Two Czech greats face crossroads

This April is an exciting month in Czech hockey, with the Extraliga finals, the U18 World Championships and, later, the Kajot Cup. And in this exciting month, Brno, the republic's "second city", is the centre of its hockey universe.

Fortunately, I will be spending a great deal of this month in Brno covering these events, particularly the U18 tournament, for which I am editing content in the official program, the English version of the website, Twitter, and during the tournament providing online play-by-play and game reports. Unfortunately, that leaves me little time to keep Czech Hockey Report as up-to-date as I would like,  but I will try my best to direct readers to the best sources of information in Czech hockey.

One of those sources is Velvet Hockey, created by fellow EuroHockey writer Jon Rowson. Today, he has written an article, entitled "The end of the road for two Czech greats?", about Petr Nedvěd and Martin Straka, who were both recently eliminated with their teams in the Extraliga semifinals. Respectively 40 and 38 years old, the two are both reportedly considering retirement.

For Nedvěd, for whom my memory goes back to when he was a 17-year-old Seattle Thunderbird, this is not the first time he has considered retirement. Last year, many will remember, he made similar considerations after his team was eliminated in the quarterfinals in heartbreaking fashion.

Though it seems likely we may see Nedvěd back for another season, Straka might be finished as a player. Part-owner of the team, the degree to which he has maintained the role of club general manager while playing has been admirable, especially during the messy registration scandal last season. He has shown innovation as a manager, being a pioneer of recruiting North American players into the Extraliga, and one has to think he has a lengthy career ahead of him in the front office.

Hopefully, as the futures of these two greats becomes clear, it will be the off-season and I will have more time to dedicate to their stories.

Sparta avoids disaster at home

Written for Eurohockey.com:

On Saturday night, Tipsport Arena in Prague and ČEZ Arena in Plzeň hosted the second games of Czech Extraliga quarterfinal series, with the home teams winning. For Sparta Praha, the win was much more crucial, and by much narrower a margin.

Sparta Praha 3 - 2 Kometa Brno (shootout)
(Best-of-seven series tied 1-1)

Tomáš Pöpperle stops Jakub Svoboda to end the game.
Photo: Jan Beneš, hcparta.cz.

After dropping the first game of the series, Sparta could ill afford to lose a second straight at home. They won to even the series, but barely, as it took a shootout to get the desired result.

Kometa almost pulled it off even though they were dealt a blow in the game's opening minute, when leading scorer Miroslav Holec got tangled awkwardly with Sparta's David Kočí and fell into the boards. Holec suffered an apparent shoulder injury and didn't return.

Kočí was assessed a minor penatly for holding on the play, and Sparta down two men early after Yorick Treille was sent off for tripping 1:09 later. On the two-man advantage, Jozef Kovačík opened the scoring on a one-time bullet from the point.

The score was 1-1 after one period, thanks to Dominik Pacovský's rebound goal, and 2-2 after two periods; Mario Bližňák finished off a nice three-way passing play with Petr Tenkrát and Petr Ton for Sparta and Tomáš Svoboda replied for Kometa after taking a drop pass from Jakub Svoboda (no relation).

The third period and overtime were both scoreless. Sparta had the better chances, but Jiří Trvaj made great saves off of Pacovský and later Alex Foster, whom he robbed with the glove.

"It was Troy (Milam) that gave me a nice pass from behind the net," Foster said about his chance. "It came out front right onto my stick. I tried to go top shelf with it and maybe I should have gone the other way with it, to the blocker side, but anyway the goalie made a really good save."

A nervous crowd in Prague became even moreso in the extra period when the home team had to kill off two penalties, while Brno had to kill off one. Goaltender Tomáš Pöpperle saved Sparta's bacon when he made an unbelievable pad save off of Róbert Petrovický from in close while facing the wrong way; Sparta's best chance was a three-on-one, but the puck was bouncing and they didn't get a good shot.

In the shootout, Ton's shot in the second round went off the post and in for the only goal, while Pöpperle denied all three shooters he faced. When he stopped Jakub Svoboda to end the game, the cheer that rang out from Tipsport Arena was more of a collective exhail. Disaster had been avoided.

It doesn't get any easier for Sparta, though, as they now must play their next two games at noisy Kajot Arena in Brno.

"(Kometa) are difficult to play at home because they get a big boost from their fans," Foster said of the upcoming games. "Both games we played there this year, it was pretty loud and it's probably going to be even louder in the playoffs, so we've got to take the crowd out of it. Hopefully score an early goal."

Plzeň 5 - 1 Zlín
(Plzeň leads best-of-seven series 2-0)

Martin Straka led Plzeň's offence with 3 points in game 2.
Photo: Milan Podpera, hcplzen.cz.

Though Plzeň 1929 has had fewer problems with its second-round opponent, their 5-1 victory on Saturday night was not as easy as the score indicates. The visitors from Zlín outshot the home side by a 33-28 margin, and it was the goaltending of Adam Svoboda that provided the difference.

Zlín goaltender Jakub Sedláček conceded a weak-angle shot from Ondřej Havlíček to open the scoring in the eighth minute just after his team had killed off a penalty. He made 23 saves in the game.

At the other end, Svoboda was beaten only once in the game, a puck that was actually put into the net by the skate of defenceman Jiří Marušák that was credited to Antonín Honejsek, which cut the lead to 2-1. It remained a one-goal game for half of the third period before the Indians put it away with three goals late in the third.

"I'm not going to worry about it," Svoboda said after the game to hokej.cz's Petr Naar about the miscue that led to the Zlín goal. "Zlín had plenty of other chances and I stopped the others. That's just what happens in hockey sometimes."

