Jaškin and Musil lead list of Czech draft hopefuls

This weekend, the NHL stages its annual Entry Draft. It is the time when the top hockey prospects 18 years of age or older from around the world hold their collective breaths and find out who, if anybody, will hold their NHL rights.

Dmitrij Jaškin. Photo: hokej.cz.

Czechs have had some success in the draft before, most notably 1992 and 1999, when Roman Hamrlík and Patrik Štefan were taken first overall, respectively, by the Tampa Bay Lightning and Atlanta Thrashers. In 2011, when the Edmonton Oilers make their first selection, it won't be a Czech name, barring a miracle. However, there are two Czech players, Dmitrij Jaškin and David Musil, that are expected to be taken in the first two rounds, which would be an improvement over recent years. Jaškin is a right winger who currently plays for Slavia Praha in the Czech Extraliga and Musil is a defenceman who currently plays for the Western Hockey League's Vancouver Giants. Both players have taken interesting paths to get to this point in their careers, which is explored in greater detail here.

David Musil. Photo: Gerry Kahrmann, theprovince.com.

The NHL divides its draft-eligible prospects into skaters and goaltenders, and further into players on North American clubs and those playing in Europe, with Musil and Jaškin easily leading all Czechs on those lists. In 2010, only five Czechs were drafted and none of them played domestically. This was a particularly embarrassing total for a country that, at one time, was one of the top producers of top hockey players in the world. As recently as 2001, 31 Czechs were drafted, with 21 of them coming from domestic clubs. This downward trend is examined here.

While the 2011 crop of Czechs won't approach 2001 numbers, it is reasonably safe to say there won't be another shutout of domestic players, as many forecasters have predicted that Jaškin will be taken late in the first round. Daniel Přibyl of Sparta Praha, who was taken by Cherepovets in last month's KHL draft, is pegged to go somewhere in the middle rounds, with Mladá Boleslav's Tomáš Hyka being seen as a possible late-round pick.

Below are the European-based, draft-eligible Czechs, according to their rankings. Of the listed players, only Jaškin and Plzeň's Jakub Jeřábek played full-time in the Extraliga in 2010-11.


  5. Dmitrij Jaškin       right wing   Slavia Praha
 46. Daniel Přibyl        centre       Sparta Praha
 47. Tomáš Hyka           right wing   Mladá Boleslav
 56. Štěpán Jeník         defence      Slavia Praha
 57. Lukáš Sedlák         centre       České Budějovice
 77. Jakub Jeřábek        defence      Plzeň
 79. Lukáš Králík         centre       Olomouc
 86. Tomáš Pavelka        defence      Vítkovice
 88. Václav Tomek         right wing   Slavia Praha
 95. Petr Holík           centre       Zlín
 96. Adam Řehák           right wing   Vítkovice
100. Michael Švihálek     left wing    České Budějovice
101. Dušan Žovinec        defence      Sparta Praha
125. Vojtěch Zadražil     defence      Jihlava
129. Tomáš Rousek         útočník      České Budějovice

Of the Czech players in North America, Musil is currently projected to be taken somewhere in the second round. Matěj Stránský could also be a mid-round pick, while Dominik Uher and Bohumil Jank could be taken late.


 38. David Musil         defence       Vancouver (WHL)
136. Matěj Stránský      right wing    Saskatoon (WHL)
162. Dominik Uher        centre        Spokane (WHL)
181. Bohumil Jank        defence       Victoriaville (QMJHL)

The International Scouting Services ranks goaltenders separately. Among European goalkeepers, Jarolsav Pavelka is ranked third, and has an outside chance at being drafted. He played last season at the starší dorost level, and was impressive at the Five Nations Tournament in his hometown of Hradec Králové. In Dresden at the U18 World Championships, Pavelka backed up Matěj Machovský, who is ranked 10th among eligible netminders in North America.

