5 Nations Cup opens in Hradec Králové

The five-team international tune-up for the World U18 Championships began on Tuesday with a pair of games, one in Hradec Králové and one in Nový Bydžov.

Tomáš Hertl. Photo: mojekarty.shop5.cz.

 The host Czechs took on Finland at the tournament's main venue, Hradec Králové's ČEZ Stadion, and it was the visitors that struck twice early, Kalle Kossila and Miro Altonen. Late in the first, Tomáš Rousek got one back for the Czechs. Two more Finnish goals in the second by Markus Granlund and Heikki Liedes widened their lead to 4-1, and it stayed that way until the dying minutes of the game, when Tomáš Moravec scored with goaltender Jaroslav Pavelka on the bench to make it a 4-2 final. Tomáš Hertl assisted on both Czech goals. Altonen led Finland with a goal and an assist. Pavelka and Sasmu Pehronen each made 19 saves in goal for their respective teams.

Rocco Grimaldi. Photo: USHL images.

In Nový Bydžov, which is 30 kilometres west of Hradec, the United States spanked Sweden 6-2. The Americans were led by captain Rocco Grimaldi's 3 goals and 1 assist, 3 assists from Reid Boucher, and 2 assists from Robbie Russo. They also got single goals from Adam Reid, Blake Pietila, and J.T. Miller. Sweden got a goal and an assist from Jonas Brodin and a goal from Rotevall Boyce.

On Thursday, the Czechs are idle. Russia plays its first game of the tournament against the USA in Hradec Králové, while Sweden takes on Finland in Nový Bydžov.

Elsewhere, there was U17 action in Moscow. The Czech Republic fell to Sweden 4-3 in a shootout, followed by host Russia's 4-3 comeback victory over Finland. It was the second time in as many days the Czechs fell in a shootout, as they lost by a 3-2 score to Russia on Tuesday. Finland beat Sweden 5-4 in a shootout the same day. On Thursday, the tournament's final day, the Czechs play Finland and Russia plays Sweden. Russia leads with 5 points, followed by Sweden with 3, and Finland and the Czechs with 2 each.

In Mannheim, Germany, the Czech U19 team is 2-0. They opened on Tuesday with a 3-2 win over Finland, getting goals from Adam Řehák, Jaromír Kverka, and Tomáš Fořt. On Wednesday, they were led by 2 goals from Michal Vachovec in a 4-1 victory over the host Germans. Filip Pavlík and Jan Müller also scored for the Czechs.

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.

Třinec shuts out Liberec in first-place showdown

As the Extraliga schedule winds down, some of the games start to take added significance as the teams jockey for playoff positioning. Going into action Sunday, all teams had 4 games remaining. All 14 clubs were in action, and the full slate was headlined by a match-up between two North Bohemian rivals tied for first.

Třinec's Bryan McGregor of Niagra Falls, ON gets ready for a
faceoff against Liberec on Sunday. Photo: Marian Ježowicz,
hcocelari.cz.

On the day that the Pittsburgh Steelers lost the Super Bowl, another team using the Steelers name was trying to move into first place in the Czech Extraliga. While Oceláři (Steelers) Třinec has been battling for top spot all season, this was Liberec's first opportunity to move into sole possession of first place in the standings. They went into Třinec and out shot the home side 39-32. Unfortunately for the visitors, Peter Hamrlík stopped all 39 shots he faced for his fifth shutout of the season, while Tomáš Vošvrda only stopped 27 in the Liberec goal and Třinec skated away with a 5-0 victory. Oceláři was led offensively by the line of David Květon, Vojtěch Polák, and Jiří Polanský, who each contributed 1 goal and 2 assists.

In East Moravia, PSG Zlín hosted Vítkovice Steel in a battle for third and fourth places. Vítkovice was coming off an impressive victory over Kometa Brno on Friday, but they couldn't duplicate their performance in Zlín, falling 5-1. The home team was led by 3 points from Petr Leška.

