Czech Republic: Czech National Team (A, U20, U18, U17, U16)

[Wooren]

Is s..t. Medal of Slovakia? Nope, I do not recognize that team. Deployment, quality, everything far worse than HC.

I didn't see any games and loss against Finland "B" team is pretty lame considering the strenght of our team, but I am not that worried yet. This is just a little meaningless tournament, it's the U18 WJC that matters. Skarek will be a HUGE boost to this team along with Safin, Kondelik, Kral, Hladonik, Machala and possible U17s Lauko, Zabransky, Kvasnica. In other words, the final (WJC) team will look different.

But yes, I did expect better showing from them.


PS: Anyone watching the U17? Really like what I've seen so far.

 

[Goodman68]

I didn't see any games and loss against Finland "B" team is pretty lame considering the strenght of our team, but I am not that worried yet. This is just a little meaningless tournament, it's the U18 WJC that matters. Skarek will be a HUGE boost to this team along with Safin, Kondelik, Kral, Hladonik, Machala and possible U17s Lauko, Zabransky, Kvasnica. In other words, the final (WJC) team will look different.

But yes, I did expect better showing from them.


PS: Anyone watching the U17? Really like what I've seen so far.

I do not agree that it is a meaningless tournament. The Swedes and the US there are practically the best (perhaps only Dahlin missing). It's the last tournament before the WCH and it's an important test. There we have maybe 2/3 of the team. And to lose this choice Finland is a shame, considering how they lost to the USA. Additionally, the game is bad, huge individual mistakes, little, very little quality in attack. Necas absolute disappointment. I got him a different scale, but even so, this is not enough.
Yes, there are players who do not have it and will hopefully be replaced, but the big optimists become of me pessimist. I fear that tomorrow will come a big slap in the face, I do not know what to do with this one performance, we want to play against the USA. And if you really get beat up, confidence will definitely gone.

 

[Goodman68]

I did not see almost nothing from the match with the USA, Russia only part Necas played the tailings and he was by far the best performance in the tournament, what I saw. Finally, we showed good power play, Necas also the best performance in the tournament. If we play like that at WCH U18, maybe we have a chance at a medal.

 

[Wooren]

I watched most of the U17 5 Nations tournament and some thoughts on the team.

Standouts:

Lukas Dostal: Calm, confident. He was always among the best Czech players, oddly enough he played in all four games. Stopped numerous breakaways, 2v1 breakaways, high scoring chances. Key player in the 00s.

Zack Malik: In short, played I expected Dajcar to play. Reliable in his own end, can support the play in offensive zone. Wasn't afraid to go deep in the net, that's also how he scored the GWG against Russia. It blows my mind he only made the team because of Bernath's injury/illness. He was nominated just as a reserve.

Jakub Lauko: His point totals may look very dissapointing, but he definitely deserved to do better. Had numerous scoring chances, a lot of them caused by his high speed (He is really fast) or some nice dangle, but got always stopped by a goalie.

Good:

Michal Kvasnica: He reminds me of a slightly less skilled Safin. Strong and accurate wrist shot (I don't recall a single slap shot or one timer by him) decent puck skills and fluid skater. Strong around the boards.

Frantisek Klejna: Shame he is so undersized. He plays much bigger than he is, Czech team made like two or three good huge hits the whole tournament and all were made by Klejna. Great on both sides of the ice, very good puck skills.

Adam Gajarsky: Same as Klejna, plays bigger than he is. He is like a bulldog out there, giving everything in every shift and never giving up on a puck battle. Very good scoring abilities, showed nice hands in a shootout against Sweden (Didn't score though). He was noticable in a PK too (Which kinda goes hand in hand with the fact he is like a bulldog out there)

Jan Dluhos: Similiar to Klejna, but more offensive. Showed very good hands, wasn't afraid to try a deke (Which did cause a terrible giveaway though), sometimes he looked more like a forward than defenseman. (In a good way)

Matej Pekar: I had no expectations for him really, but he looked very good. Great skater, pretty skilled and decent size too. I thought he looked better each game

Dissapointments:

Tomas Dajcar: I may have had way too high expectations, but I didn't really notice him the whole tournament. Sometimes that's a good thing with defensemen... I expected him to have much greater impact on both sides of ice though.

Zdenek Sedlak: Excited to finally see him, I came away dissapointed. Never really got to use his shot, which should be one of his major assets, deked into opposition which usually resulted in puck loss and overall he looked disinterested out there.

 

[czechcanadian]

thanks so much for the write up wooren!! very interesting stuff. Disappointing to hear that about sedlak. Hopefully he is much better then that tournament.
Lots of names I hadnt heard of so its good to hear there are more talents.

