Steel Arena, Košice
photo: Jan Sukup / 2019 IIHF WM
The 2019 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship was opened today in a big way. The championship has started by the game between Finland and Canada in Kosice and by game between Russia and Norway in Bratislava, but the sporting event number one in Slovakia was officially opened by the opening ceremony before the evening game between the home team of Slovakia and the team of the USA.
Fans in the sold-out Steel Arena in Kosice and hundreds of thousands of TV spectators watched a short performance under the baton of choreographer, dancer, and director Jan Durovcik. Together with his team, with musician Ondrej Kandrac and with help of the Slovak Ice Hockey Federation they prepared a ceremony which was a tribute to the hockey legends and the country itself.
“Our goal was to introduce legends, beauties, and successes of Slovakia elegantly and in style. It was not a ceremony that we are used to from the Olympic Games. But that was not our goa. We wanted to introduce our legends, the most beautiful places, show a bit of history and the transfer to the modern age, and introduce the participating countries of the championship to the fans and the whole world poetically and artistically,“ said the director of the opening ceremony, Durovcik.
At the beginning of the championship, Macejko the mascot turned off the lights in the arena and a magnificent screening on ice started. The ice changed to a running water that froze in the moment when a big puck landed on it. The video showed a small boy’s desire to become an international hockey player. The faces of former Slovak hockey players emerged from the ice during the screening. A flying puck revealed Slovak castles, historical monuments and natural beauties of Slovakia. We also moved to the history of Slovakia for a while. Right after that, Slovakia was portrayed as a modern and dynamically developing country.
The opening ceremony peaked by performance of one of the most famous Slovak musicians, Kandrac, who is also an author of the “Macejko song“. “The strong emotional text written by Vlado Puchala is a tribute to Slovakia and everything that characterizes us. Durovcik completed it greatly by dances and scenes. It is an honour for me to be a part of this tribute to all the players and fans as well as fans of the most popular Slovak sport,“ said Kandrac.
The musician performed together with the dancers on a special platform made of a number of pucks. “The guests usually talked to the people from a red carpet at opening ceremonies. In Slovakia we were first to create a platform that can be put together and taken apart in a short time. Moreover, it is made of hockey pucks, which links it to ice hockey,“ added Durovcik.
Fans in the sold-out Steel Arena in Kosice and hundreds of thousands of TV spectators watched a short performance under the baton of choreographer, dancer, and director Jan Durovcik. Together with his team, with musician Ondrej Kandrac and with help of the Slovak Ice Hockey Federation they prepared a ceremony which was a tribute to the hockey legends and the country itself.
“Our goal was to introduce legends, beauties, and successes of Slovakia elegantly and in style. It was not a ceremony that we are used to from the Olympic Games. But that was not our goa. We wanted to introduce our legends, the most beautiful places, show a bit of history and the transfer to the modern age, and introduce the participating countries of the championship to the fans and the whole world poetically and artistically,“ said the director of the opening ceremony, Durovcik.
At the beginning of the championship, Macejko the mascot turned off the lights in the arena and a magnificent screening on ice started. The ice changed to a running water that froze in the moment when a big puck landed on it. The video showed a small boy’s desire to become an international hockey player. The faces of former Slovak hockey players emerged from the ice during the screening. A flying puck revealed Slovak castles, historical monuments and natural beauties of Slovakia. We also moved to the history of Slovakia for a while. Right after that, Slovakia was portrayed as a modern and dynamically developing country.
The opening ceremony peaked by performance of one of the most famous Slovak musicians, Kandrac, who is also an author of the “Macejko song“. “The strong emotional text written by Vlado Puchala is a tribute to Slovakia and everything that characterizes us. Durovcik completed it greatly by dances and scenes. It is an honour for me to be a part of this tribute to all the players and fans as well as fans of the most popular Slovak sport,“ said Kandrac.
The musician performed together with the dancers on a special platform made of a number of pucks. “The guests usually talked to the people from a red carpet at opening ceremonies. In Slovakia we were first to create a platform that can be put together and taken apart in a short time. Moreover, it is made of hockey pucks, which links it to ice hockey,“ added Durovcik.