Ranked Czech goaltenders in Europe:

 3. Jaroslav Pavelka      Hradec Králové
10. Marek Mazanec         Plzeň

Ranked Czech goaltenders in North America:

11. Matěj Machovský      Brampton (OHL)
13. David Honzík         Victoriaville (QMJHL)
15. Tadeáš Galanský      Saginaw (OHL)

Rankings were compiled by International Scouting Services, and were acquired via hockeysfuture.com, nhl.com, and hokej.cz.

Jeřábek and Přibyl taken in KHL draft

The KHL held its third annual junior draft on Saturday. Two Czechs were among the 135 players selected: Jakub Jeřábek of Plzeň 1929 and Daniel Přibyl of Sparta Praha.

Jakub Jeřábek could play for the KHL's Lev
Poprad next season. Photo: Photo: Rick
Stewart, Getty Images North America.

Jeřábek was taken 109th overal by Lev Poprad, the expansion club that will begin play in Northern Slovakia this season. He was Lev's fourth selection. Jeřábek, who just turned 20 in May, was a mainstay on the Plzeň pro club's defence this past season, and played well enough to earn a spot in the LG Games in Sweden, playing for the Czech national team. He proved his value in the World Junior Championships in Buffalo, where he was the Czech team's captain and best player.

Přibyl was taken 17 spots later, at 126, by Severstal Cherepovets. The 18-year-old played 3 games in the Tipsport Extraliga this past season, but spent the majority of the year in the Junior Extraliga, where he recorded 58 points in 41 games, leading Sparta to first place in the standings. The junior Sparta team was knocked out in the semifinal by Karlovy Vary, but that wasn't due to a lack of production from Přibyl, who recorded 5 points in 4 games. He scored the tying goal late and assisted on the overtime winner in the quarterfinal clincher against Litvínov.  He is projected to be a middle-round pick at the 2011 NHL Entry Draft and considered a top candidate to be on next year's Czech World Junior team.

Considering his age, the higher level of competition he played this past season, and due to the fact he was chosen by the Poprad club, which is by far the closest team to home, distance-wise, Jeřábek seems like a much safer bet to make the jump straight to the KHL this upcoming season.

That sentiment was shared by the team's head coach, Czech Radim Rulík, who stated, "(Slovak Marek) Tvrdoň and Jeřábek very much want to play in the KHL, therefore there is a chance that they could appear on our team as early as next year. I think that Jeřábek could turn out to be the discovery of the year."

Week of international hockey in Europe begins Tuesday

There are a few times each season when European leagues take a week off so that players are free to represent their countries at various international events. Tuesday is the beginning of one of those week-long periods.

A total of five Czech national teams will take part at various events in various countries, the most prominent being the men's national team, who will take part in the LG Hockey Games in Stockholm, Sweden. This is the third of four Euro Hockey Tour events of the season. Currently, the Czech Republic sits in fourth place of the four-team circuit with 5 points. Russia leads with 15, followed by Sweden with 9 and Finland with 7. The tour will conclude with the Czech Hockey Games in Brno, April 21 to 24.

Jakub Jeřábek (left) battles for position with Canada's Quinton
Howden at the 2011 World Junior Championships. Photo: Rick
Stewart, Getty Images North America.

A player of note who will make his debut for the Czech men's national team is defenceman Jakub Jeřábek of Plzeň 1929. Jeřábek was the captain and best player for the Czech U20 team at the recent World Junior Championships in Buffalo, NY, and he will now get a chance at the senior level.

"(Sunday) night, manager Martin Loukota called and told me the basic information. I was taken aback. The coaches told me before that I might go to the Swedish games as an alternate, but I wasn't counting on it," said Jeřábek, upon receiving the news. "It's not only a thrill for me but also for my whole family. My parents are happy. The weekend will be a very tight fit for TV. On the phone I got a lot of text messages from friends and acquaintances."

