olimpija
17	D	Jan Goličič	1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)	93 kg (205 lb)	(2006-06-30) 30 June 2006 (age 19)	Gatineau Olympiques
18	F	Ken Ograjenšek	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)	81 kg (179 lb)	(1991-08-30) 30 August 1991 (age 33)	Black Wings Linz
21	F	Jan Drozg	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)	85 kg (187 lb)	(1999-04-01) 1 April 1999 (age 26)	Kunlun Red Star
23	F	Jaka Sodja	1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)	85 kg (187 lb)	(1999-12-17) 17 December 1999 (age 25)	HK Olimpija
33	G	Žan Us	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)	80 kg (180 lb)	(1996-06-10) 10 June 1996 (age 29)	HDD Jesenice
41	D	Jan Ćosić	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)	80 kg (180 lb)	(2003-03-07) 7 March 2003 (age 22)	HK Olimpija
43	D	Urban Podrekar	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)	86 kg (190 lb)	(2005-02-14) 14 February 2005 (age 20)	Flint Firebirds
46	F	Matic Török – A	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)	86 kg (190 lb)	(2003-07-26) 26 July 2003 (age 22)	Kookoo
47	F	Rok Macuh	1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)	100 kg (220 lb)	(1997-04-19) 19 April 1997 (age 28)	HC Olomouc
49	F	Filip Sitar	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)	85 kg (187 lb)	(2005-06-29) 29 June 2005 (age 20)	Connecticut Huskies
55	F	Robert Sabolič – C	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)	91 kg (201 lb)	(1988-09-18) 18 September 1988 (age 36)	HK Olimpija
61	G	Lukaš Horak	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)	86 kg (190 lb)	(1993-10-05) 5 October 1993 (age 31)	HK Olimpija
69	G	Matija Pintarič	1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)	84 kg (185 lb)	(1989-08-11) 11 August 1989 (age 36)	Brûleurs de Loups
70	F	Rok Kapel	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)	81 kg (179 lb)	(1999-05-04) 4 May 1999 (age 26)	HK Olimpija
91	F	Žan Jezovšek	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)	98 kg (216 lb)	(1997-04-22) 22 April 1997 (age 28)	EV Lindau Islanders
92	F	Anže Žeželj	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)	80 kg (180 lb)	(2005-03-24) 24 March 2005 (age 20)	Fehérvár AV19
96	D	Bine Mašič	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)	75 kg (165 lb)	(2002-11-14) 14 November 2002 (age 22)	HK Olimpija

Coaching history

• Rudi Hiti (1992–1995)
• Vladimir Krikunov (1995–1996)
• Pavle Kavčič (1996–1999)
• Rudi Hiti (1999–2000)
• Matjaž Sekelj (2001–2003)
• Kari Savolainen (2003–2005)^[16]
• František Výborný (2005–2006)
• Ted Sator (2006–2007)
• Mats Waltin (2007–2008)
• John Harrington (2009–2010)
• Matjaž Kopitar (2010–2015)
• Nik Zupančič (2015–2017)^[17]
• Kari Savolainen (2017–2018)^[16]
• Ivo Jan (2018–2019)^[18]
• Matjaž Kopitar (2019–2023)^[19][20]
• Edo Terglav (2023–present)^[21]

NHL Entry Draft

Two-time NHL champion Anže Kopitar at the 2008 World Championship

Players from Slovenia selected in the NHL Entry Draft.

Year	Name	Overall	Team
1998	Edo Terglav	249th overall	Buffalo Sabres
2000	Jure Penko	203rd overall	Nashville Predators
2001	Marcel Rodman	282nd overall	Boston Bruins
2005	Anže Kopitar	11th overall	Los Angeles Kings
2006	Jan Muršak	182nd overall	Detroit Red Wings
2017	Jan Drozg	152nd overall	Pittsburgh Penguins
2024	Jan Goličič	118th overall	Tampa Bay Lightning