WJC: Czech Republic 2020 Roster Talk

[Czechboy]

My "secret" tip for the player who can make some impact in the North America is Radim Zohorna. Definitely the most talented of the three Zohorna brothers in my opinion. That guy is just a monster with his height and reach, and his skating as well as stickhandling are not bad at all for a player of his size. This season he has also developed into a solid scorer in Extraliga. Not many people are talking about him but I see the potential in him to become a very useful 3rd-4th liner in the NHL.

I think you're right. I used to not be very high on the Zohorna's but they've really grown on me. He's a classic energy player. I'm really curious how many NHL Czechs we get this year. We didn't lose too many to age or retirement (like a season ago) and 'most' are young or, even better, up and coming.

The crazy Chara signing does free up Jakub Zboril and I expect him to be a NHL regular now. I think Zohorna makes it. Nice to see guys like Frolik, Rutta (w 2 years!) get another year. I hope Kaut makes the team and sticks (I think he will). We have some goalies that should get more games... Vanecek, Vladar and Dostal all seem like they may get a handful of games. Shame about Kempny and his injury but Simek should have a good full season.

Other than Pastrnak and Voracek I could see Hronek having a really good year and I'm fairly certain Zadina is a full timer this year. Really pulling for Hajek to make the team and Chytil to stick. I could see Necas having a very good season as well. Francouz could have a strong year as most teams will be doing the 1A/1B because of the condensed schedule and so many back to backs.

I keep waiting for Vrana to go molten and it might be now. Zacha might finally cement himself and get a career year. Hopefully O. Kase stays healthy as he's got it good in Boston. Really hoping for David Kase but it's not looking very good as I 'think' he's still in Extraliga. No idea what is happening with Masin.

Jenik and Lauko maybe?

We'll see but we might have 30 or more Czechs and some nice surprises... Chalupa? Kubalik with a nice second season but Chicago is in trouble as they lost Toews and Dach in a few short days.

We hit 30 last year with 3 goalies making it 33 ... obviously, Radil is not coming back ... all 3 of our tenders are back but Rittich is now a backup which is a shame.

I think Hertl will be healthy which is good as I think he's our second best NHL Czech after Pastrnak. Polak and Sobotka are done. So about 27 returning skaters and, hopefully, a few new faces.

I won't lie, i love it here because I have some people to talk Czech hockey with.lol

NHL Stats

 

[Czechboy]

Haha, yeah Kubalik was terrible at WJC. Sometimes you just never know.. I also wonder how Rousek will continue to develop.

The other Sabres pick (not anymore, contract expire) Lakatos might make a return as well.. he seems to be on the rise. Lot of late bloomers like mentioned above

 

[Czechboy]

Had to look, sorry, last one.. Masin is averagine 23 minutes a night in the KHL.. that is promisng!

 

[BigBadBoar]

I am sceptical about Chalupa, he's not the right guy for the NHL in my eyes. With Masin, it is possible he might return to the NA and perhaps to earn a spot in the NHL. He is a very good D, he just has not been on the right place at the right time. I too hope Zboril is going to become a regular part of the Bruins D. Not sure about Hajek, he didn't look particularly good in Brno this autumn.

 

[Wooren]

Yeah I know I remember when you first started posting here. Full of optimism and then you went right down the gutter after a couple years lol.
I understand what you’re saying. I’m fully aware of those things.
But I’ve been watching for close to 15 years now. It could be that I’m getting used to it but trust me it has gotten much better since 2006-07. It’s been very slow but still moving in the right direction. Back then Finland wasn’t what they are now. Russia had a couple weaker teams in those days too. So it didn’t look as bad as it really was.
Most importantly though, you simply cannot expect some sudden change in U20 performances. It takes time. A lot of time.
Nobody in Czech knew about the issues in youth programs (or decided to act) until about 2008-09. Right across the board all age groups were failing. Results really got bad fast and so they tried to implement some new strategies. Of course any sort of implementation doesnt happen overnight. And therefore results of that, or any other changes, don’t come quick either.

