It’s been a bit of a weird weekend at the IIHF World Championships. Friday saw Radko Gudas giving his Philadelphia Flyers teammate, Claude Giroux, a no-look punch during the Czech Republic-Canada match. And on Saturday, after Slovakia defeated Italy 3-2 in overtime, the PA accidentally played the national anthem of Slovenia instead of Slovakia, which did not go over well with Slovakian hockey fans who understandably booed while it was playing.
Here’s the Slovakian national anthem, by the way:
Reading both countries’ names (and seeing both of their flags), it’s easy to confuse the two if one is not careful. However, at this stage of the tournament, there are two groups playing in two different cities (Cologne and Paris), and Slovakia and Slovenia are not even playing in the same group. So it seems odd that the Cologne crew would have the Slovenian national anthem at the ready when that team is playing in Paris.
In any case, this was a good reminder that if you confuse the two countries in front of its citizens, they will give you so much grief.
(h/t r/sports)