World Cup? Meda called me, Šmíd revealed. Why wouldn’t he want to play in his fifties like Jagr?

Are you watching the extra-league semifinals?

Clearly. And I have to say, it strikes me that there are two matches in one day and then two days nothing. It would be better if there was hockey every day. In any case, I like Sparta and Budějovice better. The Třinec and Boleslaví series seems like chess to me. Boleslav fights, skates and Třinec plays what he needs. It’s a quality team, but I haven’t been very excited about its series yet. So I’m more like watching Budejovice and Sparta. There are a lot of talents on the ice, which I enjoy.

Who do you bet on the overall winner?

Probably Sparta, he has the best team on paper. Třinec is Třinec, he can switch to play off mode and he is really hard to play against him. He has a quality team, only winners who can win. But I trust Sparta to make the title this year. The guy with Tomáš have the season like a bejk and they confirm it in the playoffs. These are different players. Usually each team has one or two, Sparta still has Řepa (Řepík), Soba (Sobotka), Formana, he also plays well. Any of them can take it.

Would it be more bearable for you to be eliminated by a later champion?

I don’t care. The series with Sparta was absolutely amazing for me. She had everything she should have: physical, sometimes vulgar, good blood hockey. I’m just sorry we missed the start, the first two matches. I think the introduction cost us the whole series.

Has the elimination hurt yet?

Yeah. We all left everything there, the only thing that matters. We probably couldn’t have done more to win. The overall quality of the teams was elsewhere, Sparta advanced deservedly. I’m more sorry that I end up with hockey as such.

Wait, but you end up of your own free will, don’t you?

It’s my decision, but circumstances push me a little bit. Of course I’m sorry, but there are more important things than hockey. Children and family. I have to be there for them. They are bigger, they feel differently too.

How did the children accept that you will no longer play? When they learned of the impending end already in the preliminary round with Brno, you revealed that they were sad.

Now there is excitement that I will arrive in three weeks! The little emotion doesn’t show much, but the little one said he wouldn’t go to the barber anymore. He’s overgrown, he looks like Aesop, he says he’s waiting for me. He normally goes out with his mom, but it doesn’t exist now that he knows his dad will arrive shortly. He’s looking forward to taking him to hockey. That’s another thing. It’s the season, he sees parents with their sons in hockey and he keeps asking me when I’m going there with him too. I’m already looking forward to these little things. And the little one does figure skating again, so I’ll probably be busy.

Did they register your end in Canada?

Sure, my friends are excited to be back. A few people congratulated me on my career and wrote that they welcomed me into a normal life. They’ve already written to me from the Edmonton Oilers that I belong to the Oilers Alumni, the ferns that went through their organization and have already retired. You are part of the history of the club, you go to events, sometimes you play hockey for charity and the like.

Was it in the game that you would still stretch your career with a world championship?

Méďa (general manager of the national team Petr Nedvěd) called me and asked if there was any chance that I would go. I immediately said no. Of course, I would still have to fight for it and show them that I belong there. I’m going back to Canada at the end of April. My back still hurts, it’s useless to worry for another two months. Especially between the end of our season and the beginning of the World Cup, there is a very long time. I’ve always liked to represent, but now it wouldn’t make sense to me. There was surgery during the season, at the end I was already playing under pills …

Did you discuss it with your dad, a member of the Czech Hockey Hall of Fame?

Better no. I just told him I wasn’t going. Because he would persuade me. It would probably be nice at the end of a career, but the body just thinks it’s probably the best time to finish.

What does Dad say?

We haven’t talked much about it yet. But probably not much. He still thought I would change my mind. But I’ve made up my mind once. How many times do I think that I would still like to continue, but then the thought of children slips into my mind and the train doesn’t go through it.

Didn’t Liberec coach Patrik Augusta persuade you?

We talked that maybe in January … Something similar to how Zbyněk Michálek returned. I said no to him too. Just because I don’t like to say something and then … shit. If I said I’d take some time to think and then see, that’s a different matter. Now I said I’m done, so I’m done.

Maybe the fact that when Liberec lost its farm in Benátky nad Jizerou, it will have to have a player in reserve in case of emergency, would mean this variant, what do you think?

It records, but it just doesn’t. Rather, I can imagine returning to the club in another role when my children grow up. So if I don’t have some amazing job in America or Canada. Because of this, I also want to teach the little one Czech so that we can live here. I don’t know if Syrda (club owner Petr Syrovátko) would hear about it, but I would like to be in contact with the club and sometimes I need to recommend a player. However, it will depend on my life situation and other circumstances.

You are 36 years old, you still have room for a comeback. Jaromír Jágr is still playing at the age of fifty.

I could still imagine playing under forty if the body held up somehow. But still in his fifties? No way! I’d normally tell someone to shoot me on that ice. (laughs) I can’t imagine playing for another fourteen years. Jagr is probably doing something right that holds his body like this. It’s unbelievable to play hockey in your fifties. I don’t even know if I’d still enjoy it. Probably not.