So if you consider all that, 2010 was probably the first year that something (although minor) happened.
Which means the first age groups affected by it through their entire minor hockey life would be the 04/05 born players. Of course older age groups would have been somewhat impacted as well. anywhere from 2000 but 04/05 already looks very good for both Czechs and Slovaks. I know it’s early and I understand the pessimism, but things are definitely changing for the better.
There is still certainly many issues that need to be corrected, but it doesn’t mean there hasn’t been any improvement or that there’s no light at the end of the tunnel.
Could be 5-10 more years to see real consistency though.

Are you working for the Czech hockey association? lol
In 2010 "changes" were made, supposedly taking 10 years to take effect. Here we are, in 2020, and we are not any closer to the top nations. Time for them to admit they screwed up and leave the spots for somebody else. I don't want another 10 years of Lener's promises and Kral's excuses. Finland went from being terrible in 2006/2007 to being great in 2015/16, Czechs went from being terrible in 2007/08 to being terrible in 2020. Had the U18 WJC not been cancelled, Czechs could have very well ended up in the relegation round. But yeah, tell me again how great those changes in Czech hockey have been.
I also don't understand where your optimism about the 04/05-borns comes from. 2004's are solid, but solid by Czech standards. Check their record at the U16 level, the only nation they have beaten were the Swiss, I don't think they have beaten any of the top european nations even once and they also lost to Slovakia.

Quick answer is yes. 2010 was our worst ever wjc I think.
2012 we had some better result but mostly due to Mrazek and maybe Hertl. Still didn’t have much depth though. But that was the first year we had some decent talent on the team. Prior to that our top guys were Petr Straka, Jakub Culek, vladimir Ruzicka jr, Antonin Honejsek, etc... it was bad. Really bad.
gradually got better from 2012 on and then somewhat stalled. I’ll agree on that. But my main point is I think it could be better soon based on my post above.

Guys like Straka, Culek or Ruzicka would be our top guys these years as well though. I obviously haven't been around when those guys played at the WJC, so I have no idea how good they actually were, but fair to point out Straka and Culek were forwards drafted higher than anyone on this year's squad not named Mysak. That's a pretty pathetic if you ask me. If there was at least one 1st rounder per birth year, but fact is there hasn't been one since the strong 1999-borns. The last time Czech Republic has been waiting this long for an elite talent was in between years 2008-2011 (birth years 1990-1992.)

It’s very interesting because as a junior I found him to be quite unimpressive tbh. It’s so weird how it works. For example with Masin. I was convinced he was a sure fire NHL D. Just absolutely dominated in the CHL.
You just never know

I agree on Kral, didn't really stand out in the junior national teams. Seen him in a Prerov game this season and he was dominant, judging by highlights he has been doing really good for Kometa as well. Promising for sure.

 

[BigBadBoar]

Are you working for the Czech hockey association? lol
In 2010 "changes" were made, supposedly taking 10 years to take effect. Here we are, in 2020, and we are not any closer to the top nations. Time for them to admit they screwed up and leave the spots for somebody else. I don't want another 10 years of Lener's promises and Kral's excuses. Finland went from being terrible in 2006/2007 to being great in 2015/16, Czechs went from being terrible in 2007/08 to being terrible in 2020. Had the U18 WJC not been cancelled, Czechs could have very well ended up in the relegation round. But yeah, tell me again how great those changes in Czech hockey have been.
I also don't understand where your optimism about the 04/05-borns comes from. 2004's are solid, but solid by Czech standards. Check their record at the U16 level, the only nation they have beaten were the Swiss, I don't think they have beaten any of the top european nations even once and they also lost to Slovakia.


