Me and no name? I don’t care. He got over the insult from Toronto and the clip with the Offspring

The defeats on his team’s account were increasing at a pace he is not used to. Anaheim, in whose jersey hockey goalie Lukáš Dostál caught his first full season in the NHL, is in the process of rebuilding, which has had an effect on the team’s results.

Not so on Dostál’s mood, with which he arrived at the representative camp in Brno. On Thursday, the last tournament before the World Cup starts there with the match between the Czech Republic and Finland, and the 23-year-old Kometa pupil will be in goal. He enjoys returning to familiar places.

“When I left Brno, there were still old rigid Plexiglas and other guardrails. Now here are the modern, flexible ones. I am really looking forward to the Brno fans, to everything. Nostalgia breathed on me from the entrance to the hall,” he says.

He can probably count on a nomination for the Prague championship, the team’s management of the trio of goalkeepers from the NHL – with Dostál it consists of Petr Mrázek and Karel Vejmelka – will no longer interfere. “We know each other well, we get along great. There won’t be a problem between us,” reports the youngest of the three, to whom the coaches have entrusted the start of the final check-up before the World Cup.

You are returning to the arena where you grew up playing hockey, already as a legitimate NHL player. How do you rate the past season?
I’ve had an important year, no doubt about it. For the first time, I was only in the NHL during the season, I did not go to the farm. I got 44 duels, which I didn’t even expect before the season, I’m very happy about it. But you never know what can happen, I’m still a young guy. To consider myself an NHL player… after all, I’m still just getting started there.

Are you happy that it’s in Anaheim, a team with room for young players, which also brings with it a lot of defeats?
You always want to win, that’s the main goal. I’m in the team to support him in key moments. But it is clear that when you get to such a stage of the season when you are not winning much, you need to focus on yourself. To work, toil and not give up. We were successful at that. Things went a little downhill around Christmas, we had a good end of the season again and we can build on it. We have some great young guys, so I’m looking forward to the future.

Were you encouraged that you became the NHL’s best rookie for October right at the start of the season?
Connor Bedard from Chicago was a very popular rookie back then, he played great, and to win it in October was a really big honor for me. I accepted it with humility. I knew I had six or seven games and more than seventy to go. They told me about the prize the morning before the match, which was what I was thinking about. I considered it a signal that all the work had just started in full swing. (smile)

Did that phase of fatigue set in during the season, which in the case of rookies during their first sled in a professional competition is referred to as hitting the wall?
I had to learn to spread my forces so that I was as ready as possible when I got the chance. I always paid attention to regeneration, massages and things like that. In the NHL, incredible travel, changing time zones came into play. Everything was a first time for me, but I think I managed it well. I am very glad that I had Radek Gudas in my team, whom I could ask anything. He has a great family, he was my support and a bit of a mentor.

During February, you also performed together in an advertising shot with the American punk rock group The Offspring. How did you get to her?
He comes from Orange County, which is where our club is based. That’s how the collaboration and filming of a trailer for the match for the fans came about (Dostal was drumming with mallets on the hockey goal, Gudas was skating with a bass guitar – editor’s note). I like their music, they are excellent musicians.

But they shined already at a time when you didn’t even go to elementary school. How do you know them?
I remember their songs from the NHL video game I played on my computer as a kid. (smile) Besides, a friend I was listening to music with played them. Shooting with them was a great experience.

You had a different, purely hockey experience in March during the game against New Jersey. You hit a free kick with two seconds left and Anaheim won 4-3. Were you as calm as you normally are in this situation?
Was! I even said that to the reporter after the match in an interview done in front of the whole hall. When the penalty shootout was called against us, I thought it was time to show up. Time to shine! I believed I would catch it. With players like Trevor Zegras or Mason McTavish, we go for raids after training, I have practice in them.

But here you were faced with the star bachelor Jack Hughes, a former number one draft pick.
Skilled player, that’s true. New Jersey was fighting for the playoffs, they had a great performance against us, but we also wanted to win. The raid was a turning point. Something the player must go through in order to be successful over time. I was glad that experience came.

And you caught it.
I skated Hughes, then he got tangled up with the puck, I put the stick in front of me and he lost the puck trying to pull it back. I closed all his paths to the goal, so I think he panicked a bit.

Does this mindset help you look forward to the big moments instead of feeling nervous or anxious about them?
One must have a healthy respect, it is a difficult moment. But he must not withdraw because something challenging awaits him. That’s why I was completely calm, I was looking forward to the raid as a chance for me.

You also almost scored a goal yourself in the NHL.
We played that against Detroit, I hit the outside arc of the goal on their power play. The funny thing is that the coach who was on the AHL farm the year before last when I scored a goal against Colorado is now with us in Anaheim. The score was 4:3 for us, I tried, it just missed.

You said then that you don’t really know if the coach appreciated this attempt. Did you find out yet?
There are so many games in America that unless there’s a big mistake and the goalie just misses the goal like a fielder misses it, and then it’s won, it’s over and it’s on. There is no time to think, to fiddle with what who did. He finishes the match, gets on the plane and heads to the next station. I learned to deal with everything day by day, not to plan and to always be prepared.

By the way, you also caught against Karl Vejmelek, another former Brno goalkeeper and current national team colleague who worked in Arizona. Did you have a good experience?
Of course it was fun. We caught two matches against each other, we also met in preparation. We always talked after the game. I like Karlík, we know each other well, and when I play against him, I always want to win.

Did it bother you when the Canadian newspaper Toronto Sun wrote about you after the game with the team there, that you were a “no name” goalie against whom the Maple Leafs won 2-1 in overtime?
I honestly don’t care. What would I do about it? It was written, I take it, it won’t affect me somehow. Especially in Canada, the media pressure is great. I was happy for myself that I had a good match.

You performed 55 interventions in it. Did you have the derogatory label in mind the next time you came on against Toronto?
Not at all. I don’t care who I catch against. This is no time to think that Auston Matthews, Sidney Crosby or anyone else is up against you. As the goalkeeper starts to think, his concentration goes aside and he fails to win the game.

But you said you focused on one player in particular.
Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl stuck in my mind, but not because he was the toughest opponent. Everyone can shoot in the NHL. However, Draisaitl has a big bucket, it’s something very unusual. The goalkeeper has to pay more attention to that. Usually a player pulls the puck up and shoots with the middle of the blade, but Draisaitl can do it with the toe, the heel, from anywhere. That’s what’s different.

Are you already looking forward to the World Cup in Prague?
We are currently at the camp in Brno and I am concentrating on what awaits us in the rest of the week. I don’t want to talk about what will happen. We have three games ahead of us, we have three goalkeepers here and anything can happen. It is not good to overtake.