2022 Beijing Olympic Preview: Team Czechia
KHL. ru continues its preview of the teams competing at the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing. Today we’re looking at a Czech roster that will face the Russians in Group B with 12 current KHLers and many more players well-known to fans around the league.
History and honors
Czech hockey enjoys a rich history. From the earliest days of international hockey, Bohemia (the forerunner of Czechoslovakia and Czechia) won several European championships prior to World War I.
After the war, the new nation of Czechoslovakia was the first European country to win an Olympic medal in hockey, coming third behind Canada and the USA in Antwerp. Established as one of Europe’s strongest hockey nations, the Czechs won several more silver and bronze medals. However, Olympic gold arrived just once — against the odds in the first ‘best-on-best’ Olympics in 1998, when an NHL-stacked Canadian roster failed to make the final and Czechia overcame Russia 1-0 thanks to Petr Svoboda’s goal and Dominik Hasek’s shut-out.
In World Championship play, the Czechs have far more gold medals with 12 titles as Czechoslovakia or Czechia. The most recent triumph was in 2010. However, since bronze in 2012, the Czechs have suffered something of a skid, failing to win a medal at any World or Olympic tournament since. Fourth place in PyeongChang in 2018 is their best result of recent years.
Head coach
Filip Pesan took over as head coach in the summer of 2020, replacing the late Milos Riha. Previously the 44-year-old worked with the Czech junior teams. So far, he has not managed to arrest that long spell without a medal, but at club level Pesan has a solid track record. In 2016 he led Liberec to the Czech title and added two silver medals in 2017 and 2019. Pesan himself was twice named coach of the year in the Extraliga.
Team leaders
Lukas Sedlak goes to the Olympics as the top scorer at the KHL’s leading team. Sedlak has 43 (18+25) points for Traktor in 49 appearances. In addition, he gets through plenty of hard work: according to our smart puck numbers, he creates more traffic in front of the opponent’s net than any other player, and leads the league in successfully taking the puck from the opposition.
Neftekhimik’s Lukas Klok is one of the top defensemen on the Czech team. He’s been a potent weapon in the KHL this season, with 44 (5+26) points in 44 games making him a serious contender to beat forward Marat Khairullin to the title of top scorer on his team.
It’s also worth watching out for Avangard’s Simon Hrubec. The Gagarin Cup-winning goalie is playing well in the KHL again and is unquestionably the number one for the Hawks. Hrubec started his season with a shut-out win over CSKA and has maintained those high standards throughout the season. With a GAA of 2.19, a 92.9% save ratio and five shut-outs, he’s helped Avangard to 22 wins.
Roster
Team Czechia has 12 players from the KHL, four each from the Czech Extraliga and the Swiss National League, plus three based in Sweden and one in Finland.
It’s an aging roster, with an average age just under 30. The youngest player is 24-year-old forward Michael Spacek from Frolunda, the oldest is Roman Cervenka, 36-year-old veteran of KHL action with Avangard, SKA and Lev Prague. Today he plays in Switzerland for Rapperswil-Jona. The Czech roster looks to be experienced and tested at Olympic level.
Seven of the team were involved in the previous Olympics. Many of those are familiar to KHL fans — goalie Patrik Bartosak, defensemen Tomas Kundratek and Vojtech Mozik, plus forwards Jan Kovar, Michal Repik, Tomas Zohorna and the afore-mentioned Cervenka.
Indeed, Cervenka is a true Olympic veteran, poised to return for his fourth Games. He made his debut in Vancouver in 2010, along with David Krejci, who is back for his third Olympics. In short, this Czech team understands what the Olympics are all about.
Prognosis
It’s fair to assume that the Czechs will battle for first place in Group B and then look to secure a long-awaited medal. Pesan’s men are boosted by the experience of several of its players, and the strong form of its leaders this season, but the coaching staff still faces a tough task to translate that into a winning team on the ice.
If Team Czechia is able to marshal its forces carefully through the Olympic tournament, it can reasonably expect to get to the bronze medal game.
