After a successful preparation, in which the national team did not lose, most hockey experts and fans thought so. After the end of the quarterfinals, coach Filip Pešán described great expectations from the team as a media massage …
So I shared it too … Canada and America came with players that basically no one knew. The Russians had a good defense from the NHL boys, but they still weren’t enough for Canada. The Finns had only two NHL players, the Swedes five. And no matter who wants to say what, the best players are simply playing in the NHL, and when they come to the championship, they are definitely reinforcements. Just when other than this year were we supposed to return with a medal?
Why didn’t it happen?
Our players did not get used to each other for the whole tournament, the line-up was constantly changing. From there, however, Martin Straka and Jarda Špaček were supposed to be there to talk to Filip. I don’t know if it happened, I don’t have any news from the cabin. Only from the newspapers and these things probably didn’t work completely. Let no one be angry with me, but if Cuba does not want to pit Cuba (Filip Pešán) against the Swedes? In the end, they probably persuaded him (Magpie and Starling) to put Vránič in the lineup, and he actually turned the match around for them. It can simply be seen that the player needs to hold back from the coach, help and get more time, even if he does not succeed. Because he has it in him.
I want to continue, says Pešán after returning from the World Cup. Crow’s opinion unsettled him
It was Crow who announced before and during the tournament that he had come to Riga for gold. After that, after returning to Prague, Pešán let it be heard that these words disturbed him …
I also read the statement and I don’t understand it! Kuba Vrána came to the championship with optimism, which is right. He’s a confident player, a shooter, and he said he’s going for gold. I don’t see anything wrong with that and as a coach I would definitely not moderate him, on the contrary he supported him. I would try to spread optimism to the team and build the players’ confidence before taking them down. It never helped anyone.
Filip Pešán in a discussion with Jakub Vrána.
Vít Šimánek, ČTK
And other reasons for the final seventh place?
One of the mistakes I see was not deploying the attack by Lenc, Špaček, Stránský in the opening match with Russia. They showed great form at the Czech Games and I would definitely not drop them from the line-up against the Russians. If the coaches wanted my first two formations from NHL players … Even so, they should have played third.
Pešán argued that he wanted to have them rested the next day against Switzerland …
Players who come to the World Cup expect to play. Especially boys of their caliber, who gave excellent performances in preparation. It didn’t seem very smart to get them down mentally like this.
It’s my fault too! Guilty of my nomination, shocked Pesan and looking for a team of overalls
What do the players think when, after the match with the Swiss, they read Pešán’s words about the fact that it was his fault to nominate those who do not do hard work on the ice?
It’s a lot of things together. All decisions made by the coaches must be evaluated by the association. I’m just saying a medal should have been brought. It probably turned out that it didn’t work between the coach and some players in the team. That they didn’t all pull the same rope.
Wasn’t it a mistake to play the Czech Games, the general at the World Championships, on narrow ice in the O2 arena, when the championship in Riga took place on a wide rink?
From narrow ice to wide and vice versa, everyone has to get used to it in one or two matches. It was the same for everyone, I wouldn’t see a problem with that.
In Pešán’s case, how do you view the accumulation of functions, when, in addition to the head coach of the national team, he is also the federal head coach?
The most important thing is that the national should have a general manager, who selects the team and the coach, and is then responsible for the result in the tournament. Just according to the Canadian model, which has been working for years. And this model should be set up here as well. I don’t know if Filip has time to go around our boys in America and Canada. Petr Nedvěd (the current general manager of the national team) has a name that everyone in America knows. He knows the boys, they respect him because he played clouds of NHL games. He is a world hockey player and has a far better bargaining position than a man, whom almost no one knows overseas.
Pešán: Should I appeal or resign? I don’t know what you’re asking! It’s a failure, I’m disappointed
But is the Czech environment ready for such a model?
The world will not ask us if we are used to it or not. We can try that change once, and if it doesn’t work, we can go back to the old model at any time. But it’s not just about representation. Take a look at our clubs, where general managers also don’t have a 100% say in selecting players the way it is in the NHL.
You’ve been a scout in the NHL for thirty years; first for Calgary, now long for Dallas. How do they perceive Czech hockey overseas?