Guys like Straka, Culek or Ruzicka would be our top guys these years as well though. I obviously haven't been around when those guys played at the WJC, so I have no idea how good they actually were, but fair to point out Straka and Culek were forwards drafted higher than anyone on this year's squad not named Mysak. That's a pretty pathetic if you ask me. If there was at least one 1st rounder per birth year, but fact is there hasn't been one since the strong 1999-borns. The last time Czech Republic has been waiting this long for an elite talent was in between years 2008-2011 (birth years 1990-1992.)


I agree on Kral, didn't really stand out in the junior national teams. Seen him in a Prerov game this season and he was dominant, judging by highlights he has been doing really good for Kometa as well. Promising for sure.

I would say things are really better now compared to 2010 in that now Czech hockey is, for example, not so full of corruption and protectionism when it comes to young players. Yes, the corruption is still here, however it used to be much, much worse some 10-12 years ago. Further step nevertheless need to be taken.

 

[czechcanadian]

Are you working for the Czech hockey association? lol
In 2010 "changes" were made, supposedly taking 10 years to take effect. Here we are, in 2020, and we are not any closer to the top nations. Time for them to admit they screwed up and leave the spots for somebody else. I don't want another 10 years of Lener's promises and Kral's excuses. Finland went from being terrible in 2006/2007 to being great in 2015/16, Czechs went from being terrible in 2007/08 to being terrible in 2020. Had the U18 WJC not been cancelled, Czechs could have very well ended up in the relegation round. But yeah, tell me again how great those changes in Czech hockey have been.
I also don't understand where your optimism about the 04/05-borns comes from. 2004's are solid, but solid by Czech standards. Check their record at the U16 level, the only nation they have beaten were the Swiss, I don't think they have beaten any of the top european nations even once and they also lost to Slovakia.


Guys like Straka, Culek or Ruzicka would be our top guys these years as well though. I obviously haven't been around when those guys played at the WJC, so I have no idea how good they actually were, but fair to point out Straka and Culek were forwards drafted higher than anyone on this year's squad not named Mysak. That's a pretty pathetic if you ask me. If there was at least one 1st rounder per birth year, but fact is there hasn't been one since the strong 1999-borns. The last time Czech Republic has been waiting this long for an elite talent was in between years 2008-2011 (birth years 1990-1992.)


I agree on Kral, didn't really stand out in the junior national teams. Seen him in a Prerov game this season and he was dominant, judging by highlights he has been doing really good for Kometa as well. Promising for sure.

Who says Finland started making changes in 06/07 though? Kind of hard to compare if this is unknown.
I also never said there were GREAT changes. I just mentioned that there were some possible minor changes started in 2009 or so. This is just based on articles I read. But I will say things have changed since then for sure. @BigBadBoar is correct. There is much less politics involved. Mentality to some degree has changed as well(and that’s huge, because they used to think everything was still ok back then despite poor results in all age groups).
All results for u-16 this year have been close. They lost both games to Finland in shootout and by 1 or 2 goals to Russia. Barely lost to Slovaks game 1 and beat them easy second game. Sure it may not look like some golden generation and I’m not saying it is but that’s only the 04’s alone. Just by themselves they’re keeping close competitive games and that’s really all I care about at this point. Add the 05’s and you’ve got some decent depth when it gets to the u20’s. Again, it’s still early, and they could end up being very average like this year, but as it stands it looks like 2 fairly good groups that for the first time ever, possess a couple really good defensive players. Baby steps.
Also U16 back then was losing to Switzerland and Germany.
I’ll say this with 100% certainty that Straka(who dropped off a cliff after his draft year), Culek(should never have been drafted), and Ruzicka are worse than all of our drafted forwards this year. Throw Martin Lang and Michal Gut in there too. None of those 3 guys showed any kind of upside whatsoever. But I can actually say that at least 5 of our forwards this year could make a serious push for the NHL.
One more really important thing to keep in mind and I kind of mentioned it before, is how other teams were weaker when we we’re starting to get bad as well. Finland, Russia, and even Sweden had an 8 or 9 year medal drought at one point.
They all had their off years, where as today, they’re really good every year. Things have changed. So yes it looks just as bad as 10 years ago on the surface, but really it isn’t. We have just progressed slower. And frankly I’m not overly surprised by that. The amount of garbage that was going on and scandals. Other countries didn’t have to deal with that. It doesn’t just disappear overnight and it certainly would slow progress.
That stuff is getting better but not all gone yet.

