WJC: Czech Republic 2020 Roster Talk

[Swipes]

yup... I think our tourney is over. Time to focus on Kazkhstan.

I'm not ready to throw in the towel just yet.

I'll wait until it's 4-0 vs USA at the end of the 1st period before I join you guys

 

[Czechboy]

I'm not ready to throw in the towel just yet.

I'll wait until it's 4-0 vs USA at the end of the 1st period before I join you guys

LOL... I'll cheer to the end. Hoping CT24 shows the relegation matches as I will watch them too.

 

[Kiekkofani]

How many Czech U20 guys plays in top European leagues? Dostal for sure, but even Martin Has hasn't secured his place in Liiga but plays mostly in the lower level Mestis. I.e. all U20 Finns plays in Liiga with regular ice time and propably similar to Swedes, Germans, Russians? Maybe Czech club level management is still in "old east time" ...

 

[Czechboy]

How many Czech U20 guys plays in top European leagues? Dostal for sure, but even Martin Has hasn't secured his place in Liiga but plays mostly in the lower level Mestis. I.e. all U20 Finns plays in Liiga with regular ice time and propably similar to Swedes, Germans, Russians? Maybe Czech club level management is still in "old east time" ...

Yup... it's a huge problem! Also, 95% of the Finnish team plays in Finland. Czech team is represented by 7 different leagues in every hockey playing part of the world... Liiga, Liga, AHL, 2nd tier Czech league, OHL, WHL, QMJHL and USHL.

Even from a NHL perspective.. I'm an Oiler's fan. The oil drafted Broberg and I wanted him to stay in Sweden. If we had drafted Has.. I'd say get his out of the Czech league.lol

 

[Swipes]

Yup... it's a huge problem! Also, 95% of the Finnish team plays in Finland. Czech team is represented by 7 different leagues in every hockey playing part of the world... Liiga, Liga, AHL, 2nd tier Czech league, OHL, WHL, QMJHL and USHL.

Even from a NHL perspective.. I'm an Oiler's fan. The oil drafted Broberg and I wanted him to stay in Sweden. If we had drafted Has.. I'd say get his out of the Czech league.lol

Man...it's so sad that after so many years playing in the Czech Extraliga still isn't a good option for our young talents. Mysak though wants to stay for now from the latest interview I read on hokej.cz

 

[Czechboy]

Man...it's so sad that after so many years playing in the Czech Extraliga still isn't a good option for our young talents. Mysak though wants to stay for now from the latest interview I read on hokej.cz

I looked his minutes up a while ago... it was somethign like 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 8 minutes etc. Necas didn't get many minutes either... I'd rather our top prospects leave and develop elsewhere. I'd prefer all our 2nd tier prospects stay at home though... but, in general, I hate the Czech junior system and it is clearly highly flawed. I wasn't kidding when I said I expect some to start going to Germany.

 

[Swipes]

What a crazy group! Canada loses 6-0 to Russia....maybe we can beat them after all.

 

[Czechboy]

What a crazy group! Canada loses 6-0 to Russia....maybe we can beat them after all.

Everyone has 3 points and is 1-1. It's a crazy group. The other pool is unfolding as expected. Really curious if Germany has another win in them. The US/Russia game should be very good. A lot can happen. Still, I think we're playing Kazakhstan... I hope I'm wrong!

 

[Swipes]

Everyone has 3 points and is 1-1. It's a crazy group. The other pool is unfolding as expected. Really curious if Germany has another win in them. The US/Russia game should be very good. A lot can happen. Still, I think we're playing Kazakhstan... I hope I'm wrong!

Haha indeed let's see.

No-one ever believed we'd beat Canada in 2014 (for the first time in 20 years!) when Simon scored the winning Forsberg penalty in the shootout, or that we'd beat USA 5-2 in 2012 with Mrazek in goal to make it to the QFs (one of my favourite WJC games that I've seen the Czechs play). It's unlikely, but anything is possible with guys as young as this.

 

[Czechboy]

Haha indeed let's see.

