U18: Hlinka Gretzky Cup 2024

[alko]

Who do you miss on Hlinka Gretzky Cup?

 

[Goodman68]

Who do you miss on Hlinka Gretzky Cup?

Sweden - Frondell
Czech - Frolo, Nestrašil
Slovak - Radivojevič, .. Dravecký.. ups..

 

[Goodman68]

Czech rosters:

Brankáři (2):
Ondřej Štěbeták (Jihlava), Michal Oršulák (Karlovy Vary).

Obránci (7):
Jakub Seidl (Liberec), Tomáš Mikel (Zlín), Radim Mrtka, David Lukas Holub (oba Třinec), Tomáš Malínek (Sparta Praha), Štěpán Černý (Hradec Králové), Vladimír Dravecký (Rögle, Švédsko).

Útočníci (13):
Vít Záhejský, Vojtěch Čihař (oba Karlovy Vary), David Rozsíval (Liberec), Robin Švančara (Třinec), Matouš Jan Kucharčík, Viktor Šámal (oba Slavia Praha), David Hrubý (Sparta Praha), Matěj Pekař (Ambri-Piotta, Švýcarsko), Adam Novotný (Hradec Králové), Šimon Fasner (Vítkovice), Dominik Pavlík (Kärpät Oulu, Finsko), Adam Benák (Plzeň), Tomáš Poletín (Pelicans Lahti, Finsko).

 

[Goodman68]

I'm surprised that Bartovič is not nominated, the team played the second game with him much better than the first without him (I'm not saying it's because of him). But even according to the points scored in the club last season, it is a surprise.

 

[Czechboy]

3 good players missing and I still like the looks of the roster. Sounds crazy but I'm hoping Canada whips is in exhibition to get us into gear for the real games after that. Just no injuries!

 

[Jersey Fan 12]

LOL. Buggar.

Original Trenton Titan. When Butch Cassidy coached the team.

He's too old.

Bujar Amidovski Hockey Stats and Profile at hockeydb.com

Statistics of Bujar Amidovski, a hockey player from Toronto, ONT born Feb 19 1977 who was active from 1995 to 2004.

www.hockeydb.com

 

[Wooren]

I'm surprised that Bartovič is not nominated, the team played the second game with him much better than the first without him (I'm not saying it's because of him). But even according to the points scored in the club last season, it is a surprise.

The only players who I wouldn't be upset to see cut in his place are Svancara and Samal, but Svancara is one of the few forwards on the squad with good size and Samal in my very limited viewings of those two Davos games looked decent. Admittedly I don't know much about either player, but Bartovic isn't a big loss IMO. Nestrasil and Frolo are both bigger omissions than him. All three are victims of a deep forward core, which should make us Czech fans happy.

Anyways very good looking team, was scared there for a moment Mrtka would miss it due an injury. The expectations among Czech fans are sky high and if there was in recent memory a Czech junior team worthy of being called a legitimate gold medal contender, it's this one. So inevitably I expect a failure of epic proportions, similiar to the one we saw at the Spring U18 WC. lol

 

[Goodman68]

The only players who I wouldn't be upset to see cut in his place are Svancara and Samal, but Svancara is one of the few forwards on the squad with good size and Samal in my very limited viewings of those two Davos games looked decent. Admittedly I don't know much about either player, but Bartovic isn't a big loss IMO. Nestrasil and Frolo are both bigger omissions than him. All three are victims of a deep forward core, which should make us Czech fans happy.

Anyways very good looking team, was scared there for a moment Mrtka would miss it due an injury. The expectations among Czech fans are sky high and if there was in recent memory a Czech junior team worthy of being called a legitimate gold medal contender, it's this one. So inevitably I expect a failure of epic proportions, similiar to the one we saw at the Spring U18 WC. lol

Well, I'm completely afraid that in a few months the team will experience an incredible regression like last season. An incredible shame and it's hard to say what happened to the team. Of course, it is suggested that the majority of the team will scatter around the world and this leads to a decrease in performance, it is not easy for those players to start playing somewhere in a foreign environment.
On the other hand, I am also convinced that if the HGC is played in our country, it is a specific tournament where we have huge support from the spectators, quite often there is a non-negligible support from the referees (unfortunately, this is often the case), so if we were to succeed in the tournament in Canada, it would have a completely different weight in the eyes of fans and experts. And surely the players would feel the same way.

