had no idea we were having such a discussion about polish hockey here. awesome. i could have guessed that after advancing to the WC, a few posters would wake up, and there would also be a few newcomers. we owe our advancement to several factors: luck, weird consistency, and the obvious political situation, which is not worth mentioning. as for hockey itself in Poland, nothing has changed (anyone who thinks otherwise is simply distorting reality). people in Poland prefer to watch (in random order) speedway, ski jumping, soccer, handball, volleyball, basketball, MMA, tennis, celebrity fights, fights of alcoholics who stream their parties on the internet. we don't have ice rinks, we don't have a training program, and at the highest level of management, it's been the same old guys for years. the current national champion, Unia Oświęcim (i live in Oświęcim, so it's "my" team), had 7 Poles on the ice, of which only 3 had any impact on the game. the remaining 4 were on the ice simply because league regulations require it - they just skated for a few minutes hoping not to concede a goal in that time lol. i would like to believe that these championships, the first in over 20 years, will be some kind of impetus towards change, but i'm afraid it's just wishful thinking. we need a generational shift in thinking, a concrete plan to rebuild this sport. i see neither the willingness nor the idea for this to happen. we have many experts who say what a great opportunity this is, that it must be seized, blah blah. i've been hearing the same words for over a dozen years, whenever we advance/relegate between lower divisions. as for the national team - the reality is that we can beat Italy but lose to frickin Korea or Ukraine (yeah i know they've been amazing at WCIB against giants like Spain, Netherland or Estonia). anyone who, without irony, thinks that matches against France or Kazakhstan will be 50/50 has completely lost their mind. our leaders are 37-year-old Pasiut, 36-year-old Dziubiński - currently completely out of shape, in our Oświęcim team only 3G and 5A in the playoffs, Chmielewski after a serious injury and a disastrous season in Olomouc (even before the injury, he played poorly). to avoid relegation, the players have to play the tournament of their lives, AND France + Kazakhstan must play a truly terrible tournament at the same time. the remaining games simply need to be lost in decent style (with as little goal difference as possible, but i think it will be hard to avoid 10 GA at some point) as not to kill the fighting spirit for the most important matches
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