Skladany Named To Slovakian Junior Team
December 13, 2001 | Men's Ice Hockey
Terrier sophomore right wing Frantisek Skladany (Martin, Slovakia) has been named to the Slovakian National Junior Team that will compete at the World Junior Championships, December 25-January 4 in Pardubice and Hradec, Czech Republic.
Skladany is the third Terrier to be tabbed for his nation's Junior Team as sophomore center Gregg Johnson (Windsor, CT) and freshman defenseman Ryan Whitney (Scituate) will play on the U.S. team. Ironically, both the U.S. and Slovakia are in Group A, and they are scheduled to meet each other in the final game of the preliminary round. That game will be played on December 30th at 12:00 p.m. Eastern time.
Skladany is a veteran of international competition having played on the Slovakian national team that competed in the 1999-2000 World Juniors in Sweden. In those games, the Slovakian team finished fifth. He also played on the Slovakian under-16 team that won a four-country tournament that included Finland, Poland, and the Czech Republic. He led the team in goals with seven as he helped lead the club to the title. That team also won a tournament in Switzerland. He was also on the under-18 team that played in the Alberta Cup. He was voted the team MVP in games against Sweden and the U.S.
This season, Skladany has been one of the key players in the Terriers' early-season success.
Through the first 14 games of the year, the Terriers were 10-3-1, while Skladany had 7 goals and 8 assists for 15 points. He led the team in points, while he was second in goals and tied for third in assists.
This is in marked contrast to a year ago when he had 4 goals and 5 assists for 9 points in 35 games.
"Fero has certainly shown great improvement over a year ago," Terrier head coach Jack Parker said of Skladany. "It has taken him a year to adjust to playing here, and now he is doing a great job."
Skladany, Johnson, who has centered the line with Skladany on the right and sophomore Kenny Magowan (Kelowna, BC) on the left all season, and Whitney will miss the Terriers' two games at the University of Nebraska/Omaha (December 20-21). Then, depending on how far their teams advance, they could also miss the Terriers' January 4th game at Northeastern.