The 23-man roster includes 12 players in the KHL, 10 in the Czech Extraliga, and 1 from Swedish Elite League.

Goaltenders: Jakub Štěpánek (St. Petersburg, KHL), Alexandr Salák (Färjestad, Sweden).

Defencemen: Petr Čáslava (CSKA Moscow, KHL), Tomáš Mojžíš (Dynamo Minsk, KHL), Ondřej Němec (Cherepovets, KHL), Martin Škoula (Omsk, KHL), Lukáš Krajíček, Martin Lojek (both Oceláři Třinec), Jakub Nakládal (Eaton Pardubice), Jakub Jeřábek (Plzeň 1929).

Forwards: Roman Červenka, Petr Vampola (both Omsk, KHL), Jan Marek (Atlant Mytishchi, KHL), Tomáš Rolinek (Magnitogorsk, KHL), Lukáš Kašpar, Jiří Novotný (both Astana, KHL), Petr Průcha (St. Petersburg, KHL), Petr Koukal (Eaton Pardubice), Ivan Rachůnek (PSG Zlín), Milan Gulaš (Mountfield České Budějovice), David Květoň, Martin Adamský (both Oceláři Třinec), Peter Jánský (Benzina Litvínov).

Coaches: Alois Hadamczik, Josef Paleček.
General Manager: Slavomír Lener
Team Manager: Martin Loukota 
Physician: Dr. Zdeněk Ziegelbauer 
Physiotherapist: Petr Janků
Video Coach: Jan Procházka
Masseur: Petr Ondráček 
Custodian: Zdeněk Šmíd
Media Manager: Jan Černý

Five games will be played at the Globe in Stockholm, while one will be played in Mytischchi, Russia. The games in Stockholm can all be seen in the Czech Republic on ČT4 Sport. Elsewhere, they can be seen online at http://www.ct24.cz/sport/. Here is the tournament schedule (all times are Central European, UTC +1):

Thursday, February 10:
19:30 Czech Republic - Swedem (Stockholm, ČT4 Sport)
20:00 Russia - Finland (Mytishchi)

Saturday, Feburary 12:
12:00 Czech Republic - Finland (Stockholm, ČT4 Sport)
16:00 Sweden - Russia (Stockholm, ČT4 Sport)

Sunday, Feburary 13:
12:00 Czech Republic - Russia (Stockholm, ČT4 Sport)
16:00 Sweden - Finland (Stockholm, ČT4 Sport)

Meanwhile, the Czech Republic will send a U19 team to compete in a five-team tournament in Mannheim, Germany. This will be the first assembly of a team of Czech-based players who hope to compete at the 2012 World Junior Championships in Calgary and Edmonton, AB. The team is being coached by national U20 coach Miroslav Přerost and includes one returning player from last year's World Junior squad, forward Petr Holík of PSG Zlín, the leading junior-age scorer in the Extraliga. The team would also surely include Dmitrij Jaškin of Slavia Praha if he weren't already competing for the U18 team.


The tournament also includes Finland, Germany, Sweden, and Switzerland. It will be played in a round-robin format which begins Tuesday and concludes Saturday.  


The aforementioned U18 team also plays in a five-team, round-robin tournament. This one runs Wednesday through Sunday and takes place at ČEZ Stadion in Hradec Králové. Two games will be held at the arena in Nový Bydžov. The Czech Republic will compete against Finland, the USA, Sweden, and Russia. Friday's game against the USA, which begins at 18:00 Central European Time (noon Eastern Time), will be televised by ČT4 Sport and will be available on the internet at http://www.ct24.cz/sport/. The rosters of all five teams will be likely similar to when they compete at the IIHF World U18 Championships in Crimmitschau and Dresden, Germany, April 14 to 24.


The U17 team will play in a four-team tournament in Moscow from Tuesday to Thursday. The same team will also compete in the European Youth Olympic Winter Festival in Liberec, February 12 to 19. Finally, the U16 team will play three games in Vierumäki, Finland from Friday to Sunday.