Captain, general manager, and part owner Martin Straka had three assists for Plzeň in the game, and Václav Pletka scored two goals: the game-winner on a two-man advantage midway through the second period and the game's final goal with only nine seconds on the clock. Nick Johnson and Jan Kovář also had two-point nights.

Like the Sparta-Kometa series, this series now shifts venues and resumes on Wednesday and Thursday. Zlín will be looking to take both games on home ice if they want to seriously entertain thoughts of winning the series. But though Plzeň is up 2-0, they know they cannot afford to rest.

"We have the lead in the series and that's what we wanted. That was our goal for the home games and we did it, so we have some satisfaction," said Svoboda. "But we have to go to Zlin as if it were still 0-0. We have to play like we did today. The home fans will drive their team, so for us it is not simple at all."

And then there were none: Czech teams swept out of RBS quarters

With three teams in the field of eight at the Red Bulls Salute, there was a decent chance of a Czech team winning the 2011 European Trophy, or at least qualifying for the finals. Instead, all three lost their quarterfinal match-ups and will now battle for fifth to eighth places. České Budějovice was blown out by Jokerit Helsinki, while Plzeň and Pardubice both lost close ones.

Pardubice goaltender Martin Růžička had a lot of traffic to deal
with in Salzburg. GEPA-Pictures, redbull.com. 

In the early game in Vienna, the South Bohemian club which plays under the corporate name Mountfield stayed close for one period. After Ben Eaves opened the scoring early for Jokerit, Jiří Šimánek tied it on a rebound after goaltender Frans Tuohimaa had stopped Pavel Kašpářik on a breakaway but was unable to freeze the puck. Less than two minutes later, however, Antti Kerälä put the Finnish club back in front to stay. Not even the goaltending of Jakub Kovář, who was kept off the Czech national team this weekend, could help his team's cause. Three goals in the first half of the second period put it away, and the game eventually finished 7-2.

In the latter two games, which ran concurrently, HC Plzeň 1929 took on Swedish club Luleå HF in Vienna and HC ČSOB Pojišťovna Pardubice played an EC Red Bull squad that was on its home ice in Salzburg.

Plzeň fell behind 1-0 in the second, then got an equalizing goal on a blast from Jan Kovář early in the third period. After killing off a late penalty, captain Martin Straka got a chance to win it on a breakaway in the dying seconds. However, the combination of chasing down the puck and trying to get his shot off in time caused him to lose his balance and the save was a relatively easy one for David Rautio. After a scoreless five-minute overtime period, the game was decided in a shootout.  Luleå's second shooter, Johan Harju, scored the only goal, one which goaltender Adam Svoboda actually re-directed into his own net. Rautio stopped all three shots he faced to vault his team into the semi-finals.

Pardubice was the Czech Republic's last chance to be represented in the tournament's final four, but they fell 2-1 to the host team. All the scoring was done in a five-minute span late in the second period. Petr Koukal scored Pardubice's lone goal, but Tyler Redenbach scored the game-winner with 1:25 to go in the middle frame. Late in the third, Martin Růžička was pulled for a sixth attacker, but the Czech visitors were unable to beat goaltender Marty Turco.

Saturday's semifinal match-ups will be Jokerit against Luleå and Salzburg against Linköpings HC, who beat fellow Swedish club Frölunda in the other quarterfinal. In placement games, Frölunda plays Pardubice in Salzburg, while Plzeň and Budějovice play each other in Vienna.

Plzeň clinches spot in Red Bull Salute, Pardubice on the verge

Two Czech teams at opposite ends of the European Trophy spectrum clashed on Wednesday night at Prague's Eden Arena. The visitors from Plzeň came into the contest with an opportunity to clinch a spot in the Red Bull Salute--an eight-team single-knockout competition that will take place in December in Austria. Host Slavia Praha, meanwhile, was way out of contention and saw the game as nothing more than preparation for the approaching Extraliga season.

Petr Sýkora. Photo: hcplzen.cz.

Plzeň led 2-1 after 40 minutes, but Vladimír Růžička Jr. tied the game in the first minute of the third period, then Tomáš Kůrka put Slavia ahead with 10:20 to play. Both goals were assisted by Petr Kadlec, who now has 5 points in seven games, which ties him for second in tournament scoring among defencemen. Petr Sýkora then tied the game with just over seven minutes on the clock, and a pair of Plzeň goals in quick succession put the game away for the visitors from West Bohemia; 5-3 was the final.

For Plzeň, the line of Jaroslav Hlinka, Ondřej Kratěna and Pavel Mrňa scored three of their goals, all at even strength. All three players are summer acquisitions for Plzeň, and all are products of the Sparta Praha organisation. "We came here to win," said Kratěna after the game. On his linemates, whom he is familiar with from their Sparta days, he said, "Jarda is the kind of player who you really can't put a price on, and Pavel is very studious, fits in well with us."

The other two were power-play markers by Sýkora, both assisted by Martin Straka. Straka, who turns 39 on Saturday, is now tied for third place in tournament scoring with 8 points.

The win means that Plzeň becomes the first team to qualify for the Red Bull Salute, as they are now 4 points clear of second-place Slovan Bratislava, who have only one game left. Third-place Mountfield České Budějovice could still catch them, as they are 5 points back but still have three games to play. With two games in hand on Slovan, Mountfield is in a good position to take the East Division's second playoff spot.

On Thursday, Mountfield will make up one of those games when they travel to Salzburg to take on Red Bull, while Bílí Tygři Liberec hosts Adler Mannheim in an important South Division match-up.