 

[Wooren]

Well, I'm completely afraid that in a few months the team will experience an incredible regression like last season. An incredible shame and it's hard to say what happened to the team. Of course, it is suggested that the majority of the team will scatter around the world and this leads to a decrease in performance, it is not easy for those players to start playing somewhere in a foreign environment.
On the other hand, I am also convinced that if the HGC is played in our country, it is a specific tournament where we have huge support from the spectators, quite often there is a non-negligible support from the referees (unfortunately, this is often the case), so if we were to succeed in the tournament in Canada, it would have a completely different weight in the eyes of fans and experts. And surely the players would feel the same way.

I don't think last year the regression was that bad. Decent results even after Hlinka iirc, the U18 WC was terrible though and unfortunately was a pretty massive stain on an otherwise, in my opinion, good U18 season from Czech point of view. We will see how this upcoming season plays out, but even with some players leaving for NA as usual, the team should be competetive throughout the year.
Agree on the home ice advantage, but Canada enjoys that luxury at the biggest junior event in U20 WJC nearly every other year and I don't see anyone downplaying their success there. That being said, for selfish reasons I am a bit upset about the rotation regarding Hlinka, would have loved to attend this year's tournament in Breclav considering how the Czech team is looking.

 

[Czechboy]

The only players who I wouldn't be upset to see cut in his place are Svancara and Samal, but Svancara is one of the few forwards on the squad with good size and Samal in my very limited viewings of those two Davos games looked decent. Admittedly I don't know much about either player, but Bartovic isn't a big loss IMO. Nestrasil and Frolo are both bigger omissions than him. All three are victims of a deep forward core, which should make us Czech fans happy.

Anyways very good looking team, was scared there for a moment Mrtka would miss it due an injury. The expectations among Czech fans are sky high and if there was in recent memory a Czech junior team worthy of being called a legitimate gold medal contender, it's this one. So inevitably I expect a failure of epic proportions, similiar to the one we saw at the Spring U18 WC. lol

That is my biggest fear.. we are nice dark horses but Czech teams struggle when they are expected to win.something.. still, love the look of this team

 

[Martinez89]

Add me to the Czech team hypetrain, their lineup looks extremely stacked and solid. At this time I see them slightly better than Sweden (without Frondell) so for me they´re no.2 team in power ranking right after Canada. Just another confirmation of the fact that Czech hockey is progressing in these days...

If I had to pick their 3 key players from what I´ve seen I would go:

1. Adam Novotny (top 10 material for 2026)
2. Tomas Poletin
3. Radim Mrtka (if healthy)

 

[Goodman68]

I don't think last year the regression was that bad. Decent results even after Hlinka iirc, the U18 WC was terrible though and unfortunately was a pretty massive stain on an otherwise, in my opinion, good U18 season from Czech point of view. We will see how this upcoming season plays out, but even with some players leaving for NA as usual, the team should be competetive throughout the year.
Agree on the home ice advantage, but Canada enjoys that luxury at the biggest junior event in U20 WJC nearly every other year and I don't see anyone downplaying their success there. That being said, for selfish reasons I am a bit upset about the rotation regarding Hlinka, would have loved to attend this year's tournament in Breclav considering how the Czech team is looking.

It was meant primarily because of the referees, even during the victory of the team with Nečas, Chytil, etc., I was almost ashamed at times. And of course, Canada has that advantage too, but unlike us, those teams are generally of better quality, let's talk..

 

[Voodoozz]

Should be a fun Czech team with an offensive, creative style. The Poletin - Benak - Novotny line could do some real damage, they were completely dominating the Swiss in the 2 prep games i saw (even though they were trying to be too fancy at times).



Defense is very solid as well. I liked what i saw from Tomas Mikel, very solid RD for us at this level.
I also wonder whether they'll go with Cerny or Dravecky as a PP1 defenseman, both are viable options. Cerny was the guy against Switzerland but I'd really like to see a righthanded shot there to play catch with Benak on the right side.