Slavia celebrates 110th anniversary with shootout win

Czech hockey legend Augustin Bubník acknowledges the
crowd before dropping the puck between captains Martin
Straka (left) of Plzeň and Marek Tomica of Slavia. Photo:
Pavel Vrtiška, hc-slavia.cz.

It is sometimes said that O2 Arena is too large for the needs of the Czech Extraliga, and perhaps that's true on many nights. But when a special occasion takes place, it can definitely provide the needed big-league atmosphere.

The pre-game ceremony involving Slavia stars from the past and the appearance of both teams, sporting uniforms of years gone by, gave everyone the feeling that this was a special night. And when the game got underway, the home team wasted little time in bringing the crowd to its feet.

Petr Jelínek scored for Slavia just 39 seconds after the opening face-off, but Plzeň 1929 showed that they weren't just going to be polite guests on this evening. Jakub Jeřábek set up league scoring leader Tomáš Vlasák to tie the score seven minutes later. It was the first of 3 assists on the night for Jeřábek, who was the Czech captain at the World Junior Championships, and the first of 2 goals for Vlasák.

After a scoreless second period, the teams traded 2 goals each in under 10 minutes in the first half of the third period, and then the sticks went silent again, as regulation time and then overtime finished with the score tied 3-3. After the first round of shooters finished with the shootout tied 2-2, Tomáš Svoboda came for his second attempt and scored to give Slavia the lead. Goaltender Miroslav Kopřiva then stopped Martin Straka to end the game.

Radek Duda, the Plzeň winger who has recently been in the news for his involvement in a traffic incident in Karlovy Vary last week, was notably absent from their lineup. Also missing was defenceman John Slaney of St. John's, NL, who has now missed the last 7 games with a concussion. Earlier in the year, he missed 11 games with a broken jaw.

Despite the loss, Plzeň picked up a point, and is now tied for ninth place with Energie Karlovy Vary, who lost 5-3 in Mladá Boleslav. Falling out of the playoff picture for now is Kometa Brno, who lost 5-2 on home ice to Mountfield České Budějovice. Once tied for third place, Kometa is 3-1-0-14 in its last 18 games on the 3-2-1-0 points scale. Climbing to eighth place is Benzina Litvínov, who now has 4 wins and a shootout loss in the 5 games since making a coaching change with their surprising 3-1 victory over first-place Oceláři Třinec.

Třinec now shares first with Bílí Tigři Liberec, who shut out Vagnerplast Kladno 3-0. Rounding out the night's action were two more shutouts: PSG Zlín over Sparta Praha 3-0 and Eaton Pardubice over a floundering Vítkovice Steel squad, 4-0. Once league-leaders, Vítkovice is now tied for third with Zlín, 7 points behind Třinec and Liberec.

Czechs finish 7th at WJC

Petr Holík engages in a battle along the boards
against Slovakia. Photo: hokej.cz.

The Czech Republic played its last game of the 2011 IIHF World U20 Championship on Tuesday night, beating Slovakia by a score of 5-2 to finish seventh in the tournament. They were led offensively by captain Jakub Jeřábek (2 assists), Martin Frk, and Andrej Nestrašil (each 1 goal and 1 assist). In goal, Filip Novotný stopped 19 of 21 shots for his second straight win.

Click here to see the official individual statistics, as compiled by the IIHF, for the Czech U20 team at the 2011 World Junior Championships.

Jeřábek was their leader and best player all tournament. The 19-year-old undrafted defenceman led the team offensively with 8 points (1 goal and 7 assists) in 6 games. Collectively, only 1 other point was recorded by a thin Czech defensive unit. Jerábek, who plays full time for HC Plzeň 1929 in the Czech Extraliga, made a strong case for being drafted in 2011, and suitors from the KHL may come calling as well.

