U18: Czech U18 team 2024

[Czechboy]

U17 looks really great. Although they lacked at least two top prospects, so did we... It was definitely still a very strong team.
If I had to choose the player I liked the most from the team today, it would be Pavlík. He is strong, skates well and makes good decisions even in difficult situations (so he will definitely screw things up tomorrow). But of course there are a lot of good players out there.

Of course, Novotný is eligible for the HGC. Don't bother me with these questions anymore

He is eligible.. but he had surgery. Will he be available in July?

 

[Goodman68]

He is eligible.. but he had surgery. Will he be available in July?

It's been almost half a year, I can't imagine he's not healthy yet. He doesn't have torn ligaments and meniscus..

 

[Goodman68]

How else. I praised the group of U17 players, so the day has to be followed by the absolute worst performance of the tournament. Classics. I'd rather keep my mouth shut.

 

[Czechboy]

Here is the final roster.. big surprise to see Milota's name on here!

I won't lie... love the team, think they can get to semi's. 19 returnees from Silver Hlinka. Obviously would've liked to have seen Svozil, Pekar, Novotny and Jiricek either be healthy or get tryouts but, honestly, I like this team a lot and think many will get drafted. Like the coach too.

Avoid a US quarter and we have a chance at a medal IMO.

 

[Czechboy]

Oh, no Klima which really sucks but he was clearly hurt and tried. At least we got Kos back from injury.

Split up Fibigr and Galvas and put them with guys like Skok and Zielinski. Mrtka on pair 3.

First line of Benak, Titlbach and Jecho maybe? Still leaves us with Curran, Kos and Sikora/Poletin for line 2. Still leaves us a decent 3rd and 4th line.

 

[Czechboy]

Shame we didn't beat one of Finland or Sweden but these are pretty good results tbh. Nice to see Petr doing so well. Hope he's there at Xmas. He's just like Titlbach.. does well on NT but not so well otherwise.

 

[Hinterland]

Here is the final roster.. big surprise to see Milota's name on here!

I won't lie... love the team, think they can get to semi's. 19 returnees from Silver Hlinka. Obviously would've liked to have seen Svozil, Pekar, Novotny and Jiricek either be healthy or get tryouts but, honestly, I like this team a lot and think many will get drafted. Like the coach too.

Avoid a US quarter and we have a chance at a medal IMO.

How is that the final roster though? 26 players, 15 forwards. 3 too many if you ask me.

 

[Czechboy]

How is that the final roster though? 26 players, 15 forwards. 3 too many if you ask me.

Maybe I read it wrong? I thought this was it tbh.

 

[Hinterland]

Maybe I read it wrong? I thought this was it tbh.

Roster is usually 23 players. I don't think that has changed. I'm also not sure why you'd need 15 forwards.

 

[Czechboy]

Roster is usually 23 players. I don't think that has changed. I'm also not sure why you'd need 15 forwards.

No idea but, for me personally, what a great problem to have. Normally I like at our U20 or U18 rosters and see 6 guys that excite me and 6 future nobodies. This time, I see 15 guys I like and don't even know which 3 I'd cut. Great problems to have. Same with the D.

I'm finally seeing rosters that are exciting to me! And that is with missing Jiricek, Klimam Svozil and Novotny.

 

[Goodman68]

U17 and a 6:0 win over the Slovaks, who at the same time don't have a bad team. It is true that the Slovakian goalkeeper was not good today. Victory in the tournament, four can be called sovereign wins, good job.
Regarding the U16 tournament, just a short review. Katolický is not playing nearly as well in this tournament as he did in the Youth Olympics, but he is probably physically exhausted after a long season in which he also played in the junior league and played in all the representative tournaments. Novak is certainly better here and not only him.

 

[Czechboy]

Pekar didn't get a U18 tryout.lol

 

[Czechboy]

Novak is certainly better here and not only him.

That is a fantastic problem to have!

 

[Goodman68]

That is a fantastic problem to have!

It seems so

 

[martygod12]

Pekar didn't get a U18 tryout.lol

Not inviting Pekar is absolute nonsense, one player doesnt make the team of course, but it seem very bold not to include such a scoring beast especially on and international level.

 

[Goodman68]

Not inviting Pekar is absolute nonsense, one player doesnt make the team of course, but it seem very bold not to include such a scoring beast especially on and international level.

I saw almost everything and I have to say that Pekař's game speech was very debatable. There were matches when he was not at all expressive for long passages, and then he scored a goal with luck. Other times he had moments when he approached the game lightly and it was downright dangerous for our team. And then, for example, today in the second period he absolutely excelled and did exactly what he wanted with the opponent. Personally, I would rather choose Pavlík from that team, I already wrote that... He is not so prolific in terms of points, but I think he is more beneficial for the team. Personally, I don't have a big problem with his absence, I think it would be too risky. If so, he should have been given a chance during the season.. But what about me, I can write what I want, right..