While they have not mathematically clinched a spot in the Red Bull Salute yet, HC Pojišťovna Pardubice has one all but wrapped up and can secure it on Thursday, even though they are idle. If Mannheim concedes a point to Liberec or HV71 concedes 2 at Färjestads, they're in. They just need Mannheim to get fewer than 6 points over their final two games,  HV71 to get fewer than 5 points over their final two games, or failing that pick up a single point in their last game at Plzeň on Tuesday. Any one of those scenarios will help Pardubice join Plzeň in the Elite Eight.

To that end, Liberec can aid Pardubice's hopes on Thursday with a win, but helping their countrymen is the furthest thing from their mind. Liberec only trails Mannheim by a pair of points and can leap-frog over them and into a second-place tie with HV71 with a win.

Mountfield's game in Salzburg can be seen streaming online, starting at 19:15 CET at europeantrophy.com/livesalzburg.php.

Complete tournament standings and statistics can be found here.

The tournament schedule, with live commentary on games in progress and summaries of completed games, can be found here.

4 Czech teams still in contention for European Trophy

All teams were in action on Saturday in the European Trophy, as positioning starts to become clearer. Most teams have now played six of their eight games, with the top two teams in each group advancing to the Red Bull Salute in December.

Prague's two teams did little to help their causes, each losing on home ice to cement their positions at the bottom of the North Division. At Tesla Arena, Sparta was scored on four times in the second period and fell 4-2 to visiting Jokerit Helsinki. The Finnish club was particularly dominant during a 10-minute stretch in the second where Sparta failed to register a shot on goal, and had numerous chances of their own to build up a commanding lead. Sparta came back strong in the third and scored twice, but it was too little, too late. Meanwhile, across town in Eden, Slavia and Helsinki IFK went to a shootout tied 2-2, where Mikael Granlund provided the heroics for the visitors. No stranger to providing highlight-reel goals, Granlund beat goaltender Dominik Furch with a move similar to the one used by Peter Forsberg in the 1994 Olympics to secure the victory.

Four other Czech teams in action on Saturday, however, are still in contention for positions in the Red Bull Salute, the eight-team event in Austria that will determine the winner of the European Trophy.

In České Budějovice, Jakub Kovář made 18 saves as Mountfield shut out the Vienna Capitals 4-0. The win allowed them to leap-frog over Plzeň 1929 into second place in the East Division. Plzeň picked up only a single point as they fell to visiting Slovan Bratislava 5-4 in a shootout. The home team trailed 4-1 midway through the game before scoring three in a row to force overtime. They were led in a losing cause by two goals from Radek Duda and two assists each from Martin Straka and Petr Sýkora. As Mountfield and Plzeň each have two games in hand on division-leading Slovan, they could both conceivably qualify for the Red Bull Salute.

HC Pardubice sits in top spot in the South Division with 12 points, two ahead of HV71 and three ahead of Adler Mannheim. This comes after beating rival Kometa Brno 5-4. Martin Bartek scored the game-winner with 2:07 remaining in regulation time. Pardubice and HV71 each have two games remaining, while Mannheim has three. The loss relegates Kometa to last in the division with five points.

Bílí Tygři Liberec sits in fourth place in the South with seven points, but remain in contention because they have two games in hand on most other teams. They helped their cause on Saturday night by taking two points in Linkoping, with veteran Petr Nedvěd scoring the shootout winner.

Liberec is back in action on Sunday in Oulu against Kärpät, while Plzeň, Brno and Pardubice all host Finnish clubs. The Kometa Brno-Jokerit Helsinki game can be seen at 18:00 CET on ČT4 or online at ct24.cz/sport. All games can be followed live online at europeantrophy.com/schedule.php.

Who will win the Golden Stick?

The Golden Hockey Stick (or Zlatá hokejka) is an annual award presented to the Czech hockey player who had the best season. The player can play anywhere in the world, and contributions to both his club team and the Czech national team can be taken into account. The 2011 winner will be announced on Saturday night at a special ceremony at the Grand Hotel Pupp in Karlovy Vary, beginning at 21:00 Central European Time. It will be televised on ČT1 and webcast at ceskatelevize.cz. More information can be found at zlatahokejka2011.cz.

Following last month's World Championships, a group of panelists voted on who they felt were the ten best Czech hockey players over the past season. Each panelist ranked them one to ten, with the top-ranked player getting 10 points, and the tenth-ranked player getting 1 point. The panel included all 14 Extraliga head coaches, plus coaches from the Czech national men's senior and U20 teams, retired Czech hockey players, and members of the media.

Once the top ten finalists were determined, a second round of voting was conducted, where the panel again ranked the ten remaining players. The result of that second-round vote will be revealed on Saturday.

Here are the ten finalists, listed alphabetically:

ČERVENKA, ROMAN	Avangard Omsk (KHL)
ELIÁŠ, PATRIK	New Jersey Devils (NHL)
HAVLÁT, MARTIN	Minnesota Wild (NHL)
JÁGR, JAROMÍR	Avangard Omsk (KHL)
KREJČÍ, DAVID	Boston Bruins (NHL)
PAVELEC, ONDŘEJ	Atlanta Thrashers (NHL)
PLEKANEC, TOMÁŠ	Montreal Canadiens (NHL)
STRAKA, MARTIN	HC Plzeň 1929
VOKOUN, TOMÁŠ	Florida Panthers (NHL)
ŽIDLICKÝ, MAREK	Minnesota Wild (NHL)

Of the ten finalists, seven played in the NHL, while two played in the KHL and one, Martin Straka, played at home in the Czech Extraliga. Straka, who has never won the award, would be a sentimental pick, as held the titles of President, General Manager, and team captain and had to deal with a ton of front-office headaches and still finished second in league scoring. He would be the first domestic player to win the award since Jiří Dopita in 2001.