 

[Goodman68]

Add me to the Czech team hypetrain, their lineup looks extremely stacked and solid. At this time I see them slightly better than Sweden (without Frondell) so for me they´re no.2 team in power ranking right after Canada. Just another confirmation of the fact that Czech hockey is progressing in these days...

If I had to pick their 3 key players from what I´ve seen I would go:

1. Adam Novotny (top 10 material for 2026)
2. Tomas Poletin
3. Radim Mrtka (if healthy)

Sweden, even without Frondell, is a very strong team, I would see the chances in the match between each other quite balanced. But there is the factor that the situation of being among the favorites has never suited us. As Czechboy also wrote..
It's a huge shame that Benák is so tiny, the time is probably coming again when such a subtle player will have a huge problem getting into the NHL.
Otherwise, there are a lot of interesting players and I don't remember the forwards looking so good. There are at least three strong lines and I haven't properly tracked the fourth one..

 

[Wooren]

It was meant primarily because of the referees, even during the victory of the team with Nečas, Chytil, etc., I was almost ashamed at times. And of course, Canada has that advantage too, but unlike us, those teams are generally of better quality, let's talk..

Yes I remember that gold medal game, game winning goal came after a phantom penalty against USA. It is what it is though, every team gets scammed by the refs sometimes. The worst bias we have had in our favor was at the home 2020 WJC IMO, felt like we had a 5 on 3 advantage every single game. And it still lead to nothing, because the team sucked and the few good players we had (Lauko, Jenik, Dostal) got injured right away or had to deal with some illness throughout the tournament.

On the other hand, watching this year's home WC, I certainly didn't feel like we got the benefits of home ice (crowd aside), quite the opposite actually.
Last year at Hlinka, Czechs benefitted from fabulous crowd and at times suspect reffing perhaps, but that team was legitimately good, they would have medalled even without that minor help I think.

 

[Czechboy]

I keep thinking what the world team reminded me of.. 2010 was a Cinderella run.. reminds me the most of the Slovak gold when all their top guys showed up. I honestly didn't leave the world's in prague thinking it was a Cinderella run.. left there think we deserved it.

Seems the top 3 on paper are Canada, Sweden and Czechs. So I'm fully expecting a us vs Finland final with Slovakia winning bronze.

 

[Goodman68]

Yes I remember that gold medal game, game winning goal came after a phantom penalty against USA. It is what it is though, every team gets scammed by the refs sometimes. The worst bias we have had in our favor was at the home 2020 WJC IMO, felt like we had a 5 on 3 advantage every single game. And it still lead to nothing, because the team sucked and the few good players we had (Lauko, Jenik, Dostal) got injured right away or had to deal with some illness throughout the tournament.

On the other hand, watching this year's home WC, I certainly didn't feel like we got the benefits of home ice (crowd aside), quite the opposite actually.
Last year at Hlinka, Czechs benefitted from fabulous crowd and at times suspect reffing perhaps, but that team was legitimately good, they would have medalled even without that minor help I think.

Those are more often (not) whistled for offside, icings, of course also forgiven fouls, there were a lot of those cases and I also saw really angry reactions from the opponents... But this is what I really thought about HGC in the first place, the referees did not favor us at the home championship ( of course mistakes happened, but on both sides).

 

[Czechboy]

Add me to the Czech team hypetrain, their lineup looks extremely stacked and solid. At this time I see them slightly better than Sweden (without Frondell) so for me they´re no.2 team in power ranking right after Canada. Just another confirmation of the fact that Czech hockey is progressing in these days...

If I had to pick their 3 key players from what I´ve seen I would go:

1. Adam Novotny (top 10 material for 2026)
2. Tomas Poletin
3. Radim Mrtka (if healthy)

For me it's Benak.. love watching him. Hope he doesn't get galvas'd in the draft due to size.

 

[Czechboy]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1818025778774479047

Here is final roster... We have yet to have our annual major injury so still waiting for that.

 

[Martinez89]

For me it's Benak.. love watching him. Hope he doesn't get galvas'd in the draft due to size.

