Slovakia U18

Poprad's Ice Stadium holds 4,500, and it is where Slovakia's under-18 squad trains and plays most of its home tournament fixtures, including the Vladimír Dzurilla Memorial Tournament.

The team was formed in 1993, once Czechoslovakia split, and took the ice for the first time that March against Ukraine, winning 5–2 in Riga. Its debut appearance at the IIHF World U18 Championship came six years later, in 1999, and produced a bronze medal at the first attempt. A silver followed in 2003, when Slovakia lost the final to Canada, and another arrived in 2026, this time behind Sweden.

Across the border sits the team's oldest and sharpest opponent, the Czech Republic, a rivalry that traces straight back to the 1993 split and has no separate name of its own beyond that shared history. At the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, Slovakia has finished second once, in 2021 behind Russia, and third twice, in 1997 and 1998, both times beaten by the Czechs.

The shirt carries red, blue and white, the colours of the national flag, and the squad is known simply as Slovenská osemnástka — no separate nickname has attached itself to the side beyond that.