Erik Brady: Slovakia is on the verge of Olympic hockey glory, with a pair of Sabre alums leading the way

Miroslav Satan is general manager of Slovakia’s national team, and Craig Ramsay coaches it. They are former Sabres who gave Slovakia a golden moment Wednesday – with the chance of more gold to come.

Slovakia beat the United States by scoring the tying goal with 43.7 seconds to play and then the only goal in a shootout. When the Slovak goalie, Patrik Rybar, denied the last of five American shooters, assistant coach Jan Pardavy bearhugged Ramsay.

“Pardo almost broke me in half,” Ramsay said after. “I still said, ‘Did we win? Have we won this thing?’ Because you lose track at five shootouts.”

Slovakia moves on to Friday’s semifinals, where it will play Sweden. The Slovaks can finish no worse than fourth, which is where they finished in 2010, at the Vancouver Games. Satan played on that team. He also played on the 2002 team that won the International Ice Hockey Federation championship, in Sweden, where he was named the tournament’s most valuable player. His 186 games for the national team are the most in Slovakia’s history.

Satan hired Ramsay to coach the team in 2017. “I am glad that such an expert who has worked in the NHL as a player and for many years as a coach in various roles will come to us,” Satan said at the time.

Ramsay played his entire NHL career for the Sabres. His 1,070 games are the second-most in franchise history, behind Gil Perreault. Satan played more than 1,000 NHL games, too, though for several franchises. He came from Edmonton in a trade, in 1997, and played seven full seasons in Buffalo, scoring 25 or more goals six times.

Satan played for Slovan Bratislava in the Slovak Extraliga during the NHL lockout in 2004-05, and the Sabres didn’t offer a contract when the lockout ended. So he signed instead with the New York Islanders – and scored 35 goals. Next he joined the Pittsburgh Penguins and won a Stanley Cup there. When Sidney Crosby scored his 500th goal on Tuesday night, the Penguins released a list of the 107 players who had assists on Crosby’s goals over the years. And there was Satan, with three.

He ended his NHL career with the Boston Bruins, who beat the Sabres in five games in the 2010 playoffs. Satan scored in double overtime in Game 4, and then got the series winner in Game 5.

Ramsay, who will turn 71 next month, spent more than 20 years as a coach in the NHL, mostly as an assistant. He won the Selke Trophy in 1985 as the NHL’s best defensive forward, which is all about hard work.

“We played so hard,” Ramsay said of Slovakia’s upset win. His players “felt like we deserved it, and then it is a matter of making it happen. The kids did it. They found a way.”

Speaking of kids, Satan tweeted a video of the reaction to Wednesday’s win from a boys hockey team in Slovakia. They mobbed one another and tossed gloves in the air and slid across the ice on their bellies.

“While we had our Olympic shootout vs USA in China,” Satan wrote, “this is how early morning practice looked like in many small arenas in Slovakia.” He added several emojis – laughing, fist-bumping and thumbs-upping.

Satan has roughly 6,000 followers; by early Wednesday afternoon, that video had more than 370,000 views. Small wonder: Joy is forever fun to see.

The U.S. was the top seed of this Olympic tournament going into the quarterfinals. Slovakia was seeded eighth. The Slovaks looked to be in trouble when they took five consecutive penalties against the Americans at one point, including a 5-on-3. But Slovakia killed them all off. Sabres fans wouldn’t be surprised; Ramsay paired with Don Luce as perhaps the best penalty-kill tandem in franchise history.

“When you’ve got a 5-on-3 in that scenario and you don’t capitalize on it,” U.S. coach Dan Quinn said, “you’re giving that other team a lot of hope.”

Now Team Slovakia has hope of winning it all. Team USA hasn’t won gold since the Miracle on Ice at the Lake Placid Games, in 1980. Now Slovakia has a chance to pull off a gold-medal miracle of its own.

Do you believe in miracles?

And Miroslavs?