 

[Wooren]

I saw almost everything and I have to say that Pekař's game speech was very debatable. There were matches when he was not at all expressive for long passages, and then he scored a goal with luck. Other times he had moments when he approached the game lightly and it was downright dangerous for our team. And then, for example, today in the second period he absolutely excelled and did exactly what he wanted with the opponent. Personally, I would rather choose Pavlík from that team, I already wrote that... He is not so prolific in terms of points, but I think he is more beneficial for the team. Personally, I don't have a big problem with his absence, I think it would be too risky. If so, he should have been given a chance during the season.. But what about me, I can write what I want, right..

I don't want to get into Pekar's game much, he is an odd player and I still don't how fully how to feel about him. But his stats are simply mindblowing, to the extent where it shouldn't be a coincidence. He has six more assists than any other player and twelve (!) more goals. 22 points difference between him and second Zahejsky. You could take those 22 points, give it to some random dude and that dude would still be third in points, only behind Pekar and mentioned Zahejsky.

He should have been given chance at the camp, but all of that being said, I also don't have a big issue with him being left off.

I am just curious how this 2007 group shakes up. Easily the deepest Czech group I have seen. Pretty sure they have either won or came second in every tournament they have participated in, with the exception of U17 WHC, in which they were one second away from final and possibly gold medal.
Their season has been so good we are almost set up only for dissapointment next year.

 

[Goodman68]

I don't want to get into Pekar's game much, he is an odd player and I still don't how fully how to feel about him. But his stats are simply mindblowing, to the extent where it shouldn't be a coincidence. He has six more assists than any other player and twelve (!) more goals. 22 points difference between him and second Zahejsky. You could take those 22 points, give it to some random dude and that dude would still be third in points, only behind Pekar and mentioned Zahejsky.

He should have been given chance at the camp, but all of that being said, I also don't have a big issue with him being left off.

I am just curious how this 2007 group shakes up. Easily the deepest Czech group I have seen. Pretty sure they have either won or came second in every tournament they have participated in, with the exception of U17 WHC, in which they were one second away from final and possibly gold medal.
Their season has been so good we are almost set up only for dissapointment next year.

The biggest problem is that he simply hasn't been tested at this level this season. And that's why coaches prefer to choose more physically mature players who play in a simpler way and do an honest job.

 

[Czechboy]

heir season has been so good we are almost set up only for dissapointment next year.

The very definition of Czech optimism.lol

 

[pgfan66]

The biggest problem is that he simply hasn't been tested at this level this season. And that's why coaches prefer to choose more physically mature players who play in a simpler way and do an honest job.

That plus his performances at the Swiss U20 level weren't nearly as impressive as his national team performances. I could understand why that makes you worry he wouldn't make the same impact at the U18s. On that note, I still haven't quite figured out why he wasn't able to take a full-time U20 role with Ambri and had modest stats when he did get to play there. It's a fairly low-level league while some of his peers from the 07 group were already playing in Extraliga.

 

[Namejs]

That plus his performances at the Swiss U20 level weren't nearly as impressive as his national team performances. I could understand why that makes you worry he wouldn't make the same impact at the U18s. On that note, I still haven't quite figured out why he wasn't able to take a full-time U20 role with Ambri and had modest stats when he did get to play there. It's a fairly low-level league while some of his peers from the 07 group were already playing in Extraliga.

You haven't figured it out?

The answer is usually very simple, he's just not good enough. There's literally 2 Lithuanian prospects of his age producing at a higher rate there.

 

[Hinterland]

That plus his performances at the Swiss U20 level weren't nearly as impressive as his national team performances. I could understand why that makes you worry he wouldn't make the same impact at the U18s. On that note, I still haven't quite figured out why he wasn't able to take a full-time U20 role with Ambri and had modest stats when he did get to play there. It's a fairly low-level league while some of his peers from the 07 group were already playing in Extraliga.

Ambri needed him to help rescue U17 team which was completely overmatched this season and was in danger of getting relegated. That would have been a huge blow to a club with no money and very much relying on their own academy. As an NL club you absolutely wanna have a junior team at the highest level in all groups. You don't have that, you're gonna lose a lot of talent that may or may not come back. Long term, Ambri cannot survive in the NL without having a U17 elite team.

Difference between U20 and U17 has become huge, with kids now allowed to play two overager years with the U20 elites. So when Pekar started playing U20, he did so mostly as 13th forward. More probably wouldn't have been possible for him anyway while playing on both teams. He was a regular for the U20 team during playoffs and worked his way up to the topline after the Ambri U17 season ended. In the final games he was even preferred to Tommaso de Luca. Pekar's playoff scoring was pretty good, too with 5 points despite partly playing as 13th forward. U20 elite isn't a particularly good junior league but playoffs are usually highly competitive with lots of reinforcements (like DeLuca) from the pro leagues helping out.

 

[Czechboy]

 

[Czechboy]

Thought skok would easily make it. Goodman will be devastated

 

[Czechboy]

And I like this team a lot. Even if they don't win or make semis. I like this group