Benak? That player is a big question mark for me. Honestly, I´m not a big fan here, he loses too many pucks and battles for my taste. Of course, he can easily go over PPG at Hlinka Gretzky and probably he will. But I won´t surprised if he goes undrafted at the end of the day, I have Alexander Zetterberg 2.0 vibes here.

I see a more interesting player than Benak for the 2025 draft even someone like Tomas Mikel (actually I like him!) but we´ll see.

 

[Goodman68]

Benak? That player is a big question mark for me. Honestly, I´m not a big fan here, he loses too many pucks and battles for my taste. Of course, he can easily go over PPG at Hlinka Gretzky and probably he will. But I won´t surprised if he goes undrafted at the end of the day, I have Alexander Zetterberg 2.0 vibes here.

I see a more interesting player than Benak for the 2025 draft even someone like Tomas Mikel (actually I like him!) but we´ll see.

After the situation with Galvas, anything can happen, but for now he needs to be taken as a top prospect even on eliteprospects. And for his height, he wins a lot of personal fights.

 

[Czechboy]

Benak? That player is a big question mark for me. Honestly, I´m not a big fan here, he loses too many pucks and battles for my taste. Of course, he can easily go over PPG at Hlinka Gretzky and probably he will. But I won´t surprised if he goes undrafted at the end of the day, I have Alexander Zetterberg 2.0 vibes here.

I see a more interesting player than Benak for the 2025 draft even someone like Tomas Mikel (actually I like him!) but we´ll see.

After watching galvas not get picked
. It wouldn't surprise me if he was the next a. Zetterberg.

 

[Pazucha]

Team Slovakia Final Nomination:

Lukáš TOMKA	BARANI Banská Bystrica
Patryk ZUBEK	BARANI Banská Bystrica
Roberto Leonardo HENRIQUEZ	HC SLOVAN Bratislava
Patrik RUSZNYÁK	HC SLOVAN Bratislava
Tomáš TOMAŠKOVIČ	HC SLOVAN Bratislava
Michal Jozef TKÁČ	HC Košice
Michal PRÁDEL	MHK Dolný Kubín
Tomáš CHRENKO	HK Nitra
Matúš LISÝ	HK Nitra
Adam NEMEC	HK Nitra
Samuel MURIN	HK ŠKP Poprad
Andreas STRAKA	HK ŠKP Poprad
Adam GOLJER	HK DUKLA Trenčín
Martin KALIS	HK DUKLA Trenčín
Timothy KAZDA	HK DUKLA Trenčín
Tobias TOMÍK	HK DUKLA Trenčín
Patrik BREZÁNI	HKM Zvolen
Alex MIŠIAK	HKM Zvolen
Adrian RAŠKA	VLCI Žilina-mládež
Pavol MORÁVEK	Nordic Hockey Academy/Rak.
Ján CHOVAN	Tappara Tampere/Fín.
Michal ČAPOŠ	AIK/Švéd.
Michal SVRČEK	Brynäs IF/Švéd.
Adam SALOŇ	South Kent School/USA

NEMEC - CHRENKO - KAZDA (2008)
SVRČEK - CHOVAN - MURIN
MIŠIAK - STRAKA - TOMÍK
TOMKA - SALOŇ - KALIS
MORÁVEK

ZUBEK - GOLJER (2008)
LISÝ - RUSZNYÁK
ČAPOŠ - TOMAŠKOVIČ
TKÁČ

HENRIQUEZ, BREZÁNI, PRÁDEL

Very good offense and goaltending mixed with inexperienced defense. M. Lisý is coming back from Injury. A. Goljer needs more time as a 2008. P. Zubek also needs more time to improve even though he is 2025 draft eligible.

So even though this is a good team, we have Sweden and Canada in our group.. If we somehow end up in the second place then its most likely going to be Czechia as the next opponent..

Fun fact 7 players on this roster were on the team that got 4th place in the last U18 WC.

 

[alko]

I'm surprised that Bartovič is not nominated, the team played the second game with him much better than the first without him (I'm not saying it's because of him). But even according to the points scored in the club last season, it is a surprise.

Will he ask to play for Slovakia?

Not bold at all, since Finland's generation is weak and USA sends a B team

Where is USA "A" team?

 

[Pazucha]

Some Czech user wrote on twitter that Bartovič didn't make the team because of health issues.