Up front, the club was led by 17-year-old Frk. Frk wasn't even on the radar for inclusion on this team at the start of the season, but his strong season in Halifax garnered attention. Frk recorded 3 goals and 3 assists and, since his October birthdate means that he won't be eligible for the NHL Entry Draft until 2012, he will almost certainly return next year and be counted on as one of the team's offensive leaders. Michal Hlinka also scored 3 goals and added 1 assist, and Antonín Honejsek had 2 goals and 2 assists.

In goal, the team was definitely hurt by the absence of Petr Mrázek of the Ottawa 67's, and were forced to alternate between Extraliga backups Marek Mazanec and Novotný. While better results may have been expected, they were often getting shelled with a weak blueline in front of them. Mazanec may now face more of the same when he returns to a Plzeň team that has had goaltending and defensive woes all season.

By finishing seventh, the Czech Republic will find itself next season in a group with Canada, the USA, and Finland, with either Denmark or Latvia being the group's fifth team. Again, they will be ranked fourth in their group and facing an uphill battle to reach the quarter-finals, though it may be slightly easier than it was this year.

From this year's club, only Frk, Bohumil Jank, Petr Holík, and Rimouski Oceanic teammates Jakub Culek and Petr Straka will be eligible to return. Dmitrij Jaškin and defenceman David Musil, a pair of 17-year-olds who missed this year's tournament with injuries, are also expected to be there.

Though the Czechs ended up in the relegation round, they were represented in the gold medal game of this tournament. Příbram-native Martin Fraňo was one of the referees of the game in which Russia defeated Canada 5-3 to claim the championship. The 28-year-old Fraňo, who is a referee in the Czech Extraliga, also worked the Canada-USA semi-final. In his early twenties, he spent a year living in Minnesota and worked as a linesman in the junior A-level United States Hockey League. Jaromír Bláha, from Újezd nad Lesy, was a linesman in the tournament and worked the Finland-Russia quarter-final.

Czech U20 men barely beat Germany to avoid relegation, U18 women start 0-2

Ondřej Palát scores his first of 2 to tie the game. Photo:
Andre Ringuette / HHOF-IIHF Images.

We know for sure now that the Czech Republic will appear at next year's World Junior Championship in Calgary and Edmonton, AB. By virtue of their 3-2 win over Germany on Sunday night, they can finish no worse than eighth at this year's tournament. But they didn't make things easy on themselves.

For the first time in the tournament, the Czech team didn't score the first goal. After a scoreless first period, Germany's Norman Hauner beat Filip Novotný early in the second to open the scoring. Michal Hlinka then tied it for the Czechs on a power-play five minutes later to tie the score.

Despite going 0-4 in Group A, Germany was not blown out in any game, and they hung around in this one as well. In fact, early in the third period, Marius Mochel scored to give the Germans a 2-1 lead. As the period reached the halfway point, the score remained unchanged. Then they received some help from an unlikely source. Ondřej Palát scored his first goal of the tournament with 9:16 remaining to tie the score. Then, as overtime loomed, Palát scored again with exactly 1:00 to play in regulation time to give the Czechs the 3 points they needed to clinch a berth in next year's tournament.

The Czech Republic was once again led by captain Jakub Jeřábek in this game. The 19-year-old defenceman from Plzeň 1929 chipped in with 2 assists and has been their best player all tournament.

Had they lost Sunday, the Czech Republic would have needed a win on Tuesday against Slovakia to avoid relegation. Now the game will merely determine who finishes seventh and eighth. Last year, the teams faced an identical situation, and the Czechs won to get seventh place and the 2-3-6-7 group for this year's tournament, which turned out to be a lot stronger than the 1-4-5-8 group that Slovakia got into. Of course, being that the top six positions of this tournament haven't been determined yet, there's no way to say which is preferable at this point. The fifth teams in each group for next year will be Denmark and Latvia, to be determined randomly.