The two KHL players, Roman Červenka and Jaromír Jágr, were linemates in Omsk. Jágr, who with nine Golden Sticks has won the award more than any other player in history, surely made his way up the voting with his performance in the World Championship, where he registered 9 points in nine games.

Jágr is one of three finalists who have won the award before. The others are the past two winners: Tomáš Vokoun and Patrik Eliáš. Like Jágr, Eliáš's presence in the Top Ten is likely aided by his World Championship performance, where he also recorded 9 points in nine games. Vokoun, on the other, hand, won the award last season based on his performance at the Worlds, but his refusal to play this season will likely prevent him from repeating. The other goaltender on the list, Ondřej Pavelec, was spectacular in goal in the Worlds, but may not have had enough of a spectacular regular season to top the voting.

Eliáš, along with Martin Havlát and David Krejčí, would seem to be the three favourites to win. The trio finished tied with 62 points to lead all Czech players in the NHL. While Eliáš and Havlát starred in the World Championship, Krejčí won the Stanley Cup as a member of the Boston Bruins and led all playoff scorers with 23 points in 25 games.

In total, 58 players received votes:

11. Tomáš Vlasák (Plzeň) 212 points, 12. Dominik Hašek (Spartak Moscow, KHL) 181, 13. Karel Rachůnek (Yaroslavl, KHL) 178, 14. Martin Růžička (Třinec) 170, 15. Milan Hejduk (Colorado, NHL), 129, 16. Jakub Štěpánek (St. Petersburg, KHL) 124, 17. Zbyněk Michálek (Pittsburgh, NHL) 108, 18. Tomáš Rolinek (Magnitogorsk, KHL) 83, 19. Milan Michálek (Ottawa, NHL) 76, 20. Tomáš Kaberle (Boston, NHL) 74, 21. Miroslav Blaťák (Ufa, KHL), 45, 22. Jakub Voráček (Columbus, NHL) 42, 23. Petr Sýkora (Davos, Switzerland) 36, 24. - 25. Michal Neuvirth (Washington, NHL) and Alexandr Salák (Färjestad, Sweden) 29, 26. Lukáš Krajíček (Třinec) 26, 27. Aleš Hemský (Edmonton, NHL) 24, 28. Petr Nedvěd (Liberec) 18, 29. Michael Frolík (Chicago, NHL) 16, 30. - 31. Jakub Kovář (České Budějovice) and Roman Málek (Vítkovice) 15, 32. Jiří Burger (Vítkovice) 14, 33. Radim Vrbata (Phoenix, NHL) 12, 34. Lukáš Kašpar (Astana, KHL) 11, 35. - 36. Roman Hamrlík (Montréal, NHL) and Jan Marek (Atlant/Yaroslavl, KHL) 10, 37. Milan Gulaš (České Budějovice) 9, 38. - 40. Petr Čajánek (St. Petersburg, KHL), Petr Hubáček (Kometa Brno) and Jiří Hudler (Detroit, NHL) 8, 41. Josef Vašíček (Yaroslavl, KHL) 7, 42. - 43. Miroslav Kopřiva (Slavia Praha) and František Ptáček (České Budějovice) 6, 44. - 45. Tomáš Duba (Zlín/Třinec) and Marek Malík (Vítkovice) 5, 46. - 48. Petr Leška (Zlín), Radek Martínek (New York Islanders, NHL) and Petr Průcha (St. Petersburg, KHL) 4, 49. - 50. Viktor Hübl (Litvínov) and Viktor Ujčík (Vítkovice) 3, 51. - 54. Jaroslav Bednář (Davos, Switzerland), Radek Bonk (Třinec), Petr Čáslava (CSKA Moscow, KHL) and Martin Růžička (Pardubice) 2, 55. - 58. Radek Duda (Chomutov/Plzeň), Jan Kovář (Plzeň), František Lukeš (Litvínov) and Ondřej Němec (Cherepovets) 1.

First awarded in 1969, the Golden Stick began essentially as an MVP award for the Czechoslovak First League, and continued to be until the administrative breakup of Czechoslovakia in 1993. At that time, due to the fact that most of the best Czech hockey players were now playing abroad, the award was changed to its present format, where all Czechs are eligible for the award, regardless of where in the world they play.

Past Winners:

1969 - Jan Suchý (D), HC Dukla Jihlava
1970 - Jan Suchý (D), HC Dukla Jihlava
1971 - František Pospíšil (D), Poldi Kladno
1972 - František Pospíšil (D), Poldi Kladno
1973 - Vladimír Martinec (RW), HC Pardubice
1974 - Jiří Holeček (G), HC Sparta Praha
1975 - Vladimír Martinec (RW), HC Pardubice
1976 - Vladimír Martinec (RW), HC Pardubice
1977 - Milan Nový (C), Poldi SONP Kladno
1978 - Ivan Hlinka (C), CHZ Litvínov
1979 - Vladimír Martinec (RW), HC Dukla Jihlava
1980 - Peter Šťastný (C), HC Slovan Bratislava
1981 - Milan Nový (C), Poldi SONP Kladno
1982 - Milan Nový (C), Poldi SONP Kladno
1983 - Vincent Lukáč (RW), VSŽ Košice
1984 - Igor Liba (LW), HC Dukla Jihlava
1985 - Jiří Králík (G), HC Gottwaldov
1986 - Vladimír Růžička (C), CHZ Litvínov
1987 - Dominik Hašek (G), Tesla Pardubice
1988 - Vladimír Růžička (C), Dukla Trenčín
1989 - Dominik Hašek (G), Tesla Pardubice
1990 - Dominik Hašek (G), Tesla Pardubice
1991 - Bedřich Ščerban (D), HC Dukla Jihlava
1992 - Róbert Švehla (D), HC Dukla Trenčín
1993 - Miloš Holaň (D), TJ Vítkovice
1994 - Roman Turek (G), HC České Budějovice
1995 - Jaromír Jágr (RW), Poldi Kladno/Bolzano/Schalker Haïe/Pittsburgh Penguins
1996 - Jaromír Jágr (RW), Pittsburgh Penguins
1997 - Dominik Hašek (G), Buffalo Sabres
1998 - Dominik Hašek (G), Buffalo Sabres
1999 - Jaromír Jágr (RW), Pittsburgh Penguins
2000 - Jaromír Jágr (RW), Pittsburgh Penguins
2001 - Jiří Dopita (C), HC Vsetín
2002 - Jaromír Jágr (RW), Washington Capitals
2003 - Milan Hejduk (RW), Colorado Avalanche
2004 - Robert Lang (C), Washington Capitals/Detroit Red Wings
2005 - Jaromír Jágr (RW), HC Rabat Kladno/Avangard Omsk
2006 - Jaromír Jágr (RW), New York Rangers
2007 - Jaromír Jágr (RW), New York Rangers
2008 - Jaromír Jágr (RW), New York Rangers
2009 - Patrik Eliáš (LW), New Jersey Devils
2010 - Tomáš Vokoun (G), Florida Panthers