 

[Swipes]

Radek Petr has been replaced by Filip Pesan as the new coach of the U-20 team:

http://hokej.cz/horke-zmeny-petra-strida-u-dvacitky-pesan-el-junioru-s-novym-formatem/5021694

 

[Wooren]

Nomination for the final U18 camp before the championship:
(Highlighted are 2000 born)

Goalies:
PIRÃTI CHOMUTOV: Pavlát Dominik
HC KOMETA BRNO: Dostál Lukáš
HC MOTOR Č. BUDĚJOVICE: Patera Jiří
HC DUKLA JIHLAVA: Å karek Jakub

Defensemen:
BÃLà TYGŘI LIBEREC: Bednář Jan
HC VERVA LITVÃNOV: Myšák Josef
RYTÃŘI KLADNO: Zelingr Matyáš
MOUNTFIELD HK: Gaspar Michael, Å alda Radim
PIRÃTI CHOMUTOV: Buchtela Ondřej
HC OLOMOUC: Galvas Jakub
BRANDON WHEAT KINGS: Bukač Daniel

Forwards:
BÃLà TYGŘI LIBEREC: Hrabík KryÅ¡tof
HC DYNAMO PARDUBICE: Kaut Martin, Zadina Filip
RYTÃŘI KLADNO: Kalaj Adam
MOUNTFIELD HK: Dvořák Jaroslav
PIRÃTI CHOMUTOV: Svoboda Jan
HC SPARTA PRAHA: Kern Jan, Safin Ostap
PSG ZLÃN: Chytil Filip
HC KOMETA BRNO: Å kvrně Marek, Novák Matěj, Gajarský Adam
NIAGARA ICEDOGS: Machala Ondřej
PETERBOROUGH PETES: Svoboda Matyáš
MUSKEGON LUMBERJACKS: Kondelík Jáchym

Reserve:
PSG ZLÃN: Huf Daniel, Václavek Jan
CORPUS CHRISTI ICERAYS: Vomáčka Tomáš
HC VÃTKOVICE RIDERA: Toman Radim
BK MLADÃ BOLESLAV: Flynn Oskar
HC KOMETA BRNO: Mikyska Dalimil, Zábranský Libor
HC OLOMOUC: Rutar Ludvík
MOUNTFIELD HK: Jirásek Filip

Some thoughts:
Necas, Kral, Lauko, Hladonik, Kvasnicka and Kvasnica are still playing playoffs with their clubs, hopefully they are all healthy and added later on. Especially Necas is concerning though, Brno might want to keep him if they advance... the difference between Czech team with and without him is huge.
Really hoping Adam Gajarsky makes the team. Would be a perfect 4th liner. Brings both energy and skill.
Surprised Vomacka and Mikyska are only reserve, especially Vomacka. Hopefully the coach knows what he's doing. Was also hoping Zabransky would make the camp, but not that surprising he didn't make it.

My line-up, assuming everyone is ready to go:

Safin - Necas - Kaut
Kern - Chytil - Zadina
Machala - Hladonik - Lauko
Hrabik - Kondelik - Gajarsky
Kvasnica

Kvasnicka - Galvas
Kral - Buchtela
Salda - Bukac
Bednar

Skarek
Patera
Dostal

 

[Voodoozz]

Kvasnicka probably won't go. Yesterday i spoke to him at Pilsen's "farewell party".
He's had an arm in plaster, said it's something broken :/

 

[Wooren]

Kvasnicka probably won't go. Yesterday i spoke to him at Pilsen's "farewell party".
He's had an arm in plaster, said it's something broken :/

Damn that sucks. Huge loss. I did read somewhere he is injured, but I was hoping it's just some minor injury. Do you know how serious the injury is?

 

[Tormentor]

Slightly off-topic, but are there any streams from U20 tournament in PieÅ¡ťany?

 

[kudla]

Slightly off-topic, but are there any streams from U20 tournament in Piešťany?

nope as far as i know

 

[Wooren]

Since the U18 win over Belarus, Czech junior teams (U16, U17, U18) played 7 games in total and lost all of them. Nice streak

 

[joey16]

Since the U18 win over Belarus, Czech junior teams (U16, U17, U18) played 7 games in total and lost all of them. Nice streak

Not a very nice score from this point of view.. on the other hand we should also notice that all of those matches were against big hockey nations and five of the losses were just by one goal (three of them in OT), none of them was blowout.. so from this point it ain't that bad.
I can definately see some progress.. not so long ago I remember similar streak and those were games against weaker opponents and the goal difference was bigger as well.

 

[Babula]

probably there is a talk about HC Litoměřice (WSM) in Cze association, they can create environment for Czech U20 - team.

 

[Wooren]

probably there is a talk about HC Litoměřice (WSM) in Cze association, they can create environment for Czech U20 - team.

Don't really understand what it means to be honest.

You have probably seen the news already, but Prerost will be a coach assistent in the U20. ****ing ridiculous.
After that 2015 total failure he still finds his way back.

 

[Swipes]

Don't really understand what it means to be honest.

You have probably seen the news already, but Prerost will be a coach assistent in the U20. ****ing ridiculous.
After that 2015 total failure he still finds his way back.

Wahaaat?

Are you serious? Can you send me a link to the article? It must be because of his "work" in the academies (whatever that means).

I mean, I thought we were moving forward....

 

[Swipes]

On a side-note, how do you guys feel about Pesan as the new coach?

