During the preparation for the World Cup, the goalkeeper of the Slovak national hockey team, Adam Gajan, had a great desire to take the chance to show the coaches, according to his own words, that he can be a leader. His chance came unexpectedly, as before the second match of the B-group in Fribourg Samuel Hlavaj dropped out due to health problems, who held the Slovaks in the first match against the Norwegians (2:1). Gajan caught 23 shots of the Italians and laid the foundation for the three-point victory.
Originally, Hlavaj was supposed to go in the goal again, but the situation turned upside down. “I found out I was going to catch about half an hour before we left for the game. So it was pretty late, but basically nobody cares when I found out. I had to catch and I didn’t think of any excuses. And I felt good,” said the 22-year-old goalkeeper.
Initially, the coaches counted him as a number two for this position, but there can always be circumstances that change that. “Somehow I don’t think too much about it when the coach tells me in the evening that I’m going as a number two. But of course I’m always ready. It’s completely different than when I start a match. For the first time in a few years I wasn’t able to do any of my pre-match routines, but it didn’t affect me at all. Nobody cares if I have time to do these things before the match or not. So I just went there, caught as I know how and I’m especially happy that we won,Gajan added.
The young goalkeeper boosted his confidence early in the match with several important saves. “We defended very well the whole match. The Italians didn’t have many chances, especially in the first two thirds. I think they had a total of ten shots. With the goal they scored, I hesitated a little while passing, I didn’t know where to put it and they made it 3:1, which gave them momentum. Then they had 14 shots in the last period. But I think they didn’t have any great chances before, we really defended well. I would say it was a pretty easy match for me, the boys helped me.”
After the match, the coach Vladimír Országh also praised his performance, he will discuss it with the goalkeeping coach Petr Kos. “The coach was shaking our hands when we went to the locker room, he just told me that it was great. I will definitely discuss the whole game with coach Kos tonight and we will look at it. I think there were a lot of good things, but also some moments where I can be even better.”
Gajan has a habit of having motivational quotes on his mask. One of them decorates it for him this time as well. “I have one there now, “Stay in the moment.” Basically, that’s probably the most important thing for a goalkeeper. Even today, after conceding a goal, it was important not to think about what I could have done, because I can’t change it anymore. Sometimes in big matches you lose your head, but I think you have to catch as if it were a friendly match at the club.”