Most wins:

9 - Jaromír Jágr
5 - Dominik Hašek
4 - Vladimír Martinec
3 - Milan Nový

2 - Jan Suchý

2 - František Pospíšil

2 - Vladimír Růžička

Jágr to return to Kladno?

Jágr playing for Kladno during the
2004-05 season. Photo: t0.gstatic.com.

According to his father, Jaromír Jágr will return to his hometown where he will manage and play for the local Extraliga club, Vagnerplast Kladno.

Jaromír Jágr Sr., who is the president of the Kladno club, said that last summer his son promised to return to home to play for the team and take over for his father within two years. After this season, his contract with KHL club Avangard Omsk expires.

"We're going to do it, after the season is finished," the elder Jágr told newspaper Mladá Fronta Dnes, "Jaromir knows about it. I'm 70, it's not fun."

Not everyone is convinced it will happen, however. Martin Straka, who co-owns, manages, and plays for HC Plzeň 1929 commented, "It would be great if such a person came into the league. But I think it is still science fiction."


Jágr, who turns 39 on Tuesday, played for Kladno before entering the NHL as an 18 year old in 1990, and also played with them briefly during the labour stoppages of 1994-95 and 2004-05. He has played in the KHL since 2008.

Vagnerplast Kladno currently sits in 13th place in the 14-team Extraliga. With 3 games remaining on the schedule, they lead last place BK Mladá Boleslav by 5 points, meaning it's likely, but not guaranteed, that they will avoid a play-out series, which could relegate them to the First League.

Slavia to celebrate 110th anniversary Tuesday

HC Slavia Praha, circa 1901. Photo: hc-slavia.cz.

Founded in 1901, HC Slavia Praha is celebrating its 110th anniversary in 2011, and as part of the celebrations have announced that they will don retro sweaters from the start of the 20th century at Tuesday's home game against HC Plzeň 1929. For their part, Plzeň will wear sweaters from the 1950s.

The festivities will include a pre-game ceremonial face-off performed by Czech hockey legend Augustin Bubník. Bubník was a member of Czechoslovakia's 1948 Olympic silver medal-winning team and their 1949 World Championship team. After spending five years in jail for an alleged plot to defect, he became the first Czech to coach abroad, leading Finland internationally from 1966 to 1969 and the Netherlands in 1980 and 1981.

"One hundred and ten years as a club, it's a wonderful thing, so we decided to take this opportunity to hold this event," said Slavia coach and general manager Vladimír Růžička on the club's website. "Who else would we choose to play other than the oldest club in the league (Plzeň)? I'm very glad that this match-up can take place. We originally wanted to play it on January 6, when it was exactly one hundred and ten years after the first match, but we had to thoroughly discuss with sponsors. Now, additionally, we play an attractive opponent."

Plzeň's retro sweaters and socks. Photo: hcplzen.cz.

"Many of our biggest fans still wear retro jerseys to cheer us on at home and away games," said Plzeň's captain and general manager, Martin Straka. "They know the tradition well. After all, these jerseys are an important piece of our successful history and present. And they are beautiful." 

After the game, the sweaters will be autographed by the players and then auctioned off, with the proceeds going to charity.  


Beyond the festivities, the game is also a big one. With only six games to play, each team is battling for playoff positions. Slavia currently sits in seventh place with 71 points, 2 back of Mountfield České Budějovice and 3 behind Eaton Pardubice. They are aiming at a birth in the top six, which would mean a bye past the first round into the quarter-finals.


Just behind Slavia in the standings is a group of four teams that are battling for the final three playoff spots. They are Energie Karlovy Vary with 66 and a then a three-way tie between Plzeň, Kometa Brno and Benzina Litvínov with 65 each. 

Playoff positions continue to change, Straka feels the pressure on and off the ice

Since the last full slate of Extraliga action took place on Sunday, only two games have taken place, but each have had an effect on who will be in the playoffs.

Litvínov has won 2 in a row since the coaching change.

Photo: Jan Beneš, www.sporting-photo.com.

On Tuesday night, Sparta Praha hosted Benzina Litvínov in a game in which the two teams made up the game in hand they had on the rest of the league. The game was originally scheduled to be played in late December, but was moved to accommodate Sparta's participation in the Spengler Cup.

