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WJC: Czech Republic 2020 Roster Talk

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5-1 is roughly the score I was expecting... I still remember watching the Canada/Czech tuneup in London a few years ago.. think that was 8-0.lol Exhibition doesn't mean much but it'd be nice to not get routinely pasted when playing the Big 5.
 
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Czechboy said:
5-1 is roughly the score I was expecting... I still remember watching the Canada/Czech tuneup in London a few years ago.. think that was 8-0.lol Exhibition doesn't mean much but it'd be nice to not get routinely pasted when playing the Big 5.
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I didn't watch the game (only saw the highlights), but our defenders looked very immobile and stationary on those goals......
 
Swipes said:
I didn't watch the game (only saw the highlights), but our defenders looked very immobile and stationary on those goals......
Click to expand...
Yup.. all 5 goals made our D look like peewee players. I'm sure it'll get better and it is only exhibition but I do expect us to lose 5-1 or worse at least once in our pool of death.
 
From the highlights it is apparent that the D-men were plain bad. Klikorka (no. 3) for example looked like a complete fool in these goal situations. They definitely need to improve their D-zone coverage, today they made the goals too easy for the Swedes.
 
BigBadBoar said:
From the highlights it is apparent that the D-men were plain bad. Klikorka (no. 3) for example looked like a complete fool in these goal situations. They definitely need to improve their D-zone coverage, today they made the goals too easy for the Swedes.
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I remember seeing the Swedes anhilate us when the U20 was in Buffalo.. Rakell lead the charge and it was something like 7-2. Our big star was Frk... think captain was Petr Holik.

These highlights look a lot like that game.lol
 
Czechboy said:
I remember seeing the Swedes anhilate us when the U20 was in Buffalo.. Rakell lead the charge and it was something like 7-2. Our big star was Frk... think captain was Petr Holik.

These highlights look a lot like that game.lol
Click to expand...

The only positive from this game seems to be that they didn't get smashed during the first period or so. I don't know how the game actually looked like, there were some terrible mistakes in the goal situations but the report says guys had some good chances as well. Also, from the highlights it looked like a much bigger disaster than how the score went on - score-like it was a relatively close game until the early 3rd. From what Varada said it seems they played at a high risk in the 3rd trying to tie it but it only resulted in more defensive mistakes. Perhaps they don't have the quality to make serious offensive pressure and avoid fatal defensive mistakes on the opponent's counterattacks. I expect the coaches to pick the final roster according to how certain forwards are able to work in their own zone rather that according to their scoring/offensive abilities. Which is probably a reasonable strategy. This team will probably rely on some 2-3 scorers and the rest of the forward lines will consist of hard working all-around guys. Maybe that's the way to be at least a little bit competitive against the top teams.
 
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Czechboy said:
I remember seeing the Swedes anhilate us when the U20 was in Buffalo.. Rakell lead the charge and it was something like 7-2. Our big star was Frk... think captain was Petr Holik.

These highlights look a lot like that game.lol
Click to expand...

I remember 10-1 back in the 2010 WJC. Some improvement I guess :laugh:

But yeah, our d-men need to find some mobility from somewhere. It was like watching skiers do slalom around the posts.
 
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Czechboy said:
Yup.. all 5 goals made our D look like peewee players. I'm sure it'll get better and it is only exhibition but I do expect us to lose 5-1 or worse at least once in our pool of death.
Click to expand...

Yeah let's see. I expect them to beat Slovakia but I'm expecting a battle for 4th place with Germany.
 
BigBadBoar said:
The only positive from this game seems to be that they didn't get smashed during the first period or so. I don't know how the game actually looked like, there were some terrible mistakes in the goal situations but the report says guys had some good chances as well. Also, from the highlights it looked like a much bigger disaster than how the score went on - score-like it was a relatively close game until the early 3rd. From what Varada said it seems they played at a high risk in the 3rd trying to tie it but it only resulted in more defensive mistakes. Perhaps they don't have the quality to make serious offensive pressure and avoid fatal defensive mistakes on the opponent's counterattacks. I expect the coaches to pick the final roster according to how certain forwards are able to work in their own zone rather that according to their scoring/offensive abilities. Which is probably a reasonable strategy. This team will probably rely on some 2-3 scorers and the rest of the forward lines will consist of hard working all-around guys. Maybe that's the way to be at least a little bit competitive against the top teams.
Click to expand...
I think you're right... Varada will turf a few skill guys in favour of energy guys and try to stick to a system. Basically, an old school Swiss style team. I'm absolutely positive one of my favs will be cut and I will be livid very soon.
 
Swipes said:
Yeah let's see. I expect them to beat Slovakia but I'm expecting a battle for 4th place with Germany.
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It'd be nice to beat Slovakia for a confidence perspective. The German game gives me nightmares.
 
