WC: 2023 Czech Team

[Swipes]

So we can still finish 2nd, 3rd or 4th.

Realistically, this means US, Finland or Sweden.

Anyone have a preference for our quarter final? They all sound like a nightmare to me.lol

Historically, the US aren't a good fit for us, we tend to struggle with them. Our record vs Sweden is horrific as well. So going just by history, Finland would be the best option.

 

[Czechboy]

Historically, the US aren't a good fit for us, we tend to struggle with them. Our record vs Sweden is horrific as well. So going just by history, Finland would be the best option.

I feel like it's all 60-40 for the other side. Including Canada tomorrow. Frustrating that we have 2 losses and have yet to play a Big 5 opponent. I know the Swiss are on a higher level but still.

 

[Czechboy]

I cannot shake the image of hrubec starting tomorrow and the. Feeding vlejmelka to one of the big 3 and blaming him for a quarters loss.lol.

He is absolutely key to start the next two games for us. Anything else is madness. Tomorrow to get him in the grove and used to the pace. Thursday because we need a goalie to steal one for us.

 

[Swipes]

I cannot shake the image of hrubec starting tomorrow and the. Feeding vlejmelka to one of the big 3 and blaming him for a quarters loss.lol.

He is absolutely key to start the next two games for us. Anything else is madness. Tomorrow to get him in the grove and used to the pace. Thursday because we need a goalie to steal one for us.

Yeah I agree. Start Vejmelka tomorrow so he can be ready for the QF.

 

[Yenn 22]

I cannot shake the image of hrubec starting tomorrow and the. Feeding vlejmelka to one of the big 3 and blaming him for a quarters loss.lol.

He is absolutely key to start the next two games for us. Anything else is madness. Tomorrow to get him in the grove and used to the pace. Thursday because we need a goalie to steal one for us.

to be fair Langhamer was pretty damn good so far. Hrubec seemed shaky. Hope Vejmelka gets start againts Canada and then we should go with one of the Vejmelka/Langhamer into the quarters based on tomorrows game

 

[Czechboy]

to be fair Langhamer was pretty damn good so far. Hrubec seemed shaky. Hope Vejmelka gets start againts Canada and then we should go with one of the Vejmelka/Langhamer into the quarters based on tomorrows game

Which is why I expect hrubec for the next two.

 

[Old Man Jags]

Which is why I expect hrubec for the next two.

Pretty much definitely.

 

[Czechboy]

Pretty much definitely.

If hrubec wins us gold.. I'm flying to Japan to celebrate with you.

 

[Old Man Jags]

If hrubec wins us gold.. I'm flying to Japan to celebrate with you.

If Hrubec does that, I’ll pay for your flight! And the first beer is on me.

 

[Goodman68]

Which is why I expect hrubec for the next two.

Let's not make them such fools again. Of course, Hrubec won't catch QF.. After all that, it's out of the question.

 

[martygod12]

Well only two ways this can play out right now:

1. We can advance to sf somehow, and this unlucky disaster of a tournament ends with a succes, but I just dont see it I dont know. Today it was again terrible, one good period is just not enough.

2.We lose the qf and end up with a 4-4 record which I dont know for sure, but will be the worst record on wch since the 8teams groups were introduced. In that case Kari should be fired, I am sorry, I know there was a lot of bad luck this year, but seriously, you like how we play? You find this enjoyable? Problem is we played this exact same ugly shit even last year with a stacked team, only Pasta saved it that time. Kari´s style is just not good for us, thats my opinion.

 

[Czechboy]

end up with a 4-4 record

Imagine going 4-4 and having only played 2 of the Big 4. Yikes.

 

[Czechboy]

So Sweden or US (If Latvia wins in regulation or OT).

Doesn't matter too much.

Vejmelka will be sporting around .950 save percentage after his 3 games. So that's great!

Kempny was not praised much but he did a great job for us as 1D... got points, played PP and lots of minutes.

Rest of the D do not stand out in anyway.. negative or positive. 'Warm Bodies'. I was disapointed Zboril didn't stand out more with his size and skating.