 

[Wooren]

Wahaaat?

Are you serious? Can you send me a link to the article? It must be because of his "work" in the academies (whatever that means).

I mean, I thought we were moving forward....

http://www.hokej.cz/pesanovi-u-dvac...ighaeg6vwfbph6ruubl5rqzeuqwvoz5z31uje15yrg2d4

Just kidding what a terrible choice

On a side-note, how do you guys feel about Pesan as the new coach?

What he did with Liberec is very impressive, I am very excited to see what he can do. Just too bad he gets the 1998, he's not gonna have it easy with so bad birth year. Hopefully he goes 99's heavy.
In my opinion Pesan is quickly emerging himself as the best czech coach.

 

[czechmate]

Is it just me or why do we stick around with older guys that are going to end their career soon instead of rather investing in our young guns?

If I would be the coach selecting our WC-team I would take the risk and go with the following players for 3rd/4th line:

Lakatos - Necas - Jaskin

 

[Swipes]

http://www.hokej.cz/pesanovi-u-dvac...ighaeg6vwfbph6ruubl5rqzeuqwvoz5z31uje15yrg2d4

Just kidding what a terrible choice



What he did with Liberec is very impressive, I am very excited to see what he can do. Just too bad he gets the 1998, he's not gonna have it easy with so bad birth year. Hopefully he goes 99's heavy.
In my opinion Pesan is quickly emerging himself as the best czech coach.

Thanks for the link. Let's see how he does.

 

[Swipes]

Is it just me or why do we stick around with older guys that are going to end their career soon instead of rather investing in our young guns?

If I would be the coach selecting our WC-team I would take the risk and go with the following players for 3rd/4th line:

Lakatos - Necas - Jaskin

Well, I think it's getting better now. We still don't really have that many young guns though (cf. Finland), so that plays a role.

As for taking those guys for the 3rd/4th line I don't really agree. Jaskin maybe (he still hasn't done that much as a well regarded prospect imo) but guys like Necas and Lakatos need to get some euro hockey tour seasoning and prove themselves at that level convincingly enough to make the cut. Necas's time will come though-sonner rather than later.

 

[Wooren]

As for taking those guys for the 3rd/4th line I don't really agree. Jaskin maybe (he still hasn't done that much as a well regarded prospect imo) but guys like Necas and Lakatos need to get some euro hockey tour seasoning and prove themselves at that level convincingly enough to make the cut. Necas's time will come though-sonner rather than later.

To do that they need to be nominated in the first place. Lakatos had good season and absolutely deserved to get a shot, instead Jandac tries Ruzicka jr. and Jelinek, who aren't getting any younger and have no future in the national team.
Jandac clearly favors older players and I had to laugh when he said he's interested in Erat, but no mention of Lakatos, who had excellent playoffs. This also goes to our media though, they will rather ask about a former NHLer who is the face of his Extraliga team, instead of asking whether he plans to play some younger players. No pressure on the coach.

 

[Swipes]

To do that they need to be nominated in the first place. Lakatos had good season and absolutely deserved to get a shot, instead Jandac tries Ruzicka jr. and Jelinek, who aren't getting any younger and have no future in the national team.
Jandac clearly favors older players and I had to laugh when he said he's interested in Erat, but no mention of Lakatos, who had excellent playoffs. This also goes to our media though, they will rather ask about a former NHLer who is the face of his Extraliga team, instead of asking whether he plans to play some younger players. No pressure on the coach.

I don't disagree with you (this trend has always been there) but I think that consistency is key. If Lakatos can maintain this level of excellent play for another season or more I am sure he will get called up. I personally am not as high on Lakatos as you are (I know you really like the guy ) but perhaps Jandac (and the rest of the coaching staff) don't feel like he's done enough yet. I know you're probably going to find a player in the team who hasn't played as well as Lakatos and who has not been as consistent as him-there probably is one but I'm just trying to explain the coach's possible reasoning . As for Ruzicka and Jelinek, yeah I agree with you there.

The overall trend though appears to be to give younger players more opportunity, so it is getting better. More importantly, we don't have situations where the coach gets offended because a player can't make it and decides he won't call him up again regardless of how well he's playing

 

[czechcanadian]

Quick question here.
There's many Czech junior leagues.
DHL ( u20)
ELSD (u18)
ELIOD (u16)
Is there a competitive difference between ELSD-A and ELSD-B for example though? Or what's the difference in general?

 

[slovakiasnextone]

I think that ELSD A, B, C, D and E are all the same league, it's just in the early stages the teams play only against teams from their region, probably mainly to reduce travel costs. At a later stage the 25 teams are divided only into two groups. The first fourteen play for play offs, while the rest only play for placement.

I believe this is a model that copies the Swedish u18 league where you also have J18 Elit in the various regions and later the best teams from each region play in J18 Allsvenskan.

There is actually a lower league for the U18 category - The Regional u18 league: Týmy: Regionální liga staršího dorostu | Hokej.cz - web českého hokeje and I would assume that the real drop off in quality comes between the 25 teams in ELSD and the teams in this league.