Swipes said:
I remember 10-1 back in the 2010 WJC. Some improvement I guess :laugh:

But yeah, our d-men need to find some mobility from somewhere. It was like watching skiers do slalom around the posts.
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That D is awful! On a good news note.. Kral is doing very well! He's the second leading Dman in his league!
 
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https://thehockeywriters.com/2020-world-junior-championship-czech-republic-preview/

I thought this was a very fair writeup... note they think that next year's team will be very good. I agree. I thought last year was our best chance to break the streak and next years team might have some jam as well. This year we seem to have a great goalie and some very good forwards but we're well behind on D and depth. I will watch to the very end as always.
 
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Czechboy said:
I remember seeing the Swedes anhilate us when the U20 was in Buffalo.. Rakell lead the charge and it was something like 7-2. Our big star was Frk... think captain was Petr Holik.

These highlights look a lot like that game.lol
Click to expand...
I remember a few years ago where sweden was losing their pre-tourney games badly too. When it came to the real thing they were dominant.
Not saying that will be the case for Czechs, but because they all play all over the map, it’ll take some time to get into it.
 
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Czechboy said:
https://thehockeywriters.com/2020-world-junior-championship-czech-republic-preview/

I thought this was a very fair writeup... note they think that next year's team will be very good. I agree. I thought last year was our best chance to break the streak and next years team might have some jam as well. This year we seem to have a great goalie and some very good forwards but we're well behind on D and depth. I will watch to the very end as always.
Click to expand...
Also very surprised by the omission of Pavel Novak..
Imo he was the most impressive Czech player in the last U-18 tourney.
It sucks because I truly believe he would have raised his draft stock after this wjc. He’s a very impressive player. Having an incredible year in Kelowna.
 
czechcanadian said:
Also very surprised by the omission of Pavel Novak..
Imo he was the most impressive Czech player in the last U-18 tourney.
It sucks because I truly believe he would have raised his draft stock after this wjc. He’s a very impressive player. Having an incredible year in Kelowna.
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I was too... it's one of 2 things IMO...

1. classic Czech politics and some infighting which seem to plague every team... eg. why wasn't Pytlik at U18's?
2. He's 17 and they'll add him next year

I think, very much, Czech hockey is still in the 1980's for deployment. I call it the 'Jiri Hudler' mentality...

Eg. we don't need a THIRD scoring winger because we already have 2 of those in the Top 6 and bottom 6's job is to block pucks, dump and skate skate skate at the coach's will. The concept of Top 9 is totally lost on Czech hockey in 2019. Eg. the last world's there was no space for Chytil/Vrana but lots of room for those hard skating Zohorna's. Can you tell I really loved all our coaching decisions at last U18 and World's? Secondary scoring and line matching (eg. put a talented player against weaker competition) is something I haven't seen much of from the Czech's.
 
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Czechboy said:
I was too... it's one of 2 things IMO...

1. classic Czech politics and some infighting which seem to plague every team... eg. why wasn't Pytlik at U18's?
2. He's 17 and they'll add him next year

I think, very much, Czech hockey is still in the 1980's for deployment. I call it the 'Jiri Hudler' mentality...

Eg. we don't need a THIRD scoring winger because we already have 2 of those in the Top 6 and bottom 6's job is to block pucks, dump and skate skate skate at the coach's will. The concept of Top 9 is totally lost on Czech hockey in 2019. Eg. the last world's there was no space for Chytil/Vrana but lots of room for those hard skating Zohorna's. Can you tell I really loved all our coaching decisions at last U18 and World's? Secondary scoring and line matching (eg. put a talented player against weaker competition) is something I haven't seen much of from the Czech's.
Click to expand...

Too surprised Novák didn't at least get his chance to show up during the camp. Regarding the scorers/hard workers, a successful modern player needs to be both. At least a little bit from both. There is no room for players who "play from the red line forward." So I kind of understand why they sometimes pick a player who is good at backchecking/D-zone coverage rather than a skilled scorer who gets lost in the own zone. It's more about the lines composition. Many Czech coaches lack the ability to compose effective and balanced forward lines. It is too often like "let's put one skater, one shooter and one defensively responsible guy together and it should work." But it will probably not, because if you put one extremely mobile player together with two not very mobile ones, you are merely wasting his potential. And so on. This is the plague of Czech coaching, started already during that Hadamczik/Ruzicka era and continues on and on.
 
upload_2019-12-22_12-42-18.png


I know nothing about the game. I do love seeing my favourites on the scoresheet - Mysak, Lauko, Pytlik and Jenik. Sounds like it was really close going into 3rd. 2-2 till 60th minute.
 
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