Czech preliminary WJC roster announced

On its website, www.cslh.cz, the Czech Ice Hockey Association has released a list of 41 hopefuls who will potentially represent the Czech Republic at this year's IIHF World U20 Championships in Buffalo, NY. The list will be reduced to 28 by the time the team leaves for the United States on December 15.

27 of those listed play in Europe, 23 of whom recently played for the Czech U20 team at a tournament in České Budějovice and Karlovy Vary. 19 play in the Tipsport Extraliga, while seven play in the First National League and one, goaltender Tomáš Král, plays in Norway.

The other 13 play junior hockey in North America: five each in the WHL and QMJHL, while three play in the OHL.

Six of the players announced played on the Czech team that finished a disappointing seventh at last year's tournament in Saskatoon and Regina, SK. They are goaltender Filip Novotný, defencemen Jakub Jeřábek and Oldřich Horák, and forwards Andrej Nestrašil, Michal Hlinka, and Michal Poletín.

Of all the players listed, only four have been drafted by NHL teams. Nestrašil in the third round by Detroit in 2009, and taken in 2010 were Petr Mrázek by Detroit in the third round, Jakub Culek by Ottawa and Adam Polášek by Vancouver, both in the fifth round. 

At this year's tournament, which runs from December 26 to January 5, the Czechs play in a tough group that includes Canada, Sweden, Russia, and Norway.

From the Czech Ice Hockey Association website, here is the list of players:


Goaltenders:
 
Marek Mazanec (Plzeň), Filip Novotný (Sparta Praha), Petr Mrázek (Ottawa, OHL), Tadeáš Galanský (Saginaw, OHL), Tomáš Král (Lillehammer, Norway), Šimon Hrubec (České Budějovice).

Defencemen:
 
Jakub Jeřábek (Plzeň), Petr Šenkeřík, Aleš Sova (both Havlíčkův Brod), Dalibor Řezníček, Martin Matějíček (both Zlín), Adam Polášek (P.E.I., QMJHL), Adam Sedlák (Ottawa, OHL), Martin Pláněk (Znojmo), Petr Kousalík (Litvínov), Bohumil Jank (České Budějovice), David Musil (Vancouver, WHL), Oldřich Horák (Hradec Králové), Marek Hrbas (Edmonton, WHL), Michal Zacpálek (Sparta Praha).

Forwards:
 
Robin Soudek (Edmonton, WHL), Roman Horák (Chilliwack, WHL), Andrej Nestrašil (P.E.I., QMJHL), Ondřej Palát (Drummondville, QMJHL), Petr Holík, Jakub Šlahař (both Zlín), Dmitrij Jaškin (Slavia Praha), Jakub Orsava, Rostislav Marosz (both Třinec), Michal Hlinka (Vítkovice), David Tůma (Sparta Praha), Antonín Honejsek (Moose Jaw, WHL), Jakub Culek, Petr Straka (Rimouski, QMJHL), Tomáš Rachůnek, Adam Havlík (both Znojmo), Tomáš Filippi (Québec, QMJHL), Michal Vachovec (Karlovy Vary), Radim Heřman (České Budějovice), Michal Poletín (Slavia Praha), Tomáš Vondráček (Třebíč).

Coaches: Miroslav Přerost, Terry Christensen, Jiří Fischer 
General Manager: Petr Komers 
Goaltender Coach: Roman Višňák
Video: Jan Procházka 
Physician: Dr. Jaroslav Budín 
Treasurer: Leoš Mitáček