No-one ever believed we'd beat Canada in 2014 (for the first time in 20 years!) when Simon scored the winning Forsberg penalty in the shootout, or that we'd beat USA 5-2 in 2012 with Mrazek in goal to make it to the QFs (one of my favourite WJC games that I've seen the Czechs play). It's unlikely, but anything is possible with guys as young as this.

Yup.. and Dostal is of 'Mrazek' quality IMO. He's been good but hasn't stolen a game yet. He's now due. I will cheer till the end but it's bleak.

 

[Wooren]

We are now 0-2 against Germany at the WJC level. Let that sink in.
If Kral has any self-reflection, he steps down immediately after the inevitable two spankings we will suffer from the hands of USA and CAN. In the 10+ years he was in the head of Czech hockey, things barely changed. Our U16s, U17s, U18s and U20s are losing left and right, our teams STILL can't skate, defensemen are pretty much non-existent, as is the finishing ability. And speaking of U18s (who are currently getting destroyed at the 5 nations tournament by the way), we are in for one more rude awakening at the U18 WJC, when Germany sends us to relegation round once again. But to assume Kral has any self-reflection is naive to say the least.

If we somehow won a medal he would be the first to say what a great job he has done, but since things go about as well as exected, we won't hear a word from him. f***er, he and all his incompetent friends in charge should go to hell.
/rant over

 

[czechcanadian]

We are now 0-2 against Germany at the WJC level. Let that sink in.
If Kral has any self-reflection, he steps down immediately after the inevitable two spankings we will suffer from the hands of USA and CAN. In the 10+ years he was in the head of Czech hockey, things barely changed. Our U16s, U17s, U18s and U20s are losing left and right, our teams STILL can't skate, defensemen are pretty much non-existent, as is the finishing ability. And speaking of U18s (who are currently getting destroyed at the 5 nations tournament by the way), we are in for one more rude awakening at the U18 WJC, when Germany sends us to relegation round once again. But to assume Kral has any self-reflection is naive to say the least.

If we somehow won a medal he would be the first to say what a great job he has done, but since things go about as well as exected, we won't hear a word from him. ****er, he and all his incompetent friends in charge should go to hell.
/rant over

I wouldn’t wish hell on anyone tbh but they’re idiots for sure. I think any of us Czech fans here on HF could do a better job with the Czech hockey programs then those guys.

 

[Czechboy]

/rant over

Why you'd you stop... that was great!

 

[Czechboy]

Missed in all my crying and bitching today... Has had 3 points! I felt that deserved recognition.

 

[BigBadBoar]

yup... I think our tourney is over. Time to focus on Kazkhstan.

I hope no player in the team is thinking like this. There are 5 teams with 3 points in the half of the group stage. This means all teams can finish anywhere between 1st - 5th. The proper player's way of thinking is "we can still win the group," not "we will probably finish 5th." I honestly rather dislike this defeatist Czech mentality.

 

[Jablkon]

How many Czech U20 guys plays in top European leagues? Dostal for sure, but even Martin Has hasn't secured his place in Liiga but plays mostly in the lower level Mestis. I.e. all U20 Finns plays in Liiga with regular ice time and propably similar to Swedes, Germans, Russians? Maybe Czech club level management is still in "old east time" ...

Well it is old east time. But I can say there is ni aspiration in czech hockey that these guys should be cappable to play in euro top leagues. Only exceptional talents like Pastrnak, Vrana played in top leagues, or Kase. Best czech juniors playing overseas and the rest mostly in czech second league. Those who play in extraliga, ussually grab like 5 points in 20 games or smth like this.

 

[Rexor]

Well I don't want to sound bitter or whatever but we do have a 16 year old defenceman who's been playing decent minutes in Czech Extraliga all season long (and playing very well), yet he wasn't even invited to this tournament. I find it very hard to believe he's not good enough to be part of this "amazing" D group.

 

[czechcanadian]

Well I don't want to sound bitter or whatever but we do have a 16 year old defenceman who's been playing decent minutes in Czech Extraliga all season long (and playing very well), yet he wasn't even invited to this tournament. I find it very hard to believe he's not good enough to be part of this "amazing" D group.

