If thats the case, then it looked like a classic czech match. Being better but losing lol.
Jamiro Reber and Daniil Ustinkov are the "stars" on that team.
It's only fitting that crap goal to make it 1:2 would decide the game. How many breakaways did the Czechs have, I counted at least three? Zero finish, goaltender Marik was very good and defense as whole was strong, but forwards didn't show up at all. Some great passing plays that only lead to a dude whiffing completely or sending the weakest shot on net ever. I also don't understand some of the line-up decisions, Jecho as the top line centre and he gets Kubiesa and Chludil as his wingers lol. Kos on the 3rd line, Klima on the 4th? The team has like 5 quality forwards, they should try find the ideal chemistry among those.
Yeah it's hilarious to me that they leave Kral at home and then have Jecho play with Kubiesa and Chludil. Yesterday's lines made a lot more sense but I guess these games are played to experiment, so whatever.
The plague amongst czech coaches lol. Always overthinking everything .. sometimes the best is just simply let the best guys play together
The games being still rather irrelevant makes me fine with the line-up decision for the time being. But having seen both games, I don't understand what the expectations are from players like Chludil, Humenik or Sikora. If they were at least some raw rangy 6'2"+ forwards, but those are smallish skill players who are not skilled enough to produce at this level. Pohludka brings some size I guess and I don't mind Kubiesa, even though he made next to no progress over the last two years. But Kral would likely be better than all of them. Still not too late for the coach to realize this, even though it's more likely they are just going to roll with this same squad to the Hlinka as well...
Agreed on everything but I do think Puhludka has been a bit of a surprise so far, at least for me because I didn't really know him. He showed flashes of skating and skill that I didn't expect from a guy who wasn't really a part of the national team last season.
It's quite incomprehensible to me. In this average group of forwards, he should definitely be in the lineup. I don't know if there are some behind-the-scenes games going on here, like for example with Petr... It would be logical to exchange a player for him, but I don't really believe that the coaches will have the courage to do so.
Hopefully Benak will get better, he is a year younger after all, but he is my locked first rounder for 2025 so that must happen lol
I agree Jiricek is clearly the best defenseman on the squad as of now, but I think Galvas has been fine. He just hasn't gotten any stronger, or at least not enough for it to make any difference. He still had some fantastic plays, but gets overpowered easily and he is still not able to make his play count on the scoresheet. He has a whole draft season ahead of him, if he can adress the strenght issue, he will be a riser. If not, he will drop despite his immense talent. With him, I am still not sure whether CHL would be a better option, since junior team of Olomouc will likely be utter crap and if he is struggling physically against Swiss U18 team, I am not sure he will do any better in Extraliga.
It's certainly not that I think he played badly. From what I noticed, he had very good games and at the same time did not spoil the game in any way. However, I have completely different expectations from him based on what I've seen from him before. Unfortunately, as you write, it is very likely that he has a strength deficit, it is clearly visible in personal fights at the moment. In that case, it's really difficult to decide what to do next, the Czech junior (I guess Olomouc was relegated anyway, right?) is not enough for him, even if they let him go elsewhere, which Olomouc won't do anyway. At the same time, the A team will be a big bite for him.
Looks like a good roster. D looks strong
I'm happy for Galvas. I was worried that he would miss another tournament. Keep it up man.
What are you guys’s projected lineups and what would be your preferred lineups?
Well, I have to say that I haven't studied the team in such detail. The line-up also changed in the matches against Switzerland, I rather look at the individuals. It's good if Czech TV broadcasts the matches, I will have a much better overview of who is on the ice and how cooperation works. When it's ordinary streams, it's quite difficult to get an overview of it, you often don't know which player was with the puck.
Not many preferences... Jiricek should lead D should in minutes IMO. My only fear is they don't give Benak enough space. I'd like him to be on line 2.
