WC hockey | MS HOCKEY STUDIO: It seems to me that we didn’t know what we wanted until the last moment, says the expert about the nomination

Rulík’s final selection of players caused a lot of discussion even before the start of the tournament. “Nomination is always the head coach’s right. He sees the players every day, knows how who communicates, who fits him, which role, and we ordinary fans don’t see that. And, of course, the head coach is then responsible for that,” commented Pirátů Chomutov coach Martin Pešout diplomatically on the nomination.

In the Czech hockey environment, and especially on social networks, there is unrest regarding the nominated players. “I attribute the tension to playing at home. It’s always closely watched there. Radim Rulík took some bold and surprising steps. Unusual things happened,” adds Sport.cz editor-in-chief Martin Kézr and mentions the dropping of players from overseas. “Czech hockey is not used to players from the NHL coming to training and then not going to the championship.”

Elimination in the final phase of preparation affected four players from the overseas competition – Radim Zohorna, Filip Zadina, Jakub Vrána and Tomáš Nosko. And it was Nosek who was a much-vaunted name. “It’s very difficult here, the player has jet lag. And now he has to show off what’s in it. When I take the boys, I know where I’m taking them and where I expect them to go. But this seems unfair to me. It seems to me that we didn’t know what we wanted until the last moment,” describes the situation surrounding the 31-year-old forward Pešout.

“I have the feeling that during the search for an elite center for the Czech team, coach Rulík decided to try Nosko there as well. And that’s not his position from overseas, so he couldn’t do it there. But asking a player for something that is not completely his is not happy,” Kézr agrees.

Twenty-one-year-old back from the extra league Jiří Ticháček did not even make it to the final nomination. “He should have gone for me. It should be made clear to him that if someone breaks through at such a young age, he has a chance at the World Cup. But I think that Libor Zábranský, who went to all the tournaments, was also forgotten. And I think that, for example, David Špaček was given priority over him,” the fifty-seven-year-old coach is convinced.

For the son of the Olympic champion from Nagano, Jaroslav Špaček, David, at the age of twenty-one, it will be the premiere at the world championship. Striker Jáchym Kondelík, who is three years older, will also experience it here. “I was terribly surprised that he was going. He is such a chubby, with big hands and big feet. I think he got that chance rightfully, he will be the strong player in front of the goal,” glosses the strengths of the almost two-meter forward Pešout. “I think that it was with that strength that he overpowered, for example, Radim Zohorna in the final nomination,” says Kézr. “But I’m a bit worried about the offensive side in general. Players like Ondřej Kaše or Tomášek will have to make their mark,” reminds the editor-in-chief of Sport.cz.

Ondřej Kaše, Lukáš Sedlák and Roman Červenko made up the elite formation at Thursday’s training session. “I think that here Radim Rulík bet on putting the three best hockey players together. These players will give you something extra, they are the hockey players who have to decide,” reveals Pešout.

The potential arrival of David Pastrňák could affect the offensive activity of the elite formation. His Boston is playing 1:1 with Florida in the quarterfinals of the NHL playoffs. “I would definitely wait for Pastrňák. The aura around him is unreal. The fact that he would come would frighten the other teams,” says coach Chomutova decisively. “I remember at the World Cup in Copenhagen, Krejčí and Pastrňák were in Denmark for a few hours and they had an incredible impact on the Russians,” Kézr recalls of the 2018 championship.

There are eight defenders in the Czech selection. “Tomáš Kundrátek is deservedly in the nomination for me, David Špaček also trains power plays as a young player. We saw it in Brno as well, those defenders were under a lot of pressure, it will be difficult for them,” Kézr explains the composition of the defense.

A much-discussed question is also who from the goalkeeper trio will catch the opening duel with the Finns. “If it were up to me, I would send Petr Mrázek into the goal,” Kézr convinces. “I don’t think all three should be catching during the base group. I would clearly tell the goalkeepers that Mrázek will catch on Friday and Lukáš Dostál on Saturday,” explains Pešout.

The Czech Republic is waiting for its third home World Cup in independent history. In 2004 and 2015, however, the national team did not win a medal. “The domestic championship will either shoot you to the heights, or we won’t be able to withstand the pressure. It’s double-edged and it’s extremely important that the first match goes well, especially in terms of playing,” adds Pešout, who previously worked for the national team in the role of head coach of players under the age of 18.

In the first part of the special program Studio World Hockey, we also talked about how difficult the preparation was for the players, which consisted of 37 hockey players a week before the championship, the experts also looked back at the performance at the Betano Hockey Games, and editor Jan Škvor outlined how the special studies will be to look like during the home World Cup on Sport.cz.

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