As far as I know, he was invited but was one of the first cuts..

 

[Czechboy]

I hope no player in the team is thinking like this. There are 5 teams with 3 points in the half of the group stage. This means all teams can finish anywhere between 1st - 5th. The proper player's way of thinking is "we can still win the group," not "we will probably finish 5th." I honestly rather dislike this defeatist Czech mentality.

I totally agree with you. I'm not a player though. I hope the players are thinking we can beat US/Canada and aren't even thinking about advancing to Quarters but winning Gold. I hope they have a chip on their shoulders. I hope their powerplay kicks in as does their penalty kill. I hope a few guys step up and make something happen. Of course I do.

As a fanatic fan though - we have to take points from US/Canada as 3 points won't be good enough. We have no history on our side to do this as our records against the 2 are something like 1 win and 9 losses in the last 10. Don't even get me started on goal differential. Last time we played both back to back was 2 years ago in the Semi's and Bronze with our best team in a decade. We got demolished in both games by at least 3 goals.

But you're right... I hope Varada and the boys think totally different from me! I can promise you I won't miss a second of it and will cheer to the very end!

 

[Czechboy]

As far as I know, he was invited but was one of the first cuts..

I mean, our D is exactly what we all expected. The fact we're considering 16 year olds to play D against 19 year olds just demonstrates the problem. He probably is as good or better than a few but I can't even remember the last 16 year old D man in the tourney. I just saw a highly touted 17 year old goalie cost his team a game for instance. The physical difference between a 16 year old and 19 year old is massive. I'm really excited to see Svozil at the U18's in Michigan though! It'll be my first time attending the U18's. I'm assuming Mysak will be too old for that tourney?

 

[Rexor]

I mean, our D is exactly what we all expected. The fact we're considering 16 year olds to play D against 19 year olds just demonstrates the problem. He probably is as good or better than a few but I can't even remember the last 16 year old D man in the tourney. I just saw a highly touted 17 year old goalie cost his team a game for instance. The physical difference between a 16 year old and 19 year old is massive. I'm really excited to see Svozil at the U18's in Michigan though! It'll be my first time attending the U18's. I'm assuming Mysak will be too old for that tourney?

Dahlin played in 2017. I'm not saying Svozil is as good a prospect as Dahlin was but Czech defense is definitely much worse than what Sweden had. You couldn't say that Swedisch defencemen had any issues with skating or puck-handling, unlike Czechs this year. Yet we refused to take the one eligible defenceman who can actually skate and doesn't handle the puck like it's a grenade.

 

[Czechboy]

Dahlin played in 2017. I'm not saying Svozil is as good a prospect as Dahlin was but Czech defense is definitely much worse than what Sweden had. You couldn't say that Swedisch defencemen had any issues with skating or puck-handling, unlike Czechs this year. Yet we refused to take the one eligible defenceman who can actually skate and doesn't handle the puck like it's a grenade.

He's 19 today... wouldn't he have been 17 2 years ago today?

Imagine if we could develop a D that goes first overall? That'd be amazing. Or a first overall at all?

 

[lamini]

He probably is as good or better than a few but I can't even remember the last 16 year old D man in the tourney. I just saw a highly touted 17 year old goalie cost his team a game for instance. The physical difference between a 16 year old and 19 year old is massive.

Well, he cost them the game, because they had someone better to replace him. Svozil already plays against adults (unlike some of our D) and while he may cost us games thanks to physical difference compared to older players, those guys may cost us games thanks to their lack of mobility and hockey IQ.

Yes, 16 yo are rare, but also 5 of 10 teams have enough of good players each year so they don't have to look at younger guys.

 

[Czechboy]

16-Year Old Defensemen at U20 World Championships

Had to look... apparantly Dahlin was 16.. Math doesn't add up to me but I'll concede.

 

[Rexor]

16-Year Old Defensemen at U20 World Championships

Had to look... apparantly Dahlin was 16.. Math doesn't add up to me but I'll concede.

2017 WJC was 3 years ago.