Mountfield Česke Budějovice and Eaton Pardubice were both winners on the road, and remain tied for fifth. Mountfield went into Prague and spotted Sparta a 3-0 lead in the first period before rallying for a 5-3 win. Pacing their offence was Milan Gulaš with 4 points and Tomáš Mertl with 3. Pardubice won 4-1 in Brno, as Kometa's chase for a playoff spot takes another beating. Kometa scored first, but Holyoke, MA's Adam Pineault ignited a run of 4 unanswered goals for Pardubice.

Energie Karlovy Vary did their playoff chances a favour, winning 3-2 in Litvínov. They now have a 4-point cushion over Brno and trail Litvínov and Plzeň by 2. Plzeň won 4-2 in Mladá Boleslav, who remain in last place.

Finally, Slavia Praha and Vagnerplast Kladno were tied 2-2 late in the third period and then traded goals in the last two minutes of regulation time to go to overtime tied at 3. Slavia won in a shootout, but lost a bit of ground on České Budějovice and Pardubice in the elusive chase for a top-6 position. With the single point, Kladno opens up a 5-point lead on Boleslav in hopes of avoiding a relegation series with the First League champion.

Sunday was the last day of action for the league until Tuesday, February 15, as they take a break for the LG Hockey Games in Stockholm, Sweden, the third of four tournaments in the 2010-11 Euro Hockey Tour. Czech national U19, U18, U17, and U16 teams will also play in tournaments during the break.

Until the resumption of play, here are the standings, with 3 games remaining for each team:

	Club	GP	GF:GA	Pts
1.	HC Oceláři Třinec	49	169:129	93
2.	Bílí Tygři Liberec	49	149:130	90
3.	PSG Zlín	49	153:128	85
4.	HC Vítkovice Steel	49	150:130	83
5.	HC Mountfield České Budějovice	49	149:123	80
6.	HC Eaton Pardubice	49	135:120	80
7.	HC Slavia Praha	49	133:128	78
8.	HC Plzeň 1929	49	148:140	71
9.	HC Benzina Litvínov	49	122:151	71
10.	HC Energie Karlovy Vary	49	148:147	69
11.	HC Kometa Brno	49	123:136	65
12.	HC Sparta Praha	49	108:135	52
13.	HC Vagnerplast Kladno	49	98:155	35
14.	BK Mladá Boleslav	49	121:154	30

Duda returns to 1st League, gets 2 points

On Thursday, Radek Duda spoke to police in Karlovy Vary for the first time since he was involved in an incident with his car and a pedestrian last Tuesday. According to reports at KLH Chomutov's website, Duda's version of the events is "fundamentally different from information in the media," according to club president Jaroslav Veverka. It's not clear at this point the content of his statement, nor how the case will proceed. According to comments made by Duda's father, Duda acted angrily because the pedestrian had kicked his car.

Radek Duda. Photo: Zdeněk Špinka, klhchomutov.cz.

After 25 games in the Extraliga playing for Plzeň 1929, Duda returned to the First League club with whom he started the season, taking to the ice on the road against Berounští Medvědi (Beroun Bears) on Saturday.

Trailing 2-1 after two periods, Duda tied the score for Chomutov forty seconds into the third period, deflecting Tomáš Slovák's shot past goaltender Dominik Furch. Nine minutes later, Duda assisted on David Hruška's eventual game-winner.

Earlier this year, Duda recorded 18 points in 17 games for Chomutov, before being loaned to Plzeň 1929 in November. There, he recorded 29 points in 25 games. He will now try to help Chomutov win the First League championship and battle for a spot in the Extraliga for next season.

With the win, Chomutov has 85 points, with 2 games remaining on the schedule. They are second place and can't drop down, but could possibly still claim top spot if they win both games and Slovan Ústečtí Lvi loses its lone remaining game. Either way, they have clinched a spot in the semi-finals, where they will play either Dukla Jihlava or Olomouc.

The winner of the First League playoffs will play a best-of-seven series against the last place team from the Extraliga, with the winner playing in the Extraliga next season and the loser in the First League. The last place team in the Extraliga will be either BK Mladá Boleslav or Vagnerplast Kladno.