The game in hand was especially important for Litvínov, as they could use it to get themselves back into the top 10. They continued the mini-roll they've been on since Vladimír Kýhos took over as coach, winning 4-1 to move into a ninth-place tie with Energie Karlovy Vary, 2 points ahead of Plzeň 1929.

Langley, BC's John Lammers (right) gives Plzeň a 2-0 lead.
Photo: Milan Podpera, hcplzen.cz.

Plzeň took to the ice at home on Thursday night against Vítkovice Steel. Though they've been at or near the top of the standings all season, Vítkovice has been in a bit of a slump of late, and went into the game 6 points out of first place.

After a scoreless first period, Plzeň took control of the game in the second, scoring twice. First was a strike by the club's top scorers, as Radek Duda scored on a setup by Martin Straka and Tomáš Vlasák. For Straka, it ended a 4-game scoring draught.  Next was a goal created by the North American combo of Nick Johnson and John Lammers. Johnson took the puck hard to the net, but was denied by goaltender Roman Málek. However, Lammers was waiting on the doorstep and stuffed home the rebound to give the home side a 2-0 lead. Defenceman Nick St. Pierre of St-Étienne, QC was a third North American on the ice at the time of the goal. Vítkovice cut the lead to 2-1 midway through the third period, but Vlasák scored an empty-netter, assisted by Straka and Duda, to makde it a 3-1 final.

The win temporarily put Plzeň into an 8th-place tie with Kometa Brno, one point above Karlovy Vary and Litvínov.

 After the game, Plzeň captain and general manager Martin Straka appeared relieved. Not only had he bumped a 4-game slump with 2 points, but the game came the day after the APK vote in Špindlerův Mlýn when Jan Svoboda voted on behalf of the Plzeň club to withdraw the club's objection to the points deduction. According to Straka, he wasn't even aware the vote was going to take place.

"I do not want to lie, it was complicated, and I didn't sleep the best," he answered, when asked about how ready he was for the game after the off-ice troubles.  

"I had no indication that this would happen. Unfortunately, it happened. Even while it was happening I was given no explanation. We were taking a position for something, for something we have struggled hard for and at one point it changed and we all look like fools. I agreed to meet with Mr. Svoboda so he could explain to me what happened there. The withdrawal was his initiative. He saw that I was very unhappy, as were all people around the club."

Svoboda then resigned from his position with the club.


The stage is set for a wild evening of hockey Friday evening, in which the standings are expected to change some more. Most of the six games being played can be followed at tv.hokej.cz, while Kometa Brno-Sparta Praha can be seen live on ČT4 18:40 CET.

Litvínov extends lead before break

On the last day of action before the Extraliga takes an eight-day break for the Channel One Cup in Moscow, there was a big game at ČEZ Arena in Plzeň between 10th-place Benzina Litvínov and 11th-place Plzeň 1929.

Heading into the game, Jiří Šlegr's Litvínov club held a 10-point advantage for the 10th and final playoff spot, which Plzeň could have reduced to seven with a regulation victory, which is worth three points. The home side was six minutes away from getting the result they wanted, but couldn't hold on and ended up losing in a shootout, which allows Litvínov to increase its lead to 11.

Litvínov was leading late in the second period, when Radek Duda tied the score. Windsor CT's Nick Johnson was screening in front and it appears that he may have tipped the shot, though no official change has been made. On a third-period power play, Martin Straka scored on a rebound to give Plzeň a 3-2 lead, and it appeared the night might turn out their way, but the league's worst defensive team couldn't hold on, and the game ended up going to overtime and then a shootout.

Petr Franěk entered the Litvínov goal and stopped Plzeň's Tomáš
Vlasák to end the game. Photo: Milan Podpera, hcplzen.cz.

Martin Jenáček scored the go-ahead goal in the third round of the shootout, and then Petr Franěk replaced Jaroslav Hübl in the Litvínov goal to face the last shooter. Franěk stopped the only shot he faced, against league-leading scorer Tomáš Vlasák, to preserve the victory for visiting Litvínov.

There are actually now two teams between ninth-place Litvínov and 12th-place Plzeň. With the two points, Litvínov overtook Slavia Praha, who were routed 7-1 in Vítkovice. 

As well,  Sparta Praha went into Třinec and pulled off a huge upset, winning 5-1 against the first-place club. Radek Smoleňak scored twice for Sparta, while Tomáš Kůrka tallied a goal and an assist. 

Ocelaři Třinec and Vítkovice are now tied for first with 58 points each, both teams having played 31 games. Four points back of the leaders, Bílí Tigři Liberec and Kometa Brno are tied for third with 54 points. Liberec went into Pardubice and won 3-2 in overtime, with Martin Čakajík scoring only two seconds before time expired. Meanwhile, Brno lost 4-2 on home ice to Energie Karlovy Vary. 

Other scores:

Vagnerplast Kladno 4-0 Mountfield České Budějovice
BK Mladá Boleslav 0-2 PSG Zlín

Newfoundland's Slaney and O'Brien face off in Prague

What difference does five and a half weeks make?

The last time Plzeň 1929 visited Sparta Praha, back on October 29, Sparta won 3-0 to leap over Plzeň in the standings. On Tuesday night, Sparta prevailed 4-3 and they again jumped ahead of their West Bohemian opponents in the standings. That doesn't seem odd until you consider that Plzeň was stripped of 19 points in the interim.

After that October 29 game, Sparta went 1-1-0-10 (on the 3-2-1-0 points scale) in its next 12 games to plunge into 12th place in the 14-team league. Since then, they've won two in a row, including Tuesday's game, to climb back up one notch to 11th. The team's struggles reflected in the crowd, with only 3,318 in attendance.

