U18 World Championship roster begins to take shape

While most Czech hockey fans have their attention focused on the Extraliga semifinals at the moment, the national U18 team gathered in Havlíčkův Brod to open a second, and more intensive, training camp in preparation for the World Championships, which they will host in Brno and Znojmo from April 12 to 22.

From a preliminary roster of 50, only 14 players were able to attend last week, as everybody else was still committed to their club teams. This week, the number is higher.

"We worked on drills for defencemen and forwards, two-on-twos, and other things," coach Jiří Veber said to hokej.cz's Vaclav Jáchim about the limited things he was able to do last week. "This Tuesday, we are up to 21."

It's unclear how many of the 21 at camp will make the final cut, but to be sure, the names that attract the most attention are still absent and may not arrive at all.

Marek Langhamer is expected to be the Czech U18
team's starting goalie in Brno. m.denik.cz.

The team's starting goaltender is expected to be Marek Langhamer, who is currently acting as the third-string goaltender on the Pardubice club that is still alive in the Extraliga playoffs. Pardubice currently leads its semifinal series 2-0 and the league finals will overlap the international tournament, but Langhamer will be allowed to join the U18 team, barring an injury to one of the two ahead of him on the depth chart.

Additionally, nine players are still active in the Junior Extraliga playoffs, but they will be over by the weekend.

While Langhamer's inclusion is a near certainty, the players who are currently involved in Canadian Hockey League playoffs are anything but that. Defencemen Petr Šidlík and Michal Plutnar and forwards Radek Faksa, Patrik Machač and Dominik Volek are all in the playoffs. If their clubs advance beyond the first round, they will not join the Czech team.

Defenceman Karel Plašíl of České Budějovice, who played in last August's Ivan Hlinka Tournament, has been out with an injured hand and is not currently in camp, but he might still return.

They will have a lot of last-minute decisions to make, but that's no different from most of the teams in the tournament, and Veber knew it coming in.

"It is what it is, I have no problem with that," he said. "We knew that we would have to prepare in the days before the start of the tournament."

On April 7, the team will play an exhibition game against the Czech U20 team in Havlíčkův Brod before heading to Brno. There, they will host Canada in a final pre-tournament game on April 9 before it gets underway on April 12. The next day, they will play their first game of the group stage against Norway.

In all, there are 50 players in consideration for the 23 spots:

Goaltenders:

Marek Langhamer (Pardubice), Patrik Polívka (Plzeň), Daniel Dolejš (Havíčkův Brod), Dominik Hrachovina (Tappara Tampere, Finland), Josef Sobotka (Liberec).

Defencemen:

Lukáš Buchta (Zlín), Tomáš Prokop, Karel Plášil (both České Budějovice), Ronald Knot (Slavia Praha), Jan Košťálek (Sparta Praha), Martin Kokeš (Litvínov), Jakub Houfek (Plzeň), Dominik Tejnor, Radek Havel (both Chomutov), Marek Bail, Adam Hawlik, Jan Štencel (all Vítkovice), Jiří Běhal (Třinec), Jan Sedlák (Kometa Brno), Libor Šulák (Tatranští vlci, MHL), Petr Šidlík (Victoriaville, QMJHL), Michal Plutnar (Tri-City, WHL).

Forwards:

Dominik Kubalík, Roman Přikryl, Jan Schleiss (all Plzeň), Jan Hudeček, Ondřej Slováček, Patrik Zdráhal (all Vítkovice), Dominik Simon, Martin Procházka, Martin Matějček (all Sparta Praha), Richard Nejezchleb (Slavia Praha), Pavel Sedláček (Zlín), Matěj Zadražil, Vojtěch Tomeček (both Karlovy Vary), Matěj Psota, Adam Dlouhý (both Liberec), Ladislav Marek (Mladá Boleslav), Tomáš Franek (Třinec), Jiří Fronk (Chomutov), Jakub Vrána (Linköping, Sweden), Eustathios Soumelidis (Vaasa, Finland), Radek Faksa (Kitchener, OHL), Patrik Machač (Brampton, OHL), Dominik Volek (Regina, WHL), Adam Chlapík (Muskegon, USHL).

Team Manager: Jakub Petr

Head Coach: Jiří Veber
Assistant Coaches: Jakub Petr, Klas Östman
Goaltending Coach: Marek Novotný
Team Doctor: Dr. Daniel Waciakowski
Equipment Manager: Jaroslav Brabec

Preliminary rosters for some other teams have already been posted at the tournament's official website, http://www.u18wc2012.cz/eng/index.asp. The full tournament schedule and ticket information is also available there.

For updates, follow the tournament's official Twitter account, @czechhockey.

Czech youth national teams gear up

Another international break is upon us in European hockey and national teams in a variety of age categories have assembled for various tune-up tournaments. Of course, the highest profile event is the Euro Hockey Tour, in which the Czech national men's team is competing, but the Czech Republic has has U19, U18, U17 and U16 teams in competitions throughout the continent.

Pardubice's Marek Langhamer will be in Finland, trying
to earn a spot in the U18 Worlds in Brno. m.denik.cz.

The U19 team is at a five-team event in Kreuzlingen, Switzerland. The tournament runs from February 8 to 12 and also includes Sweden, Finland, Switzerland and Germany. The U19 age category does not have a championship, but these teams are assembled for the purpose of getting players ready to compete for roster spots at next year's World Junior Championship, which will be held in Ufa, Russia.