Sweden scores against the Czechs at the Women's U18
Championships in Stockholm. Photo: Matthew
Murnaghan / HHOF-IIHF Images.

The Czech women's U18 team has lost its first two games at the 2011 IIHF Women's U18 World Championship in Stockholm, Sweden, but they still have a good shot at the quarter-finals. They were blown out 11-0 by the USA in the opener on Saturday, and then lost a tight game, 3-2 to the host Swedes on Sunday. The Czechs were outshot in the game 42-28, but stayed with the Swedes thanks to the netminding of Veronika Hladíková. Kateřina Solničková gave the Czechs the lead in the first period and then, trailing 2-1 in the dying seconds of the second period, Kateřina Kaplanová scored a buzzer-beater to tie the score. Lina Backlin scored the winning goal for the Swedes at 7:26 of the third period.

Despite the loss, the close showing against one of the world's leading women's teams is a considerable accomplishment for the Czech Republic, whose women's hockey program is trying to catch up to the powers of Europe. They will play their final group game on Tuesday against Japan, with the winner clinching third place and a spot in the quarter-finals.

Russia wins on NYE and goes to quarters, Czechs to relegation round

Marek Mazanec is unable to prevent Denis Golubev from giving
Russia a 3-1 lead. Photo: Andre Ringuette, HHOF-IIHF Images.

It was a showdown on Silvestr between too old hockey rivals, Russia and the Czech Republic. It was the very last game of Group B at the 2011 World Junior Championships, and there was a lot riding on it. The winner would finish third place in the group and advance to the quarter-finals, while the loser would finish fourth and be sent to the relegation round.

From the start of the tournament, the Czech Republic knew that making the quarter-finals would be a difficult task. And though they appeared so close to advancing, in the end they were so far.

Like they had in their losses to Canada and Sweden, they got off to a quick start, with Jakub Osrava getting the first goal at the 1:53 mark. And like those other games, the wheels came off the bus not long afterward. The Russians scored four goals in under eight minutes in the first period to put the Czechs in a deep hole. After getting pulled after four goals against Sweden, goaltender Marek Mazanec was pulled again on Friday at 6:28 of the second period after allowing six goals on 16 shots. Filip Novotný stopped 11 of 13 shots the rest of the way.

The final score was 8-3, with Petr Straka and Michal Hlinka scoring the second and third goals for the Czechs. In their four group games, the Czech Republic was led in scoring by captain Jakub Jeřábek with 4 points (1 goal, 3 assists). Martin Frk, Antonín Honejsek, and Hlinka each had 3 (2 goals and 1 assist each).


Russia was led in the game by a goal and three assists from captain Vladimir Tarasenko. Dmitri Orlov, Danil Sobchenko, and Yevgeni Kuznetsov each chipped in a goal and two assists.

With the win, Russia advances to the quarter-finals, and they will play Finland on Sunday. The winner will play Sweden, the winner of Group B, on Monday. The other quarter-final, also on Sunday, will feature Canada against Switzerland, with the winner playing Monday against the USA, tournament host and winner of Group A. The bronze and gold medal games will be played Wednesday.

The next task for the Czech team is avoiding relegation. They are joined in the group by Norway, Germany, and Slovakia. The top two teams will stay in the top group and play in next year's World Junior Championship in Calgary and Edmonton, AB. The bottom two will drop to the Division 1 tournament, their spots in the top tournament to be taken by Denmark and Latvia.

The Czech Republic's 2-0 win over Norway carries over into the relegation round, as does Slovakia's 2-1 overtime victory against Germany. Therefore, the Czechs currently lead the group with 3 points, followed by Slovakia with 2, Germany with 1, and Norway with 0. The Czechs play against Germany on Sunday and against Slovakia on Tuesday. A win in at least one of those games will be enough for the Czech Republic to remain in the top group.