Now again, I’m not saying they’ve done things the best way or that we’re out of the worst years yet, but I personally think we’re slowly getting there and that there’s definitely some progress.

 

[Wooren]

Who says Finland started making changes in 06/07 though? Kind of hard to compare if this is unknown.

"In 2009, the Finnish Ice Hockey Association (FIHA) convened a summit with all of the country’s key ice hockey personnel, hosted at the Vierumäki Sports Institute (mainly owned by the FIHA). Coaches, agents, scouts, team leaders, general managers, and others were all invited for what was essentially a brainstorm to revise their strategy on player development."

Quote comes from this article, which admitedly isn't the best source for this kind of information, but no reason to believe it's not right considering it also contains quotes by people working in Finnish hockey.
So in reality Finland revamped their system even faster than I stated in my previous post...

I also never said there were GREAT changes. I just mentioned that there were some possible minor changes started in 2009 or so. This is just based on articles I read. But I will say things have changed since then for sure. @BigBadBoar is correct. There is much less politics involved. Mentality to some degree has changed as well(and that’s huge, because they used to think everything was still ok back then despite poor results in all age groups).

Yeah sorry, in a 10 years period of time I want to see more than a slight change of mentality.

All results for u-16 this year have been close. They lost both games to Finland in shootout and by 1 or 2 goals to Russia. Barely lost to Slovaks game 1 and beat them easy second game. Sure it may not look like some golden generation and I’m not saying it is but that’s only the 04’s alone. Just by themselves they’re keeping close competitive games and that’s really all I care about at this point. Add the 05’s and you’ve got some decent depth when it gets to the u20’s. Again, it’s still early, and they could end up being very average like this year, but as it stands it looks like 2 fairly good groups that for the first time ever, possess a couple really good defensive players. Baby steps.
Also U16 back then was losing to Switzerland and Germany.

Results of the U16 category are always close. I don't see any diffence compared to last few years. And they lost to Slovakia twice, the first one came at the Summer Redbull tournament where both teams had their top selections for most part.
By the way, based on what exactly are you putting any faith into the 05's? Have you seen any of them? They haven't even gotten a single international game under their belt.

I’ll say this with 100% certainty that Straka(who dropped off a cliff after his draft year), Culek(should never have been drafted), and Ruzicka are worse than all of our drafted forwards this year. Throw Martin Lang and Michal Gut in there too. None of those 3 guys showed any kind of upside whatsoever. But I can actually say that at least 5 of our forwards this year could make a serious push for the NHL.

Straka still ended up with 3 NHL games. Ruzicka's D+1 season in Extraliga blows Mysak's out of the water, and yet Mysak is our top prospect and even the captain. Seems to me you are downplaying those past prospects due to how their careers eventually went.

One more really important thing to keep in mind and I kind of mentioned it before, is how other teams were weaker when we we’re starting to get bad as well. Finland, Russia, and even Sweden had an 8 or 9 year medal drought at one point. They all had their off years, where as today, they’re really good every year. Things have changed. So yes it looks just as bad as 10 years ago on the surface, but really it isn’t.

It becomes completely irrelevant if Czechs take one step forward when other nations take three steps. Who cares if this year's team is slightly more skilled than the one ten years ago, they are still a laughing stock for any of the good nations.

 

[RBbandit]

It becomes completeley irrelevant if Czechs take one step forward when other nations take three steps. Who cares if this year's team is slightly more skilled than the one ten years ago, they are still a laughing stock for any of the good nations.

100% correct.