We basically have 3 forwards.lol Kubalik and Cervus. Flek is our secondary scoring. That's it. Our D had more players with goals than our F.lol

We don't have a 1C or 2C. Sobotka is not getting it done in that role at all. I don't even know who I'd call our 2C. Someone from Kaut/Zohorna/Smejkal/Chlapik/Sobotka/Spacek has to score a few goals eventually, right?

On a good note.. we have a top goalie, 2 top scorers and a top scoring Dman. So we have nice pieces. A lot of our guys won bronze last year and may put in a great effort in the quarters defensively.

I expect a close quarter.. 60-40 chance we win IMO. I wouldn't call it a world class upset if we pulled it off.

I didn't watch Extraliga playoffs but am suprised Vozelnik was considered a star in them. I just didn't see it in his 6 games at all.

I'd keep Zohorna/Kaut/Smejkal together.

If we win, I think that line pots one for us.

 

[martygod12]

Imagine going 4-4 and having only played 2 of the Big 4. Yikes.

Yeah its absolutelly terrible ... and there was not a single good game from us. With Slovaks it was so so, but sure first game and tough one, I give them that.

With Kazakhs we worried about the game two periords, the second being aboslutelly terrible.

Latvia not even worth comenting, they straight outplayed us in that one.

With Slovenia our performance was straight up scary for 35 minutes, which we luckily turned out in the third.

With Norway I would say our best game, scored a two and then very calmly hold it defensively (its kinda sad that a 2:0 win over Norway was our best game though)

With Swiss we completelly fell apart after first period and today we only played in the second. The first and third was terrible. We didnt had a proper scoring chance in those two periods, 44 - 17 sog speaks for everything. And that our PP before the end, that was just a comical tragedy.

Yes the tourney starts now, and nothing before qf really matter and they can still turn it around. I just dont see it very likely with the quality of performances and a style of play we are presenting ourselves so far in this tournament. I am worried that more likely this will be remembered as one of the worst WCH Czechs ever had, cause it certainly seems like it so far.

 

[martygod12]

So Sweden or US (If Latvia wins in regulation or OT).

Doesn't matter too much.

Vejmelka will be sporting around .950 save percentage after his 3 games. So that's great!

View attachment 711817

Kempny was not praised much but he did a great job for us as 1D... got points, played PP and lots of minutes.

View attachment 711818

Rest of the D do not stand out in anyway.. negative or positive. 'Warm Bodies'. I was disapointed Zboril didn't stand out more with his size and skating.

We basically have 3 forwards.lol Kubalik and Cervus. Flek is our secondary scoring. That's it. Our D had more players with goals than our F.lol

View attachment 711819

We don't have a 1C or 2C. Sobotka is not getting it done in that role at all. I don't even know who I'd call our 2C. Someone from Kaut/Zohorna/Smejkal/Chlapik/Sobotka/Spacek has to score a few goals eventually, right?

On a good note.. we have a top goalie, 2 top scorers and a top scoring Dman. So we have nice pieces. A lot of our guys won bronze last year and may put in a great effort in the quarters defensively.

I expect a close quarter.. 60-40 chance we win IMO. I wouldn't call it a world class upset if we pulled it off.

I didn't watch Extraliga playoffs but am suprised Vozelnik was considered a star in them. I just didn't see it in his 6 games at all.

I'd keep Zohorna/Kaut/Smejkal together.

If we win, I think that line pots one for us.

On the bad side is that our 1st line was completely erased today.

Honestly it feels like Vejmelka is our best and only move how to win that qf and advance to semis.

Otherwise this team doesnt have much to offer sadly.

 

[Czechboy]

On the bad side is that our 1st line was completely erased today.

Honestly it feels like Vejmelka is our best and only move how to win that qf and advance to semis.

Otherwise this team doesnt have much to offer sadly.

I'm hoping for some good health and a few guys that haven't scored to bury one. Like Kaut today.

Curious what Kari does with our forward group? How he mixes it up.

 

[martygod12]

I'm hoping for some good health and a few guys that haven't scored to bury one. Like Kaut today.

Curious what Kari does with our forward group? How he mixes it up.

We can just pray for good luck and that Vejmelka will shut it down.

 

[maclean]

Positives from today?

