After spending Christmas with family, I'm back home and catching up on WJC games. Thoughts on Cechia-Slovakia.
First, Slovakia is legit medal contender. If Nemec and slaf were there i'd say they would have real shot at gold. that might be ambitious for this team, but i wouldn't rule them out. having mesar, dvo, and honzek on separate lines makes them tough matchup i think for anyone. czechs, on the other hand, look like 1 line team and unlikely to do much damage here.
i focus my viewing on blues prospects and draft eligibles, so a couple additional thoughts on that.
dvo is such a stud that while he was "quiet" and didn't have "great" game. he drew 2 penalties from being deprived on point blank chances, had a great chance to score off quick release/redirect that he got stoned on, and made a beautiful pass that might have been goal if misiak didn't take 45 seconds to dust it off before shooting. he looks so much more comfortable and involved than he did a year ago at this tourney. i expect he will make bigger impact as tourney goes on, as he did last year at u18s.
pekarcik looks young and raw, but he is highly involved. noticeable although more in creating havoc than scoring chances. honestly, to make this team as 18 yo is good step. i expect next year he will be a top player for slovakia here. i'm pleased with his progress this year overall, and think while he is at least 3-4 years away from nhl, he is on track to be quality middle 6 winger in the dallas drake vein.
stancl- this was my first chance to really watch him (i saw him in u18s but didn't focus on him and that czech team wasn't good). big guy, he has great pro frame, was engaged on board battles, forecheck, seems to play responsible game (as army mentioned in interview with kerbs than someone linked to). reminds me of torpo. has real chance to be quality bottom 6 winger. i didn't see much offensive upside from him, but as one of youngest guys on middling team it's unsurprising to see much offense. not ruling out that he has more offense but not really expecting it. he too is eligible next year, so that will be much better chance for him to show upside potential.
jiricek (draft eligible)- unfortunately biggest takeaway from him is that he got hurt. got tangled up with pecarcik and injured his leg. he came back for 1 shift in 3rd, tried to defend dvo, and went down again not to return. hopefully not serious. aside from that, didn't seem noticeable. from my previous viewings i'm less bullish on him than many, as he has clear size and skills, but just feel like something is missing there. has big upside but high bust potential i think.
