Prague and Ostrava are looking forward to the biggest hockey stars led by Connor Bedard, Erik Karlsson, Roman Josi or Mats Zuccarello. The championship will begin on Friday, May 10, when the Czech hockey players will play their first match against Finland in the evening. Radiožurnál and Radiožurnál Sport will offer all matches of the national team in live broadcast, the server iROZHLAS.cz is preparing online reports.
Prague/Ostrava
7:00 a.m May 10, 2024
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Hockey players Roman Josi, Connor Bedard and Erik Karlsson | Photo: Photobank Profimedia | Source: Profimedia
The leader of the Czech defense at the domestic championship will be Radko Gudas, who plays in the NHL for Anaheim. He could hear the invitation to the championship also because his Ducks were the third worst team in the NHL and did not look at the elimination fights. Even last year, he enjoyed Florida’s campaign all the way to the Stanley Cup finals. The native of Prague scored 748 games and 182 points in twelve seasons in the regular season of the NHL.
But the club from the west coast of the United States brought him not only for mentoring young players in the Ducks organization, but also for the hard game, when he gives out a number of uncompromising hits. During the last training sessions, the assistant of captain Roman Červenka trained in a defensive pair with Jakub Krejčík from Sparta.
Elite Swedish defense
Eighteen hockey players from the NHL will present themselves in Ostrava Sweden. Like the Czech team, the Swedes have a complete trio of goalkeepers from the NHL – Filip Gustavsson with Jesper Wallstedt from Minnesota and Samuel Ersson from Philadelphia. The biggest strength of the northerners will be the defensive lines, five backs can boast a great name overseas – Rasmus Dahlin from Buffalo, Erik Karlsson with Marcus Pettersson from Pittsburgh, Jonas Brodin from Minnesota and Victor Hedman from Tampa Bay.
Karlsson, a three-time winner of the Norris Trophy for the best defenseman in the NHL, made history last season, in which he collected a famous 101 points. He played over a thousand games in the best league in the world, this year he was traded to Pittsburgh.
Slovak number one and number two in the draft
After two preparatory losses against the Czech hockey players, he joined the team Slovakia added a total of eight reinforcements from the NHL, led by productive New Jersey forward Tomáš Tatar or Washington defenseman Martin Feherváry.
Juraj Slafkovský, the first-ever Slovakian number one in the NHL draft (2022), has made a decent step in his career. In 82 games of the regular season, he recorded twenty goals and 30 assists and improved his career best with 50 Canadian points. During the selection of talents at the time, defender Šimon Nemec, who played 60 games this season, was next in line after Slafkovský.
Reichel finally arrives
The strong team was put together by the coach of last year’s world vice-champions from Germany Harold Kreis. Chicago striker Lukas Reichel was absent from the German nomination for the World Cup, but according to local media, there has been a twist and the nephew of Czech legend Robert Reichel will arrive in Ostrava for the fights. Reichel already played in the championship in 2021 and 2022.
The 17th pick of the 2020 draft fully made it into the Blackhawks this season, Reichel played 65 games in which he collected sixteen points for five goals and eleven assists.
Record holder Ambühl
A hockey fan at a match Switzerland, which the Czech national team will play on Monday, May 13 from 8:20 p.m., the name Andreas Ambühl will certainly attract attention. He made his mark in the history of the World Cup with eighteen appearances and 131 duels played. He was not missing in winning the historic silver in 2018. Last May, he became Switzerland’s number one in the number of starts in the national team and will continue to push his record of 321 games.
But coach Patrick Fischer’s biggest star will be defender Roman Josi from Nashville. The 33-year-old Josi was the top scorer among NHL defensemen this year with 23 goals and is the Swiss with the most games (909) and points (686) in NHL history.
The Finns want to correct last year
The opening opponent of the Czech national team, Finland, brought four reinforcements from the NHL to Prague. The first center of Jukka Jalonen’s selection will be Mikael Granlund from San Jose, who has already played 819 games in Nashville or Minnesota, scoring 544 points.
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The fans of Hradec Králové will be interested in Ahti Oksanen from the Swedish Oskarshamn, who played in the Czech Extraliga in the 2021/22 season for Mountfield, when he scored 49 points. Last year, the Finns failed to defend their title on home ice and finished seventh after losing in the quarterfinals.
Young USA squad
The most experienced hockey player of an otherwise young squad of the United States is Detroit defenseman Jeff Petry, who will be making his fourth World Series appearance, but his first appearance in a decade, in The NHL is in its 14th season and is approaching the magical 1,000-game milestone – 937 games to its credit.
The offensive driving force of the team will be the four-time participant of the World Cup, Columbus striker Johnny Gaudreau. However, he has not had a good year behind him and is looking in vain for the form from the year 2021/22 in the Columbus jersey, when in 82 games of the regular season, he collected 115 points for 40 goals and 75 assists. “Johnny Hockey” was also a member of the legendary junior team that dominated the 2013 U20 World Cup.
