August hockey heats up

Although I'm away from the Czech Republic for the month of August, the world of hockey continues on. Perhaps the most significant thing I've missed in my absence is the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament. In 2011, I attended every game played in Břeclav, covering it for Czech Hockey Report as well as Eurohockey.com.

In 2012, Eurohockey was on hand again, with Jon Rowson, Henrik Lundqvist (not the goalie) and Romon Solovyev doing a good job of providing coverage. For those who missed it, Canada won the tournament for the fifth straight year, defeating Finland 4-0 in the final. The Czech Republic, who feared a lack of offense heading in, made it to the semifinal where they fell 2-1 to Sweden on a late goal.

However, the Ivan Hlinka was not the only hockey event going on in Moravia this weekend. The Women's Summer Camp finished up in Brumov-Bylnice, with Tyler Bilton providing coverage. Slavia Praha was the Czech representative at the seven-team event, finishing second by taking 13 of a possible 18 points. Slavia's only regulation loss was to Russian club HC Tornado, who blew away everybody they faced, outscoring their opponents 32-1 over the course of the tournament.

Kverka takes the opening faceoff vs Norway. mhl.khl.ru

While two international tournaments finished on Saturday, another began. For the second straight year, HC Karlovy Vary is representing the Czech Republic at the World Junior Club Cup in Omsk, Russia. They finished second place last year and are off to a good start in 2012, beating the Norway U20 national team 3-1 in the opening game. KV got two first period goals from Tomáš Harkabus and another in the first minute of the second from captain Jaromír Kverka, while Vladislav Habal stopped 19 of 20 Norwegian shots.

"Today it was a very important game that we did not want to lose, we wanted to gain confidence, which we finally did," Kverka told the MHL website. "Norway played aggressive hockey and at the beginning we had problems, but then we started playing smarter and we won."

Things should only get more difficult from this point. After playing the United States Hockey League's Waterloo Black Hawks on Sunday (16:00 MSK, 14:00 CET, 7am CT), they play two MHL teams: the host Omsk Hawks (Tuesday) and Dinamo-Shinnik Bobrusk (Wednesday). Karlovy Vary will be a member of this league too in the upcoming season.

Tournament semifinals will be played Saturday and the final on Sunday.

Czech U17 & U18 teams face challenges at home in August tourneys

For those looking to pursue a career in hockey, there is no off-season, and by August things are already in full swing. This month, two age categories are staging international tournaments in the Czech Republic, U17 and U18. Starting August 7, the U17s are hosting a five-team tournament in North Bohemia. The following week, the U18s take centre stage in southeast Moravia. The Czech Republic has faced many challenges trying to rebuild a national youth program over the past few years and the coaches of both age groups, Jiří Veber and Luděk Bukač Jr, look ahead to the challenges they face this coming season.

U18 Coach Luděk Bukač Jr looks ahead to the challenges at the Ivan
Hlinka tournament and beyond. Photo: Tomáš Čekal. hc-kometa.cz.

The larger of the two events is the U18 tournament, the annual Ivan Hlinka Memorial, will, as usual, be co-hosted by Břeclav along with nearby Piešťany, Slovakia. Despite underperforming regularly at this tournament, as well as at last year's U18 World Championship in Brno, Znojmo and Břeclav, Bukač brings with him a large part of his U17 team that finished second place in Hradec Králové last February, although there are a few notable exceptions. Three players, Jakub Vrána, David Pastrňák and Martin Kohout, are missing due to injuries. Six other players, Patrik Zdráhal, Adam Zbořil, Dominik Kubalík, David Němeček, David Sysala and Jan Košťálek, are all going overseas to join CHL teams and declined invitations to play for the team.

The lack of dedication to the national team clearly frustrates Bukač. Comparing his situation to the Swedish team, he said, "Their coaches invited their players and all of them accepted. No one was missing. As coaches, our goal is to set up a strategy for our national program, starting at the U16 level, and have the rules respected. We want our players to respect the program.

"The Hlinka Memorial Tournament is difficult, but I believe that we have a very good team," he continued. "As far as conditioning goes, we are ready. It is true that we're missing some forwards who scored a lot of goals for us in the past, but we have to compensate in other areas."

Last year's Czech team at the Hlinka tournament was Jiří Veber, now heads up the U17 team, which will host the USA, Germany, Slovakia and Switzerland in four towns in North Bohemia, with Chomutov serving as the main venue. Veber takes over a squad that was headed last season by Robert Reichel and started well, but had trouble in its last few tournaments.

"I don't know what the reason was; if it was injuries, goaltending, but I'm not looking back. I'm thinking about right now," he said. "We are starting from scratch. We looked at the players in camp, and now we're concentrating on this tournament. We are consistent, and we require certain things. We firmly believe that it will work. Although, it depends on how we respond in the games, of course."

Czech roster and schedule for the U17 tournament:

Goaltenders:
Karel Vejmelka (Třebíč), David Pírs (Sparta Praha), Aleš Sova (Č. Budějovice).