 

[Czechboy]

It's a good debate! I posted an article from 10 years ago, I honestly think I could repost it today and no one would notice.lol

If it's corruption that is the problem, the same people on top are still on top.

All our best Czechs are still leaving for CHL. We've had one person drafted out of the Extraliga directly that went into the NHL (Hertl). I know a lot are home now but they'd all be done if it was a normal year. Mysak and Pytlik would be in CHL (maybe AHL or ECHL), so would Novak, Raska, Lang and Teply. Malik would be in the CHL. Parik and Bednar would probably ge gone as well.

Eg. the Swedish SECOND league has several potential NHLers in it right now from my Oil.. Lavoie and Bouchard. I can't imagine a single NHL team sending a non Czech prospect to Czech2? Czech2 should be this great league to develop young guys and give them a lot of ice time in all situations. It isn't. Extraliga is very bad for developing young players (it's a pro league so I get it but SEL and Liiga are producing a lot of NHL players, DEL is now too, MHL does a great job).

It's the same trickle down effect as it has been for awhile... we get an age group and the top 10 guys from it leave, so now the next 10 guys end up in Extraliga on a bench, the 10 guys after that are in Czech 2. Just waters it down.

I'd love to find a way to keep our Czechs at home till they are drafted as it'd strengthen all the leagues. I've said it before but if my son were a very good young Czech prospect, by 16 we are looking at Finland, Sweden or CHL. To be honest, might look into DEL as well.

When you look up stats off a non top tier Czech prospect and it's crazy to see... they usually play on 4 or 5 teams in a single season. Different coaches,

Culek and Straka didn't end up making huge impacts but they were drafted around the same times as Mysak and Pytlik.

It's amazing and great that Svozil might go in round 1... followed by Jiricek and maybe Hamara (never seen him) but do we have any forwards coming?

I agree with the notion that is we can create 4 NHLers a year that we'll be fine but I'm not sure we're doing that?

I do notice we seem to be creating 200 foot players like Roman Horak... but we don't seem to be creating any high end guys. Watching the Russians going for it last night was beautiful... they had several guys that could just wind it up!

At one point we had 80 Czechs in NHL. I do think we may go up in numbers this year though... but we'll see how many make the squads and stick. Eg. does a guy like Chlapik become a full timer now? That'd be a great bonus. Jaskin looks to never return and looks amazing in KHL but he was a healthy scratch in NHL. Even a guy like Teply that \I really enjoy... no guarantee he makes the Hawks in the next 3 years. One of my fav prospects was Michal Spacek... he was our best forward at this tourey a few years ago. Later pick and never made it (although he did get the call this year and sat in pressbox). Captain David Kase has 7 games in NHL.

3 goals in 3 games shows a pretty big problem. Getting 7 scored on us twice is also very discouraging. I think we're minus 13 after playing the 3 Big 5 nations. Still, we could gel and win the whole thing... will it change how many of these guys make the NHL?

 

[BigBadBoar]

Who says Finland started making changes in 06/07 though? Kind of hard to compare if this is unknown.
I also never said there were GREAT changes. I just mentioned that there were some possible minor changes started in 2009 or so. This is just based on articles I read. But I will say things have changed since then for sure. @BigBadBoar is correct. There is much less politics involved. Mentality to some degree has changed as well(and that’s huge, because they used to think everything was still ok back then despite poor results in all age groups).
All results for u-16 this year have been close. They lost both games to Finland in shootout and by 1 or 2 goals to Russia. Barely lost to Slovaks game 1 and beat them easy second game. Sure it may not look like some golden generation and I’m not saying it is but that’s only the 04’s alone. Just by themselves they’re keeping close competitive games and that’s really all I care about at this point. Add the 05’s and you’ve got some decent depth when it gets to the u20’s. Again, it’s still early, and they could end up being very average like this year, but as it stands it looks like 2 fairly good groups that for the first time ever, possess a couple really good defensive players. Baby steps.
Also U16 back then was losing to Switzerland and Germany.
I’ll say this with 100% certainty that Straka(who dropped off a cliff after his draft year), Culek(should never have been drafted), and Ruzicka are worse than all of our drafted forwards this year. Throw Martin Lang and Michal Gut in there too. None of those 3 guys showed any kind of upside whatsoever. But I can actually say that at least 5 of our forwards this year could make a serious push for the NHL.
One more really important thing to keep in mind and I kind of mentioned it before, is how other teams were weaker when we we’re starting to get bad as well. Finland, Russia, and even Sweden had an 8 or 9 year medal drought at one point.
They all had their off years, where as today, they’re really good every year. Things have changed. So yes it looks just as bad as 10 years ago on the surface, but really it isn’t. We have just progressed slower. And frankly I’m not overly surprised by that. The amount of garbage that was going on and scandals. Other countries didn’t have to deal with that. It doesn’t just disappear overnight and it certainly would slow progress.
That stuff is getting better but not all gone yet.