On the other side was Plzeň 1929. Between the October 29 and December 7 games at Sparta, they posted a record of 8-1-1-2, and would now find themselves in sixth place, if not for the 19 points they were penalized for dressing improperly-registered players. A serious blow, to be sure, but it hasn't seemed to have negatively affected their play.

"We get told a little bit about it," said John Lammers of Langley, BC. "All we know is we lost 19 points and we've just got to forget about it and play hard."

Plzeň was led offensively by the line of Nick Johnson, Radek Duda, and Martin Straka, which scored all three of the team's goals. Straka scored twice in the first period, including a power-play marker on a slapshot with four seconds left in the period to send the visitors to the room with a 2-1 lead.

Straka also showed he still has wheels at age 38 when he beat Petr Ton in a race for the puck in the second period to prevent Ton from getting a breakaway. Moments later, Sparta's Yorick Treille (a Frenchman who played Junior A hockey in Saskatchewan for the Notre Dame Hounds and NCAA hockey for UMass-Lowell) did get a breakaway and was hauled down by Jaroslav Modrý, resulting in a penalty shot. Treille made good on the attempt to tie the score.

Nick Johnson ties the score in the third period. Photo
courtesy Jan Beneš, www.sporting-photo.com.

With Sparta leading 3-2 with under 8:00 to play in the game, Windsor, CT's Johnson bunted home an airborne puck on a wild scramble to tie the score, but just 31 seconds later, Tomáš Kůrka scored the winning goal for Sparta on a stoppable-looking shot that goaltender Petr Přikryl was visibly upset with. It spoiled an otherwise fine performance by Přikryl, who made the save of the night in the second period when he stoned Radek Smoleňak with a toe save from point-blank range.

Karel Hromas and Marek Bartánus also scored for Sparta on the night. The last time these teams met, Tomáš Pöpperle recorded a shutout against his former team. Despite allowing 3 goals this time, he picked up the win, thanks to some rare goal support from his team.

Doug O'Brien and game-winning-goal scorer Tomáš Kůrka.
Photo courtesy Ladislav Adámek, www.getfoto.cz.

"Scoring a few goals, which is a good thing," said St. John's, NL's Doug O'Brien, explaining the biggest reason why the team's managed to win two in a row. "We've had trouble scoring goals lately. But two wins, that's the main thing. We want to get some wins under our belt and start climbing in the standings. We're working hard. In practice we've been working hard and it's shown the last two games."

John Slaney (left) trying to keep Petr Kafka in check.
Photo courtesy Jan Beneš, www.sporting-photo.com.

O'Brien wasn't the only Newfoundlander in the game. On Plzeň's blueline was John Slaney, also from St. John's. Slaney was immortalized in Canadian hockey history when he scored the game-winning goal against the Soviet Union to clinch the gold medal for Canada at the 1991 World Junior Championships. For O'Brien, who is 12 years Slaney's junior, he is definitely somebody to look up to.

"He's a legend, I think. Everybody looks up to him. He's played, what, about 20 years? Everybody knows him, for sure."

Slaney played the game with a low shield to protect the recently healed broken jaw that kept him out of the lineup for 11 games, though surprisingly not longer.

"(I returned) about three weeks early," he said after the game, "It's nice to get back and help the team. Tough loss tonight but lately things have gone better."

Sparta is now in 11th place with 33 points, 7 behind Benzina Litvínov, who currently occupy the 10th and final playoff position. Plzeň is three points behind Sparta, but have two games in hand.

Plzeň and Boleslav appeal points deductions

As expected, HC Plzeň 1929 and BK Mladá Boleslav have both submitted formal appeals of the decision to strip them of points for using players that had been improperly registered.

Plzeň was the first to file an appeal, on Thursday, with Mladá Boleslav following suit on Friday. The other penalised club, HC Vagnerplast Kladno, has said that it will not appeal. The deadline for filing is Saturday.

Two weeks ago, Stanislav Šulc, who is the Director of the Association of Professional Clubs (APK), ruled that the three clubs would lose all points they earned in games that the improperly registered players participated in. Mladá Boleslav lost 22 points, Plzeň 19, and Kladno 8. The APK is composed of the 14 member clubs of the Tipsport Extraliga, and is given authority to govern the league by the Czech Ice Hockey Association (ČSLH).

"There are many points of contention, but at this point we do not want to release the details. In fairness, the appeal board or the league director should be notified first," Tomáš Tesař, the lawyer speaking on behalf of the Plzeň club, told www.idnes.cz on Thursday.

At a press conference on Friday, Mladá Boleslav attorney Jan Tůma was more forthcoming.

"After considering all the circumstances, we have decided to appeal. Mr. Šulc has been notified," he said. While the club acknowledges the registration errors, they feel that such a strong penalty is not warranted for a clerical oversight that they did not benefit from. Furthermore, Tůma believes that Šulc does not have the authority to make such a ruling. 


"There are several reasons for the appeal. We affirm, and we have a strong case that Mr. Šulc isn't authorized to make such decisions. Such things are for the general meeting of the Association of Professional Clubs. In our opinion, APK Director Stanislav Šulc handing the case is in violation of applicable rules of the APK and the Czech Ice Hockey Association. In league history, there have been a number of cases that were similar, and in these cases the guilty clubs were never given such a high penalty."

At the time of Šulc's ruling, Martin Straka and Cyril Suk, the General Managers for the two clubs, indicated that they planned to appeal.


The case will now move into the hands of an independent appeals board.

Scott Barney arrives in Boleslav

Scott Barney playing for SaiPa
Lappeenranta of the Finnish SM-liiga.
Photo courtesy Tuomas Vitikainen.