Defencemen:
Filip Pyrochta (Liberec), Jakub Zbořil (Kometa Brno), Tomáš Havlín (Liberec), Lukáš Vopelka (Örebrö, Sweden), Dominik Mašín (Slavia Praha), Filip Moravec (Litvínov), Robert Horák (Olomouc), Jan Ščotka (Vsetín).

Forwards:
Pavel Jenyš (Kometa Brno), Samuel Ollender, Dominik Kafka (both Vítkovice), Josef Stříbrný (Litvínov), Pavel Zacha (both Liberec), Martin Beneš, Václav Krliš (both Plzeň), Tomáš Andres (Slavia Praha), Michal Kovařčík (Třinec), Petr Macháček, Martin Strunz (both Chomutov), Radek Pilař (Hradec Králové).

Team Manager: Milan Hnilička
Head Coach: Jiří Veber
Assistant Coach: Petr Svoboda
Goaltending Coach: Michal Podolka
Team Doctor: Dr. Tomáš Madrý
Treasurer: Maroš Solenský

Tuesday, August 7:
18:00 Slovakia - Switzerland (Chomutov)
18:00 Czech Republic - Germany (Kadaň)

Wednesday, August 8:
18:00 USA - Germany (Chomutov)
18:00 Czech Republic - Slovakia (Klášterec n. O.)

Thursday, August 9:
18:00 Switzerland - USA (Chomutov)
18:00 Germany - Slovakia (Kadaň)

Friday, August 10:
16:30 Germany - Switzerland (Klášterec n. O.)
18:00 Czech Republic - USA (Chomutov)

Saturday, August 11:
12:00 Slovakia - USA (Chomutov)
15:30 Czech Republic - Switzerland (Chomutov)

Czech roster and schedule for the U18 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament:

Goaltenders:
Štěpán Lukeš (Chomutov), René Svoboda (Vítkovice).

Defencemen:Tomáš Andrlík (Plzeň), Martin Kokeš (Litvínov), Roman Čermák (Jihlava), Ondřej Šafář (K. Vary), Jan Štencl (Vítkovice), Tomáš Dvořák (H. Brod), Michal Beránek (Liberec), Alex Pisárik (Třinec).

Forwards:Jiří Kepka, Roman Přikryl, Miroslav Indrák (all Plzeň), Dominik Pokorný (Sparta Praha), Petr Česlík (Vítkovice), Václav Pašek, Luboš Rob (both Č. Budějovice), Ondřej Kaše, David Kampf (both Chomutov), Martin Slánský (Kladno), Ondřej Kovářů (Lukko Rauma, Finland), Jan Mandát (Jihlava), Dan Nádrazský (Davos, Switzerland).

Reserves:
Jakub Kalfiřt (Liberec), Adam Škutchan (Vítkovice), Jan Litera (Letňany).

Team Manager: Otakar Černý
Head Coach: Luděk Bukač Jr.
Assistant Coach: David Bruk
Goaltending Coach: Radek Toth
Team Doctor: Dr. Milan Novotný
Treasurer: Zdeněk Vojtěchovský

Group in Břeclav: Czech Republic, USA, Russia, Finland
Group in Piešťany: Slovakia, Canada, Sweden, Switzerland

Monday, August 13:
14:00 Switzerland - Canada (Piešťany)
15:30 USA - Russia (Břeclav)
17:30 Slovakia - Sweden (Piešťany)
19:00 Czech Republic - Finland  (Břeclav)

Tuesday, August 14:
14:00 Canada - Sweden (Piešťany)
15:30 Russia - Finland (Břeclav)
17:30 Slovakia - Switzerland (Piešťany)
19:00 Czech Republic - USA (Břeclav)

Wednesday, August 15:
14:00 Sweden - Switzerland (Piešťany)
15:30 Finland - USA (Břeclav)
17:30 Slovakia - Canada (Piešťany)
19:00 Czech Republic - Russia (Břeclav)

Friday August 17:
14:00 Placement game (Piešťany)
15:30 Placement game (Břeclav)
17:30 Semifinal (Piešťany)
19:00 Semifinal (Břeclav)

Saturday, August 18:14:00 Final or 3rd place game (Piešťany)
17:00 Final or 3rd place game (Břeclav)

Quotations, rosters and schedules courtesy of hokej.cz.

Kometa in ELH finals means changes to U18 schedule

When Brno's Hala Rondo (since renamed Kajot Arena) was named the primary venue of the 2012 IIHF U18 World Championship last August, the possibility for a scheduling conflict was possible.

After all, the arena is also home to Kometa Brno of the Czech Extraliga, and the tournament has traditionally coincided with the league finals. However, when one considered that Brno hadn't won a national championship since 1966 or even a playoff series in the top league since the late '80s, the decision seemed safe.

Five weeks ago, Kometa qualified for the Extraliga's post-season for the first time since joining in 2009 and quickly dispatched of Kladno, whose recent track record has been almost as futile, in the preliminary round.

Waiting in the wings, however, was Sparta Praha, the league's first overall team, in the quarterfinals. After dropping two of the first three games, Kometa then stunned a large percentage of the nation's hockey fans by reeling off three straight wins to take the series.

