Sochi 2014 Team Preview: Czech Republic

Capital City: Prague

National Population: approx. 10.5 million

Formation: January 1993

Location:

Coat of Arms:

National Anthem:

Current IIHF ranking: 4th

Best Olympic Finish: Gold (1998); Bronze (2006)

2010 Olympic Finish: 7th place

2014 Olympic Team

Group: Group C

- Czech Republic

- Sweden

- Latvia

- Switzerland

Schedule:

- Feb. 12 vs Sweden, 12pm

- Feb. 14 vs Latvia, 3am

- Feb. 15 vs Switzerland, 12pm

Roster:

Goalies
#	Name	Age	Team	League
1	Jakub Kovar	25	Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg	KHL
31	Ondrej Pavelec	26	Winnipeg Jets	NHL
53	Alexander Salak	27	SKA St. Petersburg	KHL
Defense
2	Marek Zidlicky	37	New Jersey Devils	NHL
3	Radko Gudas	23	Tampa Bay Lightning	NHL
5	Ladislav Smid	28	Calgary Flames	NHL
7	Tomas Kaberle	35	Rytiri Kladno	CZE
8	Michal Barinka	29	Vitkovice Ostrava	CZE
23	Zbynek Michalek	31	Phoenix Coyotes	NHL
25	Lukas Krajicek	30	Dynamo Minsk	KHL
32	Michal Rozsival	25	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL
Forwards
9	Milan Michalek	29	Ottawa Senators	NHL
10	Roman Cervenka	28	SKA St. Petersburg	KHL
11	Martin Hanzal	26	Phoenix Coyotes	NHL
12	Jiri Novotny	30	Lev Prague (Praha)	KHL
14	Tomas Plekanec	31	Montreal Canadiens	NHL
17	Vladimir Sobotka	26	St. Louis Blues	NHL
18	Ondrej Palat	22	Tampa Bay Lightning	NHL
26	Patrik Elias	37	New Jersey Devils	NHL
46	David Krejci	27	Boston Bruins	NHL
67	Michael Frolik	25	Winnipeg Jets	NHL
68	Jaromir Jagr	41	New Jersey Devils	NHL
83	Ales Hemsky	30	Edmonton Oilers	NHL
89	Jakub Voracek	24	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL
93	Petr Nedved	42	Bili Tygri Liberec	CZE
	Martin Erat	32	Washington Capitals	NHL

Captain: Tomas Plekanec

Important!

Credit

Alternate Captains: Jaromir Jagr, Patrik Elias

Injured Players: Vladimir Sobotka :(

Jerseys:

Best Jerseys:

---

Goaltending and defense are without a doubt going to be a problem for the Czechs. And while their offense looks threatening, they are very old (Seriously, Petr Nedved?). I firmly believe David Krejci will steal the Gold medal all by himself (I do not really believe this).

The team's refusal to put Jiri Hudler on the roster is baffling, but this may be due to the fact that their coach, Alois Hadamczik, is a bit of a knob job. Fans and players alike seem to resent this guy because he does stuff like pick his son-in-law, Michal Barinka, for the team over other more worthy options in the NHL, KHL, and even within the Czech Extraliga.

The goaltending situation will be the biggest problem for the Czechs. Hadamczik has been adamant that the only NHL goaltender picked for the Czech team, Pavelec, is not necessarily going to be the starter. And while the two other goaltenders, both from the KHL, may turn out to be competent goaltenders, there are notable NHL goaltenders that were not picked, including Michal Neuvirth (Washington Capitals), Marek Mazanec (Nashville Predators), and Petr Mrazek (Detroit Red Wings).

In the past, Czech success at international competition has always relied heavily on goaltending. They would not have won the 1998 Gold Medal if not for Dominik Hasek. Their most recently celebrated star goaltender was Tomas Vokoun, who won the Czech Golden Hockey Stick (Zlatá hokejka) award for Best Czech Player four years ago for his outstanding performance at the 2010 World Championship, where the Czechs won gold (REIGNING GOLDEN STICK WINNER IS DAVID KREJCI BTW). Unfortunately, Vokoun has been out with injury.

Other unfortunate injuries, besides the devastating loss of Vladimir Sobotka, include San Jose Sharks' Tomas Hertl. Instead of upgrading the roster when Sobotka went down with the injury, the choice of Martin Erat over Hudler will probably come back to bite them in the ass.

The Czechs are probably a long shot to medal, but I think they will finish much higher than they did in 2010.

Sidenote on the impact of the 1998 Czech Gold medal win, from this excellent article by Chris Johnston:

Take Chara’s Bruins teammate, David Krejci, for example. He was an 11-year-old boy when Dominik Hasek backstopped the underdog Czechs to a victory in Nagano and, it was during the wild celebrations that followed in Prague that he decided that he wanted to be a pro hockey player. "They went on the stage and they were singing songs with the fans and it was live on TV," Krejci told me recently. "That was like a moment that kind of turned it around for me in my hockey career. I was watching that, I had goosebumps and I wanted to be out there with those guys. You know?"