Less than a week after parting with Duncan Milroy, Mladá Boleslav has acquired another Canadian forward. Scott Barney of Oshawa, ON has joined the team.

Barney, 31, can play both centre and right wing. He started the season with SaiPa of the Finnish SM-Liiga, where he registered 9 goals and 9 assists in 21 games. He was released from the team after being arrested for drunk driving.

Barney played junior hockey for the Peterborough Petes and was drafted by the Los Angeles Kings in 1997. He's played 27 games in the NHL for the Kings and Atlanta Thrashers, and has also spent time in the AHL and in Germany.

BK Mladá Boleslav took to the ice at home on Sunday, without Barney, against HC Plzeň 1929.

Boleslav led 3-1 late in the second, but gave up a goal to Martin Straka in the last minute of the middle frame to bring the Indians within one. Straka then set up Jan Kovář to tie the score in the first minute of the third, and then Plzeň struck three times in a five-minute span in the middle part of the frame to take over the game. Straka finished with 4 points and John Lammers of Langley, BC assisted on the go-ahead marker as Plzeň won 7-4.

With the 3 points, Plzeň now has 19 points, 10 back of Slavia Praha for the tenth and final playoff spot. Mladá Boleslav remains last in the league with 9. Both teams had occupied playoff positions before Friday's ruling stripped them of 19 and 22 points, respectively, for using improperly registered players.

Other results:

PSG Zlín 2-3 Vítkovice Steel
Kometa Brno 3-2 Eaton Pardubice
Vagnerplast Kladno 3-1 Slavia Praha
BENZINA Litvínov 0-2 Energie Karlovy Vary
Ocelář Třinec 3-4 Bílí Tigři Liberec (SO)
Sparta Praha 3-4 Mountfield České Budějovice

Slaney, Straka return and contribute to Plzeň win

Just hours after the announcement by APK Director Stanislav Šulc that three teams in the Tipsport Extraliga would be stripped of points for using improperly registered players, two of those teams faced off against each other at ČEZ Arena in Plzeň.

HC Plzeň 1929 took to the ice against HC Vagnerplast Kladno in a match-up between two teams that face an uphill climb to make the playoffs in light of recent events. Of the two teams, Plzeň would have to be considered much more likely to make it, and their road back would be aided by the return of two of their best players.

After missing 11 games with a broken jaw, John Slaney of St. John's, NL made his return to the lineup and scored in the game's third minute on a shot from the slot to give the home side the early lead. Before getting hurt, Slaney had 6 points in 10 games, and was the team's leading scorer among defencemen.

Slaney wasn't the only player returning to the Plzeň lineup, as team captain and General Manager Martin Straka got back into the action only a week after undergoing knee surgery. He played on a line with the North American duo of John Lammers and Nick Johnson and, with the game tied at 2 late in the second period, the trio delivered the game-winning goal thanks to hard work in front of the net that has become the trademark of the Lammers-Johnson combo.

Despite the fact that Plzeň 1929 earned their 12th win of the season, a total that was not affected by the recent ruling, they now have only 16 points and sit in 12th place; 9 behind Sparta Praha and 13 behind Slavia Praha for the 10th and final playoff spot.

Other results from Friday:

PSG Zlín 5-3 HC Mountfield České Budějovice
HC Benzina Litvínov 2-1 HC Sparta Praha
HC Energie Karlovy Vary 3-2 HC Ocelří Třínec (SO)
HC Kometa Brno 3-2 HC Vítkovice Steel
HC Slavia Praha 5-4 HC Eaton Pardubice (SO)

And from Thursday:

Bílí Tigři Liberec 0-6 BK Mladá Boleslav

Note that, in European sports, the home team is typically listed first in results.

The league rules: 3 teams lose points for illegal players

On Friday afternoon, APK Director Stanislav Šulc made a much anticipated ruling regarding the use of improperly registered players: BK Mladá Boleslav, HC Plzeň 1929, and HC Vagnerplast Kladno lose 22, 19, and 6 points in the standings, respectively. All other statistics (wins, goals, et cetera) and the point totals of other teams remain unchanged.

This means that Plzeň drops from seventh place to 12th and Mladá Boleslav from ninth to 14th and last, while Kladno actually climbs out of the basement and into 13th place, one point ahead of Boleslav. The top 10 teams qualify for the playoffs.

The saga began November 2, when news of improprieties in the registration of certain players first came out. The APK soon revealed that Boleslav's Jiří Marušák and Tomáš Divíšek, Plzeň's Petr Přikryl and Tomáš Frolo, and Kladno's Jindřich Kotrla had not been registered properly with the Czech Ice Hockey Association.

At the time, Šulc stated that he saw no possible solution other than forfeiture of the affected matches in which these players participated. Mladá Boleslav and Plzeň requested a period of 10 days to find another solution, but today's ruling should have come as no surprise to anybody.

The affected games were not ruled to be complete forfeits, in that the opposing teams do not gain any points and all statistical information pertaining to the matches remains unchanged. In explaining his ruling, Šulc reasoned, "Although it affects the culprits and punishes them, it has the least affect on the rest of the competition."

The Plzeň and Boleslav clubs have fought this process from the beginning, and indications are that they don't intend to give up now.

On his club's website, www.hcplzen.cz, team captain and General Manager Martin Straka asked fans not to overreact to this ruling and to leave it to the team's management to deal with this situation. He went on to say, "This is just a different interpretation of standards and the club is determined to defend our interpretation by all legal means."

Meanwhile, at www.bkboleslav.cz, Mladá Boleslav General Manager Cyril Suk states, "As a club, we disagree with the verdict. We think that this decision does not comply with the regulations of the hockey league. Now, we will consider further steps to proceed."