BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (CP) - Ottawa Senators defencemen Zdeno Chara and Andrej Meszaros and Montreal Canadiens winger Richard Zednik were among 18 NHL players named to Slovakia's Olympic hockey roster Thursday.

While suspect in goal in previous Winter Games appearances, Slovakia looks to improve in that key area with the presence of Colorado Avalanche backup Peter Budaj.

Hot young Avalanche rookie Marek Svatos provides pep up front, where Slovakia is especially strong. Brothers Marian (Atlanta) and Marcel Hossa (Rangers), Marian Gaborik (Minnesota), Michal Handzus (Philadelphia), Miro Satan (Islanders), Pavol Demitra (Los Angeles), Peter Bondra (Atlanta), Ladislav Nagy (Phoenix) and Jozef Stumpel (Florida) make up an attacking force that will be among the most explosive in the Winter Games.

Other NHL players on the defence are Lubomir Visnovsky (Los Angeles), Radoslav Suchy (Columbus), Ivan Majesky (Washington) and Milan Jurcina (Boston).

Ten players return from the 2002 Olympic squad.

Satan has the longest Olympic tenure on the team having played in the 1994 tournament in Lillehammer, Norway. Satan and Visnovsky will be appearing in their third Winter Games.

Veteran Ziggy Palffy (Pittsburgh) was not selected. Palffy had withdrawn his name from consideration.

Slovakia bombed in 2002. In the preliminary round, it lost 3-0 to Germany, tied Latvia 6-6 and was beaten 3-2 by Austria. In the game for 13th place, it defeated France 7-1.

An altered format allows Slovakia to have all of its NHL players this time, and it gets to play the top teams without having to go through a qualifying round against the lesser countries. Slovakia opens against Russia on Feb. 15.