Now again, I’m not saying they’ve done things the best way or that we’re out of the worst years yet, but I personally think we’re slowly getting there and that there’s definitely some progress.

I would like to add that in the notorious years 2009-2011, the U20 team was mostly composed of players born in 1990-1991. Those years were demographically very strong, sort of a baby boom in the Czech Republic. In our local school, like 65 children born in 1990 were enrolled, in contrast to just some 30 children born in 2000. Some of the 1990-1991 players have eventually made interesting careers, but exclusively thanks to their own, in many ascpect individualistic, effort. Look at Ondrej Palat or Jan Rutta: Who would predict in 2010 that those guys are going to win Stanley Cup one day? Czech hockey was full of clientelism and protectionism back then. Sons of choaches and (even worse) sponsors were enjoying a scandalous degree of protectionism, and guys with real talent ended up playing 3rd-4th lines in their teams because they didn't have rich and/or socially high positioned parents. I would dare to say that this is really better now. Those phonomena have been not yet completely eliminated, but they are definitely not so widespread like 10 years ago. Also, the identification of actual talent among the players is more succesfull now. Players like Ruzicka jr., Honejsek, Culek were not any bright talents, they had got the potential to be decent extraliga guys, nothing less, nothing more. Really talented guys were overlooked by the system, partially again because the didn't have influential parents. This has improved as well. Many other problems however still persist. Typically, the project of the Academies shows too many flaws, and the cooperation between local/regional clubs and bigger clubs is in fact more about one-sided exploitation that cooperation. I don't think people like Kral or Lener are able to solve these problems, and they should resign and let some younger people try to cope with the current problems. But at the same time I wouldn't say Kral or Lener didn't improve anything. The situation was really much worse when they started their projects in some 2011.

 

[Czechboy]

I would like to add that it the notorious years 2009-2011, the U20 team was mostly composed of players born in 1990-1991. Those years were demographically very strong, sort of a baby boom in the Czech Republic. In our local school, like 65 children born in 1990 were enrolled, in contrast to just some 30 children born in 2000. Some of the 1990-1991 players have eventually made interesting careers, but exclusively thanks to their own, in many ascpect individualistic, effort. Look at Ondrej Palat or Jan Rutta: Who would predict in 2010 that those guys are going to win Stanley Cup one day? Czech hockey was full of clientelism and protectionism back then. Sons of choaches and (even worse) sponsors were enjoying a scandalous degree of protectionism, and guys with real talent ended up playing 3rd-4th lines in their teams because they didn't have rich and/or socially high positioned parents. I would dare to say that this is really better now. Those phonomena have been not yet completely eliminated, but they are definitely not so widespread like 10 years ago. Also, the identification of actual talent among the players is more succesfull now. Players like Ruzicka jr., Honejsek, Culek were not any bright talents, they had got the potential to be decent extraliga guys, nothing less, nothing more. Really talented guys were overlooked by the system, partially again because the didn't have influential parents. This has improved as well. Many other problems however still persist. Typically, the project of the Academies shows too many flaws, and the cooperation between local/regional clubs and bigger clubs is in fact more about one-sided exploitation that cooperation. I don't think people like Kral or Lener are able to solve these problems, and they should resign and let some younger people try to cope with the current problems. But at the same time I wouldn't say Kral or Lener didn't improve anything. The situation was really much worse when they started their projects in some 2011.

