The hockey players will strive for the first win in each against the Finns in Prague
Updates: 12/15/2021 3:21 PM
Released: 15.12.2021, 15:21
Prague – Czech hockey players will attack Finland’s first Olympic Olympics on Thursday at the O2 Arena in Prague. Coach Filip Pešán’s charges did not score in three duels at the Karjala tournament in Linköping and Helsinki in November, and otherwise the Moscow Channel One Cup will start on home ice. The duel starts at 18:00 and due to measures against the spread of covid-19, only 1,000 spectators can watch it in the auditorium.
“We already wanted some success. We would win the match to boost confidence. Of course we want to improve in weakness, be good at five to four and improve in the end. We have had chances in previous matches, but unfortunately we have not been able to take advantage of it. we would like to improve so that goals fall from it when we get to the chances, “said assistant coach of Czech hockey players Martin Straka.
In connection with the World Championships in Riga, the Czechs lost four times in a row with a score of 5:14. With Finland, they just lost the championship in the quarterfinals after a 0: 1 defeat and lost 2: 4 in Helsinki in the last duel. They won the only one of the last five mutual matches and it was in the O2 arena, where they won 2: 1 on 12 May. On the other hand, in domestic duels, the Czech team succeeded five times in the last six attempts.
“I think it will be the same with them. If they can, they will come after us, if they are far from us, they will stand in 1-2-2 and they will be waiting for us. We were going to have it, we had “1-2-2 training so that we either get it for them or it went through some role and the players exchanged it with each other. But we also had a lot of chances in the match in Finland and we couldn’t change them,” added Straka.
The coaching team has already decided who from the pair Šimon Hrubec and Roman Will will stand against Finland in the goal area, but it will not publish it yet. “We’re clear, but they’ll find out tonight,” Straka said.
The report also awaits the results of today’s PCR tests, which also follow on Thursday. Striker Milan Gulaš has already returned to the team and today’s training. He had a positive test for covid-19 on Monday and left the national team, but returned after a negative control test. “We are waiting with the team. Tomorrow morning we will tell the boys who the captain and his assistants will be,” Straka added.
In the home environment of the O2 arena, players will have to deal with the fact that they will have minimal support from the auditorium. “It’s a big arena, I don’t know how divided it is, if people will be together or crawl around, but it will probably be a little sadder,” said forward Jan Kovář.
But he took a thousand with humor. “It must have been harder before, when I knew Dad was hockey, to find him. Now I’ll see him shake his head right from the first minute,” Kovář joked.
“It’s a shame. But let’s be glad that at least someone will be there. We’ve already experienced it when it’s played in front of empty stands. It will be all normal in Russia, so I just wondered when I heard about the restrictions, if it shouldn’t have happened in Russia, but I don’t see it, “Hrubec added.
Immediately after the match, the national team will fly to Moscow, where it will train on Friday (from 13:30 CET) in the CSKA Moscow hall in the Park of Legends. He will start there on Saturday at 1.30 pm against Russia and on Sunday against Sweden (9:00).
Probable line-up of the Czech Republic: Hrubec or Will – Šulák, J. Jeřábek, Zámorský, Ščotka, Klok, Krejčík, Pyrochta, D. Musil – Gulaš Jan Kovář, Frolík – Řepík, Krejčí, Sobotka – Hyka, L. Sedlák, A. Nestrašil – Blümel, A. Musil, Flek.