Six players were part of the U18 team that finished eighth at last year's World Championship in Dresden, Germany. They include defencemen, Tomáš Kvapil, who plays in Lulea, Sweden and the Slavia Praha duo of Štěpán Jeník and Antonín Růžička, as well as forwards  Tomáš Rousek and Michal Švihálek, both of České Budějovice, and Petr Koblasa of Karlovy Vary. Rousek and Švihálek were both on the initial 40-man roster for this year's U20 team, but didn't go any farther. Of course, the most notable U19 Czech players in Europe are Tomáš Hertl and Dmitrij Jaškin of Slavia, but they are both being rested.

The U18 tournament will probably get the most attention of the junior categories because the World Championships, which will be played in Brno and Znojmo, are coming up in April. Players in that tournament in Pori, Finland will be trying to earn spots on their respective rosters for that tournament, which will be augmented by North American juniors whose teams have been eliminated from the playoffs.

The Czech roster at this event will feature many of the same names that were at the Ivan Hlinka Tournament in August, such as goaltender Marek Langhamer, defenceman Ronald Knot, and forwards Jan Hudeček, Ondřej Slováček, Martin Matejček, Pavel Sedláček, Eustathio Soumelidis and Matěj Zadražil.

In addition to the Czech Republic, Finland, Russia and Sweden, the USA will also be there, sending their National Development U18 team that will be a near rendition of the team they will send to Brno. Last year, this particular event was held in Hradec Králové, where the USA were a perfect 4-0, clinching first place with a victory over Finland on the final day. The Czechs finished fourth with a victory over Russia in the last game.

After hosting the U18s last year, Hradec Králové will host a U17 event this year, which will feature teams from the Czech Republic, Finland, Russia and Sweden from Thursday to Saturday. Like the U19 level, there is no World Championship for the U17 age group, so this tournament is mostly about working toward next year's championship. As Czech coach Luděk Bukač Jr stated, "The goal is clear and it is the U18 World Championship for next season. We are already working with this team for the second year and everything we do is just for one tournament per year. There, players must "sell" themselves to us and capitalize on what they have learned over two years. We must give them a chance to gain experience in international hockey and then hope for success in the championship."

Of the calibre of hockey that fans in Hradec Králové can expect to see in the tournament, Budač said, "Youth hockey at this level provides a better spectacle than the NHL; fans will definitely not regret coming to watch this tournament."

However, for those unable to attend games in Hradec Králové, the events of the tournament can be followed on the tournament website at hockeynews.cz/en/index.php.

As Budač stated, he is now in his second year working with his team. The U16 age group is also together, and are attending a four-team tournament in Sundsvall, Sweden.

Czech U18s fall heavily to Canada

The Czech Republic went into their Tuesday night encounter against Canada with an opportunity to clinch a spot in the semifinals, while simultaneously ending the Canadians' medal hopes. By the end of the game, the fortunes of both teams had reversed dramatically.

Canada rebounded from a dismal opening game against Sweden, outshooting the Czechs 43-14 and outscoring them 6-1. Goaltender Marek Langhamer, who was the Czech player of the game, kept the Canadians off the scoresheet for one period, but the floodgates opened in the second. 

After Morgan Reilly and Pavel Sedláček traded goals early in the second, the Canadians scored three times in a 2:09 span in the middle of the period to take control of the game. The crowd of 2,023 in Břeclav had been enthusiastic up until then, but showed not much life after the game's midpoint, much like the Czech team.

“It was the response we wanted,” said Canadian captain Mathew Dumba, who picked up a goal and an assist. “We talked last night that we’ve got to come together as a team and we got away from that a little bit yesterday. Today we played a gritty, hard game and it paid off.”

With the loss, the Czechs now need to beat the Swedes and get help to advance. Coach Jiří Veber emphasized the need to come out with a good effort. "After the game against Canada, we had a short speech to the players. The game is over, learn from it, but otherwise turn the page and get ready for the next opponent. I think we need to go into the game with the Swedes with a clear head, and that some of the players realize what is needed for success."

The Swedes go into Wednesday's game all but assured a spot in the semis after their 4-3 victory over Switzerland.  Sweden sits atop Group A with 6 points, followed by the Czechs and Canada with 3 each, while Switzerland remains pointless. By virtue of Tuesday's win, Canada holds the head-to-head tiebreaker against the Czechs, meaning that the Czechs need to earn more points than Canada on Wednesday.

The highlight game in Piešťany was between two medal contenders: USA and Russia. After dropping their opener against Finland, the game was critically important for the Americans, whose semifinal hopes would have disappeared with a loss. They won 5-4 in overtime to claim 2 points, but they could have had 3.

Down 3-1 with 13 minutes to play, the Russians struck twice in a span of 1:39 to tie the score. The Americans regained the lead when Cristoval Nieves scored with 4:46 left in regulation time, but Timur Shingaryeyev tied it for Russia with 1:44 to play. Vincent Hinostroza, with his second goal of the game, salvaged the tournament for the Americans by scoring in overtime, but they’ll still need to win their last game against Slovakia and hope Finland beats Russia.

That’s because Finland is clear to the semifinals. After opening with a 6-3 victory over the US, the Finns pounded Slovakia 10-2 on Tuesday to improve to 2-0. Teuvo Teräväinen scored 2 goals and 3 assists to increase his two-game total to 8 points, which leads all tournament scorers. In Group B, Finland leads with 6 points, followed by Russia with 4, USA with 2, and Slovakia is pointless.

All games of the 2011 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament can be followed live at eurolivescores.com.