Forgettable weekend for Czech national teams

It was a tough weekend for Czech national hockey teams.

After opening the Karjala Cup with a loss at home on Thursday night, the Czech senior national team travelled to Helsinki, where they were thumped 5-0 by Finland on Saturday and lost 3-1 Sunday to Russia to finish the tournament 0-3. The Russians, Swedes, and Finns all beat each other and finished with identical 2-1 records.

In terms of the Euro Hockey Tour, of which the Karjala Cup is the opening leg, it means a three-way tie for first place with 9 points, while the Czechs sit in the basement with 0. The tour continues with the Channel One Cup in Moscow, December 16 to 19. Sweden and the Czech Republic will host their tournaments after the new year.

The Czech national U20 team didn't fair much better. Though they managed to open with a victory over Russia in České Budějovice, they then fell to Finland and Sweden in Karlovy Vary to finish with a 1-2 record.  Russia and Finland were also each 1-2, while Sweden won the tournament with a perfect 3-0 record.

Extraliga action resumes on Tuesday with two games: Kladno-Liberec and Plzeň-Slavia. Tuesday is also the next meeting of the Czech Association of Professional Ice Hockey Teams, where the fate of Plzeň and Mladá Boleslav's appeal not to be stripped of 19 and 22 points in the standings, respectively, should be revealed. The potential outdoor game in Pardubice is also expected to be discussed.