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Ottawa forward Brady Tkachuk, who became the captain of the Senators at the age of 23 and collected a respectable 74 points last season, will also be an important member of the USA selection. The son of well-known NHL forward Keith Tkachuk is also the younger brother of Matthew Tkachuk, who fought with Boston star David Pastrňak on the night of Wednesday to Thursday.
In an otherwise very rejuvenated USA squad, a pair of attackers from Boston College will also impress – the fourth and eighth picks of last year’s draft, respectively, Will Smith and Ryan Leonard, who are looking forward to San Jose and Washington, respectively.
Generational talent
Biggest Canadian the star who will introduce himself to Czech fans in Prague will be striker Connor Bedard, who is considered a generational talent. The number one pick in the 2023 draft has completed his first full season in the Chicago jersey, in which he collected 61 points, and at the age of eighteen, Bedard is already waiting for his debut at the adult world championship. The Canadians will face the Czech national team on Tuesday, May 21 from 4:20 p.m., i.e. on the final day of the basic groups.
Former shooter of Litvínov
The biggest draw for matches Great Britain will be forward Liam Kirk, who spent last year in Litvínov. He collected 30 points for nineteen goals and eleven assists in 52 games for North Bohemia in the regular part of the extra league. He scored nine goals in thirteen playoff games and became the top scorer. After a year in the Czech Republic, the two-time world championship participant is moving to Germany, where he signed a contract with the Eisbären Berlin team.
Polish pair from the extra league
The newcomer to the elite division cannot boast of any player from North America. On the roster Poles but you can find two hockey players from the Czech extra league. Paweł Zygmunt has been wearing the jersey of North Bohemian Litvínov for the fifth season, but in this year’s successful year for the chemists, he collected only three points for two goals and one assist. Kamil Walega can be proud of the fresh title for the champion of the extra league, but he did not participate in any match in the playoffs.
The only signing from the NHL
Puller of choice Austria will be the only reinforcement from the NHL, Minnesota forward Marco Rossi. The nine pick of the 2020 draft is also the only Austrian active in the best hockey league in the world. Rossi collected 40 points for 20 goals and 20 assists in 82 games with the Wild this season. He will make his second appearance at the championship, at last year’s World Cup in Riga and Tampere, he helped Austria maintain its status in the elite group.
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The only acquisition from North America is the hockey players nominated for the World Championships in Prague and Ostrava Denmark, opponent of the Czech Republic on Wednesday, May 15 from 4:20 p.m. Coach Mikael Gath can only count on forward Alexander True, who spent the entire season on the Florida farm in Charlotte in the lower AHL, and collected 27 starts and five assists in the past seasons in the NHL.
For the first time since 2017, Seattle forward Pierre-Édouard Bellemare will feature in the championship, the squad’s only overseas contribution France – overall, the 39-year-old Bellemare will appear at the World Cup for the eleventh time. In ten years in the NHL, he has played 700 games for Philadelphia, Vegas, Colorado and Tampa Bay, during which he collected 138 points.
Czech fans will recognize three names from the extra league in the French selection – the Vítkovic couple Yohann Auvitu and Valentine Claireaux and another forward Jordann Perret in Hradec Králové will appear in the Ostrava group B.
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The only reinforcement from the NHL will be in the nomination Latvians, defending bronze medalists from Tampere and Riga goalkeeper Elvis Merzlikins from Columbus. In five seasons, he became the building block of the Columbus lineup and in five seasons in the NHL he caught 191 games, where he caught ten zeros.
An important element of the Latvian squad will also be six players from the Czech extra league – defenders Janis Jaks and Kristaps Zile from Litvínov, Ralfs Freibergs from Hradec Králové, brother duo Roberts and Rihards Bukarts and striker Eduards Tralmaks from Kladno.
The return of Zuccarello
The most successful Norwegian current hockey player Mats Zuccarello is not missing in the nomination of coach Petter Thoresen. Thirty-six-year-old Zuccarello has so far competed in four World Championships and two Olympic Games (2010 and 2014). In this NHL season, the 173-centimeter forward scored 63 points for twelve goals and 51 assists in 69 games. The former New York Rangers and Dallas player has a total of 835 games and 636 points in the regular season.
Other overseas reinforcements for the championship could be Emil Martinsen Lilleberg from Tampa Bay and Emilio Pettersen from Dallas after the end of the AHL season for Norway.
Kazakhstan with players from the KHL
Hockey players Kazakhstan are preparing for their fourth consecutive start among the elite at the World Cup. In Ostrava and perhaps in Prague, they will surely try to improve the historically best position, which is the tenth place from Riga 2021. As in the past, this year too there are a large number of players from the best local club – Barysa Astana, who have been playing since 2008 – in the nomination KHL.
But the biggest star of the Kazakh team is the striker of Russian Magnitogorsk Nikita Mikhailis. The 28-year-old winger collected 42 points last season and helped the team from the divide between the European and Asian parts of Russia to win the Gagarin Cup.
Tomáš Petrilák
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