Vítkovice celebrates 30th anniversary of championship with shutout win

Just two days after Slavia Praha and Plzeň 1929 entertained Extraliga fans with throwback uniforms to commemorate Slavia's 110th anniversary, HC Vítkovice Steel donned retro garb for a special occasion as well. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of their 1980-81 championship of the Czechoslovakian Elite League, the Vítkovice squad wore replica jerseys of what the team wore that championship season, and the team responded by playing like they did that year. 

Jiří Burger (captain) celebrates his second of 2 second-period
goals in Vítkovice Steel's convincing 5-0 win over Kometa Brno.
Photo: Petr Kotala, hc-vitkovice.cz.

Before Friday night's game against Kometa Brno began, the 1981 championship team was introduced to the crowd, among them former NHLers František Černík and Miroslav Fryčer. Once the game began, the home side began the utter domination of their slumping opponents, led by their captain.

After Peter Húževka gave Vítkovice a 1-0 lead in the first period, captain Jiří Burger scored twice in the second and assisted on two more third period goals to cap a convincing 5-0 victory over the bewildered visitors from Brno. Roman Málek made 30 saves for the shutout.

With the number of games left on the schedule dwindling, this was an important game for Kometa to get back in the playoff race, but they were unfortunate to run into an opponent tonight that brought its "A" game. For Vítkovice, the win was big, as they had been struggling themselves. Not long ago in first place, they were 2-1-0-6 in their last 9 on the 3-2-1-0 points scale, heading into Friday night's game, and needed a win to right their ship as the playoffs approach.

"I was afraid of this game, because Brno is playing for everything," said Burger afterward, "but we did what we set out to do: we gave it everything. We went hard to the net, we battled and we turned the game in our favour. We won; even got a shutout. The 5-0 score says everything." 


With the loss, Kometa remains on the outside, looking in on the playoff picture. They remain a single point behind 10th-place Energie Karlovy Vary. As for Vítkovice, the win kept them 7 points within Oceláři Třinec and Bílí Tigři Liberec, who both won this round. They now sit in third place, one ahead of PSG Zlín, who beat Mountfield České Budějovice 2-1 in a shootout.

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.

Plzeň's Duda a hit-and-run suspect

Radek Duda (left) playing against Eaton Pardubice on Sunday.
Photo: Milan Podpera, hcplzen.cz.

Radek Duda, a left winger for HC Plzeň 1929, seems to have gotten himself into some hot water with the law.

Several Czech media outlets, including iDNES.cz, are reporting that a car matching the description of Duda's black BMW was involved in an incident at a crosswalk in Karlovy Vary last Tuesday. After nearly striking a 63-year-old pedestrian with the car, the driver, who is said to also match Duda's description, allegedly got out of the car and began yelling at the man, before physically attacking him. When confronted by a crowd of people, the driver allegedly returned to his vehicle and drove away.

"Radek Duda is a supect," said a high-ranking policeman from Karlovy Vary, who didn't want to identify himself. The driver in this incident could face up to three years in prison, if convicted.

This isn't the first time that Duda's temper behind the wheel has caused legal trouble for him. In 2008, Duda was found guitly of assaulting another driver in České Budějovice. That incident hasted his departure from that club, and he had played in the First League for KLH Chomutov before being acquired by Plzeň in November.

Previously, while playing for Slavia Praha in 2006, Duda attacked and injured a teenaged fan in Vsetín who threw snowballs at the Slavia team bus. That was also Duda's last season with Slavia.

It's not known whether Duda will dress for Tuesday night's game at Slavia, nor how this will affect his future with the team. Certainly, however, this is an untimely incident, given the fact that he has scored 16 goals and 13 assists in 25 games since joining Plzeň. On Sunday, he scored the game-winning goal against Eaton Pardubice with less than 4 minutes to play in regulation time.

Duda, who, turned 32 on Friday, played in the Western Hockey League for the Regina Pats and Lethbridge Hurricanes between 1998 and 2000. In his season in Lethbridge, he recorded 42 goals and 64 assists for 106 points in 69 games. He also racked up 193 penalty minutes.

He was a seventh-round pick of the Calgary Flames in 1998, though he never played in the NHL or any North American pro league. Besides the Czech Republic, Duda has also played professionally in Austria, Russia, Sweden, Finland, and Switzerland.