I'm not a Kral fan at all. I think Lener is awesome but he couldn't fix it. I hope Pesan does better.

FTR... I just grabbed 2010 as an example.. You could look at any team in the last 10 years (except one) and see that we have a weak squad. The quarter final losses and small amount of drafted players aren't oversights. I know there is a 'Russian factor' at the draft and sometimes they don't draft good Russian players. There is no such conspiracy against the Czech players. If a few more break through, maybe we'll see more get drafted. I can't imagine many scouts have Czech2 on their itinerary.

This is actually the first year, in a decade, with no glaring lineup ommisions.

 

[Czechboy]

Is Krutil suspended for today? Will we ever have our full lineup?lol What about Pytlik?

 

[RBbandit]

How can Czech youth hockey produce top-tier players regularly when "liga akademií" has 20 teams? There are just too many weak matches. Not to mention the whole fiasco with Vsetin, Havirov, etc. Lener & Kral did some good things but it's just not enough to be able to compete with the top 5. Kids are doing their best but they are just not on the same level as top team players. The difference between CZ or SK players and young Swedes and Finns is too obvious, not to mention Americans and Canadians. In CZ vs RUS thread, even someone mentioned similar reasons why Russian defencemen are not on the level of SWE/FIN cause they are taught primarily not to make mistakes instead of to be creative. I hope at least some teams will produce some high-end talents in spite of the system.

 

[vil]

We are a small country with a lot of famous old hockey players and relatively fewer young hockey players.

There is this pressure of friends and relatives to be successful and they all work for the association and the association works for them - this is why those who know enjoy the few games with anyone but Malik in goal. He is not bad, he just has this Get Out Of Jail Card in the form of his father.

This is how Kristian Reichel became first line center in U16 and stayed there until U20.

Barinka, Kral jr., etc. ad nauseam.

This also leds to the financing and organisation of competitions to be shaped to cater to the needs of these old men, not the youngsters playing. The association is working to make the club owners happy, not to bring up good young players.

I was sickened to see Pešán - a young and obviously talented coach turn into a tool of the association instantaneously just by being hired by them.

BUT we have a net of solid coaches and responsible managers under that thick corrupt hide. So individual players can still make it if they are lucky. Also many good players escape the system by leaving the country.

The national youth competitions were f..d up for years before covid. They changed every year and most changes felt like they were for the worse.

There is a big gap in how our defensemen are picked and prepared compared to the big 5. We have not had good junior defensemen for decades. Many reasons, no "changes".

I have been lucky to have avoided this muck to a large extent except for one tiny extortion attempt when my older son was switching clubs a few years ago, when i got a transfer card a few minutes before midnight on August 31st. Funny then, funny now. Everyone else I have met at all levels of hockey has been nice to me and my kids. But you get to see and hear incredible stuff. Really unbelievable. Most parents are relieved to see their kid leave the country.

It would be easy to bash Haš and Klikorka for their shortcomings, easy to ask what happened to Teplý since last year, but its not their fault. I wish them the best.

Svozil is good. I like Lang. I liked the goals they scored against the Russians. Not much eh? Lets be modest and work harder.

 

[Kesid]

There is this pressure of friends and relatives to be successful and they all work for the association and the association works for them - this is why those who know enjoy the few games with anyone but Malik in goal. He is not bad, he just has this Get Out Of Jail Card in the form of his father.

This is how Kristian Reichel became first line center in U16 and stayed there until U20.

Barinka, Kral jr., etc. ad nauseam.