1) Only played one period and still only lost by one goal
2) Vejmelka got lots of shots to warm up with

 

[martygod12]

I just dont know, more and more I am starting to be convinced that even if we make some succes this tourney, Kari needs to go. Since he came our games are just so ugly, unwatchable and its just straight up bad.

Even last WCH, Pasta came and stole a bronze for us, so we had those pink goggles, that everything is fine. But just try to remember and look back at those games, in most of them we just played badly. Outplayed by Swedes and Finns. Destroyed by Canada in semis. First embarassing loss to Austria. And only cause we got lucky and got Germany in qf we managed to squeeze into the semis, otherwise even that tourney would be a disaster.

Then this years EHT. We got outshoted in most of the games. Got thrashed three times (twice by Swedes and once by Finns) and besides that one 5:2 win over Finland, all of our W was only by one goal or in PP. And in only two out of those 12games in EHT we managed to score more then 3goals.

And then of course this years WCH which is absolutelly terrible and just one bad performance after another from our side. Sure we can blame it on the "stars didnt came" and we have a weak team this year. But still even with what we have, we should be able to play much much better, then what are we presenting so far at the tournament. And there is no Pasta to save the day this year.

I dont know even if we get a medal somehow, I just dont know if I want to see our NT play like this in even more and more future seasons. Its ugly, its boring, and lot of times just unwatchable and straight up terrible.

Sure we didnt exactly have a lot of succes even before Kari, but at least in my opinion, our games were so much more fun to watch, in comparison with what we play now under him.

 

[Czechboy]

Sure we can blame it on the "stars didnt came"

Which is what they'll say but they really didn't seem to want the stars this year. I think this is what Kari wanted. So there ya go Kari!

In fairness, Chytil, Sedlak and a healthy Smejkal/Chlapik would've helped our forward group a lot! He did try our Jiricek but he got hurt. I think he would've had a tremendous tournament.

 

[Czechboy]

\I still cannot get over the fact we have 12 forwards and only 4 have a goal... Cervus, Kubalik, Flek and Kaut! That's it. Sedlak scored but he's done.

That is almost funny.

 

[Czechboy]

 

[martygod12]

And to add to this, that last 5games at WCH 5losses with the score 4:20

Which is what they'll say but they really didn't seem to want the stars this year. I think this is what Kari wanted. So there ya go Kari!

In fairness, Chytil, Sedlak and a healthy Smejkal/Chlapik would've helped our forward group a lot! He did try our Jiricek but he got hurt. I think he would've had a tremendous tournament.

Yeah we can partly blame it on bad luck with the injuries. But still, as you say it seems Kari is satisfied with the team and with how we play.

I am worried he gonna go this way even next year in Prague. Rather not have him as a coach.

 

[Czechboy]

And to add to this, that last 5games at WCH 5losses with the score 4:20


Yeah we can partly blame it on bad luck with the injuries. But still, as you say it seems Kari is satisfied with the team and with how we play.

I am worried he gonna go this way even next year in Prague. Rather not have him as a coach.

I will reserve Kari judgement till Thursday night!lol

I don't see it personally. I agree our hockey is not fun to watch, we don't score much, we still lose a lot and we make weird selections.

Having said that.. he did squeak at a tournament leading scorer and top scoring Dman out of this squad. We will see Thursday. 1st or 4th in our pool didn't matter this year and maybe there is some
'masterplan' and I'll be calling him a genius on Thursday. Maybe.lol

 

[martygod12]

I will reserve Kari judgement till Thursday night!lol

I don't see it personally. I agree our hockey is not fun to watch, we don't score much, we still lose a lot and we make weird selections.

Having said that.. he did squeak at a tournament leading scorer and top scoring Dman out of this squad. We will see Thursday. 1st or 4th in our pool didn't matter this year and maybe there is some
'masterplan' and I'll be calling him a genius on Thursday. Maybe.lol

I wont I just dont like how we play under him. This may be a minority opinion, but I liked it way better under Riha and even under Jandac. We didnt won medals, but it was much more enjoyable and fun to watch then this

Sure if Kari brings a medal he will 100°% stay, and I call it a succesfull tournament. But even then It will not change my opinion on him and my opinion is, that he needs to go. He may be a good coach, maybe sure, but from my point of view, as a fan, I just dont like his style and way how he composes the team.