MILAN – When Juraj Slafkovský first took the ice as an Olympian for Team Slovakia four years ago in Beijing, he was a teenager, braces on his teeth, the best years of his hockey life still well ahead of him.

He scored eight goals and was named tournament MVP as Slovakia won their only Olympic medal in men’s hockey, a bronze — a moment of great national pride for the nation of roughly 5 million.

A few months later, the Montreal Canadiens selected Slafkovský with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, a first for a Slovak player.

While Slafkovský was already viewed in Slovakia as the country’s next big hockey star when he made his men’s world championships debut at 16 a year prior, his Olympic performance vaulted him into another stratosphere in his home nation.

The hopes and expectations of a long-suffering hockey nation were heaped on the shoulders of a 17-year-old kid.

As Slafkovský first took the ice as an Olympian for Team Slovakia at practice Monday, he did so as a young man of 21, no braces on his teeth, 257 games of NHL experience behind him, and bearing the weight of those expectations he helped create four years earlier.

Slafkovský is Slovakia’s most adored athlete, with every game he plays in Montreal, every comment he makes, anything he does widely reported across the country. He is on par with 2022 Olympic gold medal skier Petra Vlhová, who completed a two-year comeback from injury to compete in the women’s team combined event Tuesday. The main difference is at 30, Vlhová’s best years are likely behind her.

Slafkovský’s best years are still ahead of him, and perhaps directly ahead of him.

He is back at the Olympics, and though this tournament features NHL players and Beijing’s did not, the expectations on Slafkovský in his home country are far higher than they were four years ago.

“Well, good thing our country’s small,” Slafkovský said with a smile Monday. “It’s not like Canada.”

In some ways, however, it is like Canada for Slafkovský, and more specifically like what Canada’s captain, Sidney Crosby, experienced in 2010 at the Vancouver Olympics. At least on a per capita basis.

Crosby was 22 in Vancouver; Slafkovský will be 22 next month. While Crosby was surrounded by veteran talent, he was seen as his team’s best forward despite his young age. Same with Slafkovský. Crosby had been anointed his country’s next great player as a young teenager. Same with Slafkovský.

It is a completely different scale and he is obviously nowhere near the same player and never will be, but in many ways, Slafkovský is like Slovakia’s Crosby.

“It’s a completely different Slafkovský now,” said Vladimir Országh, Slovakia’s head coach. “He was a young guy on a roll (in Beijing). He scored eight goals. There is a quote, even when he shot from the buffet, he would score. So that’s how hot he was in those Olympics.

“Now, he’s a different player. He’s a lot more mature. He’s the guy who should be taking over the leadership and leading the team.”

As Slovakia ran through some five-on-five drills a little less than an hour into practice Monday, Slafkovský and his teammates were going hard at each other. As the puck came around the boards and Slafkovský went to gather it, he got drilled hard into the boards by Calgary Flames forward Martin Pospíšil.

Slafkovský, five years Pospíšil’s junior, laughed it off. He appreciated the intensity.

But it was indicative of the type of defensive attention Slafkovský will draw in this tournament as Slovakia’s offensive leader.

“We have to realize he’s still a young guy. He’s 21 years old, soon 22, but we’re going to play against the best teams, the best players,” Országh said. “They know he’s our top offensive guy, so I’m pretty sure they’re going to be watching him and they’re going to know where he is going to be on the ice. So it’s not going to be just about him because he’s going to be playing against the best defenders in the world.

“Of course, there is going to be some pressure, because he’s an NHL player, he’s our point leader in the NHL and the pressure’s going to be (there). But it’s not going to be just about him, everybody’s got to step up and everybody’s got to help out.”

But Slafkovský is wired in a way to embrace this kind of pressure. He wants to be the best, always has, and he has worked toward this moment his whole life.

As far as he’s concerned, bring it on.

“I feel like I want to be the difference-maker, I’ve got to be able to play against anyone, no matter what they’re going to do,” Slafkovský said. “I want to play hard, I want to make it hard for them and score some goals.”

However, the scrutiny he will face from his opponents on the ice may pale in comparison to what he will face from his own people. Slafkovský’s dealings with the Slovak media who cover his every move are, to put it mildly, strained.

When he was named Slovakia’s hockey player of the year for a third consecutive year last summer, Slafkovský refused to speak to the gathered print media. He says he has to hide when he goes home to Košice every summer. His good friend Simon Nemec, the No. 2 pick behind Slafkovský in the 2022 NHL draft and an important defenseman for Slovakia who is also playing in his second Olympics, is not under nearly the same scrutiny.

“I have a little bit of trouble, and he’s got really big trouble,” Nemec said two years ago. “That’s the difference.”

The “trouble” has only grown since, and it will reach a crescendo in Milan.

And he won’t be able to hide.

As Slafkovský stepped off the ice after practice Monday, he did two sets of television interviews before addressing a pack of Slovak print writers. He answered their questions for a few minutes with a straight, almost stern expression on his face before being moved along by the team’s media relations officer to the North American media.

As he arrived, he immediately smiled and made a joke.

“They let you in here?” he said.

The contrast was striking.

But ultimately, Slafkovský says he understands the scrutiny, where it comes from. It is a result of an impassioned hockey nation thirsty for international success.

“No, I like it,” Slafkovský said of the pressure from home. “I dreamed of it since I was a little kid. I enjoy it now and I like it.”

The success Slovak hockey fans crave was somewhat sated by the bronze medal in Beijing, but the tournament in Milan is not the same animal. Slovakia has seven NHL players on the roster and its first game Wednesday will be against Finland, which has a single player who is not in the NHL.

“It’s a different tournament,” Slafkovský said. “Every team is way better than before.”

That is true. But the same could be said of Slovakia’s best player as well, the player viewed as the future of Slovak hockey. As a young boy, Slafkovský was inspired by watching Marián Hossa.

After all these years of waiting, Slafkovský is now in a position to provide that same inspiration for a young Slovak boy or girl. And he is ready for it.