Slovakia's Olympic hockey roster has some NHL players but could have trouble

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Slovakia is part of the Winter Olympics' opening men's hockey game on Wednesday.

Taking on Finland, Slovakia's players will try to make their country proud, with just a bit of NHL representation.

Unlike the last two cycles, NHL players are allowed to play in these Olympics. That is great news for some teams, but not for others.

Slovakia is a bit on the shorthanded side when it comes to having players from the top level of hockey.

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What NHL players are on Slovakia's Olympic roster?​

Slovakia has seven NHL players on its Olympic roster.

Those seven are:

• Dalibor Dvorsky, Blues
• Martin Pospisil, Flames
• Pavol Regenda, Sharks
• Juraj Slafkovsky, Canadiens
• Erik Cernak, Lightning
• Martin Fehervary, Capitals
• Simon Nemec, Devils

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The Slovak team doesn't have any goaltenders from the NHL.

Slafkovsky is going to have to be the star, and he opened the scoring at these Olympics off a turnover with a goal.

Slovakia is the defending bronze medalist. It'll be a lot harder for them to get on the podium again in this best-on-best setup, but they'll do their best to pull an upset.

More Olympics news:​

• This U.S. luge star was parodied on SNL
• NBC's drone cameras have everyone's attention
• The Winter Olympics mascots are adorable
• Mike Tirico had a crazy flight to get from the Super Bowl to the Olympics
• Jutta Leerdam, Jake Paul share golden moment with tears of joy
• Chloe Kim just put everyone on notice

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