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Pair of top 2022 draft prospects named to Slovakia Olympic roster; Switzerland also names final roster

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Cooper Godin
January 18, 2022  (11:36)
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Team Slovakia and Team Switzerland have named their final rosters for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China beginning in only a few weeks time.

Among those on Slovakia's roster are 17-year-old Juraj Slafkovsky and 17-year-old Simon Nemec. Both players are top prospects for the 2022 NHL Entry Draft with Slafkovsky being ranked 2nd among International skaters in the latest NHL Central Scouting rankings, while Nemec was ranked 6th among International skaters.

The pair have played a huge role in helping Slovak hockey over the last year or so and will be a big part of the country's future. Slafkovsky and Nemec were on Slovakia's roster for the 2021 IIHF Men's World Hockey Championship in May and then a few months later participated at the Final Olympic qualifying tournament, helping their nation to an eighth consecutive appearance at the Winter Games.

Also on Slovakia's roster are former NHLers Marko Dano, Tomas Jurco, Peter Cehlarik, and Martin Marincin.

Slovakia will be in Group C of the 2022 Winter Olympics and will face Finland on February 10th, Sweden on February 11th, and Latvia on February 13th.

Switzerland also named their final roster for the Beijing Olympics on Tuesday morning. Their roster includes eleven returning players from their 2018 Olympic team that finished tenth place.

Their roster also has plenty of former NHLers including, Sven Andrighetto, Denis Malgin, Simon Moser, Gaetan Haas, Gregory Hofmann, Joel Vermin, Raphael Diaz, Mirco Mueller, Yannick Weber, and Reto Berra.

38-year-old forward Andreas Ambuhl will be participating in his fifth Winter Olympics, becoming the first Swiss-born player to do so.

Switzerland will be in Group C next month and will face off against the Russian Olympic Committee on February 9th, the Czechs on Febraruy 11th, and Denmark on Febraruy 12th.