I agree with you in regards of Reichel jr. But you are really wrong about Malik situation. You could see that current coaching staff doesnt care about that stuff after the whole Barinka case.

I dont know how it works in other nations, but why would head coach tried to persuade anybody when he declined the invitation? That doesnt make any sense to me. Also Hadamczik basically expected guaranteed spot for Barinka to join the team.

 

[Czechboy]

Most parents are relieved to see their kid leave the country.

This is what it looks like to me as well. Really enjoyed your post.

I would love to see/hear some specific examples of how we're developing D differently from a decade ago. I get the feeling we're not.

 

[Czechboy]

I agree with you in regards of Reichel jr. But you are really wrong about Malik situation. You could see that current coaching staff doesnt care about that stuff after the whole Barinka case.

I dont know how it works in other nations, but why would head coach tried to persuade anybody when he declined the invitation? That doesnt make any sense to me. Also Hadamczik basically expected guaranteed spot for Barinka to join the team.

I'm honestly not sure why Malik is getting starts over higher pedigree goalies to be honest. I don't think he's better than Bednar/Parik/Dobes today and I don't think he'll end up being better than them in a few years.

I hope to see Parik in net tomorrow (till the eventual goalie pull).

Barinka was on the top line at the U18 a few years ago and they didn't invite Mysak. That seemed very controversial to me. I didn't care that he isn't playing for us nor did I think it'd make a difference. I'm not even sure I thought he was guaranteed to make the team. His CHL numbers were not good. The less Hadamczik is involved in Czech hockey the better.

 

[vil]

Yes the Barinka situation has turned around 180 degrees. First he had a guaranteed place regardless of how good he was and now he wont come when he is possibly legitimately invited. But that is his choice.

Again I dont think Malik is necessarily out of place in the lineup - just that he owns a spot automatically. And that is bad for everyone involved. It is entirely possible that this years coaching staff is just doing their job and doing it well, difficult to argue with that because no one knows how good all the available players are, even less than other years.

The result on the ice is not great IMHO.

 

[Czechboy]

So here are the only guys with points. Kucerik and Klikorka with zero. To my eye, Teply has been our best forward but he either takes a muffin of a shot or blasts a rocket a few feet wide. Still, he controls the puck and carries it longer than anyone else and shows some creativity. Reminds me of Michal Spacek to be honest. Lang with a point a game is great! He's been the other guy that has stood out for me. Svozil with 1 point is a bit of a letdown. I think Jiricek outplayed him in the round robin.

The game tomorrow has all the makings of a classic nightmare. I can't see us having much sustained pressure at all. We'll probably start Malik. Krutil will be back (I think he's been good) but I don't know about Gut or Pytlik. Gut has looked great with Novak and Raska. I've really enjoyed Raska but he is definitely not a goal scorer... he is a buzzsaw though. Curious if he's noticeable against Team Canada?

This was the outcome I was hoping we'd avoid... a quarterfinal with Canada. Here we are. I'm guessing a blowout. I really don't see any reason to expect us to score more than 1 goal and I can see lots of reasons to expect several goals against. Maybe 5-0?

As always, I will cheer to the end and be watching very closely!

 

[Czechboy]

Team Czech Republic - U20 World Championships 2021 - Player Stats

 

[smitty10]

Any word on if Pytlik is playing against Canada today?

 

[Czechboy]

Any word on if Pytlik is playing against Canada today?

Him and Gut are out... Krutil is back from suspension.

Shame we didn't get to see more than 1 game.. he was looking pretty good and would've rounded out our top 6 nicely.

 

[smitty10]

Him and Gut are out... Krutil is back from suspension.

Shame we didn't get to see more than 1 game.. he was looking pretty good and would've rounded out our top 6 nicely.

Damn. That hurts the top 6.

 

[smitty10]

Malik is terrible. Please explain to me why he's playing over 3 drafted goalies? There's a reason they were selected and he wasn't.