Their roll continued into the semifinals against #2-ranked Plzeň 1929, a team that has the league's best combined record over the past three seasons. No matter. The streaking Kometa went into West Bohemia and took the first two games.

With their path to the final now clear, people began to see the clear conflict ahead, and many wondered aloud what would happen. Would Kometa be rewarded for their improbable finals appearance by having to play the entire series on the road? Or their "home" games at a neutral site? Would the Extraliga radically alter their pre-determined schedule to make it work?

On March 28, the club made an announcement on its website.

"The priority is the domestic league. Kometa isn't migrating anywhere," said general manager Zdeněk Zikmund. "There is already an agreement in place. We have an alternate plan. That will be announced in the event Kometa advances beyond the semifinal. For sure, though, we can say that the whole tournament will be played in Moravia."

They have indeed advanced, as Kometa went into Plzeň on Monday night and won in convincing fashion, 7-2, to finish off the series in five games. Thus, it became time to speculate on what that alternate plan might be.

From the U18 tournament's official website and hokej.cz, here are the schedules for the two events in conflict:

Date	KAJOT Arena in Brno (Group A)	Zimní stadion Znojmo (Group B)
Thursday 12-04-2012	16:00   DEN - CAN (1)	16:00   LAT - RUS (2)
	20:00   FIN - USA (3)	20:00   GER - SWE (4)
Friday 13-04-2012	15:30   CZE - DEN (5)	18:00   SUI - LAT (6)
	-	-
Saturday 14-04-2012	13:00   USA - CZE (7)	14:00   RUS - GER (8)
	18:00   CAN - FIN (9)	18:00   SWE - SUI (10)
Sunday 15-04-2012	14:00   DEN - USA (11)	18:00   LAT - SWE (12)
	-	-
Monday 16-04-2012	16:00   CAN - CZE (13)	16:00   GER - LAT (14)
	20:00   FIN - DEN (15)	20:00   RUS - SUI (16)
Tuesday 17-04-2012	16:00   CZE - FIN (17)	16:00   SWE - RUS (18)
	20:00   USA - CAN (19)	20:00   SUI - GER (20)
Wednesday 18-04-2012	Day Off
Thursday 19-04-2012	15:00   A2 - B3 (21) - quarterfinal	15:00   A4 - B5 (22) - relegation
	19:00   B2 - A3 (23) - quarterfinal	19:00   B4 - A5 (24) - relegation
Friday 20-04-2012	15:00   B1 - W21 (25) - semifinal	15:00   A4 - B4 (26) - relegation
	19:00   A1 - W23 (27) - semifinal	19:00   A5 - B5 (28) - relegation
Saturday 21-04-2012	14:00   L21 - L23 (29) - 5th/6th	-
	-	-
Sunday 22-04-2012	12:00   L27 - L25 (30) - Bronze	-
	16:00   W27 - W25 (31) - Gold	-

Extraliga Final schedule
Pardubice or Liberec - HC Kometa Brno
Mon, 09.04.2012	Pardubice/Liberec	HC Kometa Brno
Tue, 10.04.2012	Pardubice/Liberec	HC Kometa Brno
Fri, 13.04.2012	HC Kometa Brno	Pardubice/Liberec
Sat, 14.04.2012	HC Kometa Brno	Pardubice/Liberec
*Tue, 17.04.2012	Pardubice/Liberec	HC Kometa Brno
*Thu, 19.04.2012	HC Kometa Brno	Pardubice/Liberec
*Sat, 21.04.2012	Pardubice/Liberec	HC Kometa Brno

When observing these schedules, there does seem to be a bit of wiggle room. Note that on Friday the 13th and Sunday the 15th, there are single tournament games scheduled for early afternoon, leaving the evenings free. Games 3 and 4 of the Extraliga Final, to be played in Brno, are slated for the 13th and 14th. Surely they could change the Saturday game to Sunday, no? That would still leave a day off before game 5.

As for the quarterfinals, scheduled for the same day as a possible sixth game, perhaps they could be moved to Znojmo in the event the game becomes necessary. That would mean relegation round games being moved to Saturday.

Of course, none of that takes into account the logistical nightmare of redesigning the rink back and forth. Anyone who's seen an Extraliga game knows that the ice is littered with advertising to an almost nauseating level. IIHF tournaments, meanwhile, have different and, mercifully, far fewer on-ice ads. Would changing them back and forth be feasible?

Apparently not.

On Tuesday afternoon, the club announced that five games are being moved out of Brno: only one to original co-host Znojmo, and four to Břeclav, which now becomes the tournament's third host city. Břeclav is no stranger to U18 international hockey as a regular host of the annual Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament.

Presumably, the five games being moved are the single game on the 13th, and the two each on the 14th and 19th, and the game going to Znojmo is the one on the 13th: Czech Republic-Denmark. A revised schedule has not yet been released, however.

"We have an understanding," Zikmund said to news agency ČTK. "We are working on it with the IIHF and after the meeting with the (tournament) organizing committee and the international federation, it will be published officially."

EDIT: Within two hours of this post being published, the revised schedule was released by the official website of the U18 World Championship and HC Pardubice eliminated Bílí Tygři Liberec to advance to face Kometa in the Extraliga Final.

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.