Czechs fall to Sweden, face all-important game vs Russia on New Year's Eve

Jakub Jeřábek tries to protect the puck against
Swedish pressure. Photo: hokej.cz.

It is said that the two powerhouses in Group B are Canada and Sweden. The performance of the Czech Republic against each team seems to bear an uncanny resemblance.

As they did against Canada, the Czechs struck early against Sweden, this time it was Milan Hlinka on a power play at 3:09. But then Sweden's Johan Larsson answered on a power-play of their own. As was the case against Canada, when they gave up a short-handed goal on a five-minute power-play, the biggest blow came when the Czechs trailed 2-1. This time, the knee-capping goal came when Jesper Fasth's seemingly harmless shot along the ice beat Marek Mazanec and Sweden took at 3-1 lead to the first intermission.

After the lead was increased to 4-1, Czech coach Miroslav Přerost made the curious move of replacing Mazanec with Filip Novotný in goal. With an all-important game against Russia coming tomorrow, it would seem that playing a rested Novotný would be the most sensible way to go if he was unhappy with Mazanec's performance. In any event, Novotný was beaten on the first shot he faced and Fasth had his second of the game to make it 5-1.

Just when all hope seemed lost, 17-year-old Martin Frk struck twice to bring the Czechs within two at the second intermission. His first was an impressive wrist shot that beat Swedish goaltender Fredrik Petersson-Wentzel to the stick side and the second was a slapshot from the point on a power-play. Both of his goals were assisted by team captain Jakub Jeřábek. Frk was thrown out of the Czechs' last game when he was penalized for spearing, and it was initially not clear if he would be able to play this game.

Eventually, it was all for naught, Sweden won 6-3, meaning they will face Canada on Friday in a showdown for first place in the group and an automatic berth in the semi-finals. As for the Czechs, they face Russia on Friday and, assuming Russia beats Noway, the game will determine which team gets third place in the group and advances to the quarter-finals and who will be sent to the relegation round. In Europe, the game will actually begin in the new year, at 1:00 CET on ČT4 Sport.

Click here to watch the Czech Republic-Sweden game in its entirety.

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

A pair of weekend tournaments open in České Budějovice

The Czech senior and junior national teams are both involved in international tournaments this weekend, and both stopped first in České Budějovice before moving elsewhere.

Thursday night, the senior national team took on Sweden in the opening game of the Karjala Cup; part of the Euro Hockey Tour. Things went well early, as first period goals from Petr Hubáček and Jakub Klepiš gave the home side a 2-1 lead. When Roman Červenka, who plays for Avangard Omsk of the KHL, made it 3-1 with a perfect wrist shot in the opening minute of the third period, it looked like the Czechs might escape with the victory despite being outshot.

But Robert Nilsson brought the Swedes to within one, despite protests from goaltender Jakub Štěpánka that he was high sticked on the play (video replays support his claim). Late in the third, the Czechs found themselves two men short and Sweden made them pay double. Mattias Ekholm tied the game on a 5-on-3 with 5:25 to play and then just 22 seconds later, with Sweden still up a man, Niklas Nordgren scored the winner.

In other Karjala Cup action Thursday, Russia blanked Finland 1-0 in Helsinki. The rest of the four-team round-robin tournament will be played in the Finnish capital on Saturday and Sunday.

The Czech U20 team took in the action from the stands on Thursday and then took to the ice Friday night against Russia in the opener of their own four-team tournament. A hat trick from Slavia Praha's Dmitrij Jaškin helped the Czechs to a 6-3 victory, with singles coming from Jakub Jeřábek, David Tůma, and Rostislav Marosz.

Like their senior counterparts, the juniors are also leaving South Bohemia after their opening game, heading to Karlovy Vary for the remainder of the tournament, which also involves Sweden and Finland.

The players on this Czech U20 team are auditioning for the team that will play in the World U20 Championships in Buffalo, NY this December and January. That squad will also include players that are currently playing in North American junior leagues.