There is still respect for our top players. Pastrňák, Krejčí, Hertl, Voráček, Hronek and goalkeepers still hold the credit of Czech hockey quite high. But we produce less and less players with top roles in teams. But it all starts with the junior national teams. If we do not bring a medal from the youth championships for nine years, then logically, world-class players and NHL players cannot grow into adult nations. Individuals yes, but definitely not a group of players like in the era of Martin Straka and Martin Ručinský.
The hero went to Pesan: He stands there as if offended, he does not speak to anyone! Does he have any emotions at all?
Which brings us to a dysfunctional system in youth work.
Something is wrong and I don’t see yet that the current federal leadership has moved our junior hockey somewhere in the thirteen years that have been sitting there. It would like some change. They all relied on Filip Pešán, to whom former NHL player and longtime scout Honza Ludvig opened the door to the NHL a few years ago. Filip smelled the system there, but applying it in our country is probably difficult. So far, I don’t see it moving anywhere.
To be fair, shouldn’t Peshan be given more time for the changes to take effect?
I’m not saying he should leave after this championship. But I didn’t like how he managed the whole championship.
Hasn’t the bar been set too high for him yet? Being successful in Liberec does not mean the same thing at the national team at the World Championships.
Maybe it was too much for him. When you surround yourself with people like Martin Straka and Jarda Špaček, who are world hockey players and already have experience with coaching jobs, I don’t know if he felt any pressure from them. If he was nervous about it … I really don’t know, I can’t see him. It’s hard for me to judge.
COMMENT: A man who searched and did not find. Pešán quickly lost confidence in the players, and the overalls didn’t help either
Martin Ručinský claims that he fell asleep in the Czech Republic after Nagano or at the turn of the millennium after winning three world championships. Do you agree with him?
Certainly. Hockey has shifted terribly since the ninety-eight, and unfortunately we didn’t catch a wave when it changed. I believed that after five thin skinny years, people had learned their lesson. A new leadership has taken office, but it remains quite the same. At least for young people, I don’t see any big shift yet. It is also about the structure of competitions. After all, the junior extra league cannot have 19 teams, we don’t have players for that here! If the boys don’t play competitive matches in which they have to go their best, we won’t move anywhere. As a scout in my country, I leave after a lot of matches after the second period, because there is simply nothing to see.
So how many participants should the junior extra league have?
A maximum of 14 to copy the adult league (fourteen teams should have the highest junior competition from the 2022/23 season). That is the complete basis! Let the procedures and descents be maintained, let two clubs fall calmly every year. Again, it would increase competition. We will not move without a competitive environment. I would easily narrow down by two or three teams and the senior extra league.
Are you serious, Robert? Záruba and Hrdina started each other, the Dominator also reacted
How long can it take for radical change to take effect for young people to show results?
When the Swedes almost fell from the eighteen at the beginning of the millennium, they were back at the top within five years. If it is handled correctly in our country, a horizon of five or six years is possible.
Are you an optimist?
I hope so! But I’ve been an optimist for twenty years (laughs). But when our youth teams come to the World Cup, I don’t sit very well in the stands and don’t see how we get ten goals from America.
But is there a will to do something about the current situation?
The will is, but it depends on who approaches it. The Swedes held one big meeting at which a lot of people commented on the bad situation – scouts, managers, coaches, sponsors. Altogether 200 people. They said something to each other, the training they followed was done, and within five years they were back at the top in the junior national teams.
It’s end! Toothless Czechs have not found a recipe for Finns and waiting for a medal from the World Cup is dragging on again
Is it time to get used to the fact that we no longer belong to the TOP 5?
We definitely don’t belong! Take, for example, the Swiss and Hischier, who was number one in the NHL draft four years ago. Then came the Germans – Seider sixth the year before, Stützle third last year and Reichel also in the first round. And I’m not talking about the fact that the Swiss and the Germans have the same number of top players in the NHL as we do. We may still be a little ahead, but for example Draisaitl is, in my opinion, a player of the same level as our biggest star David Pastrňák. If the best players go to the Olympics in Beijing in February, we will be just as good as the Germans and the Swiss are in terms of quality.
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