Tampere (from our rapporteur) – He lifted the whole team and after Wednesday’s arrival from Boston, David Pastrnak co-scored five of the nine goals the national team scored against Latvia and Norway. But his collaboration with David Krejčí is perfect, so after the pair of P + P from the golden generation, the national team is now enchanted by the duo D + D. How does Martin Procházka see them right in Tampere?
Why is it that Pastrňák and Krejčí are so good at each other?
It’s something you can’t think of. You meet on ice and suddenly it works. The bottom line is that they have the same hockey mindset. So at one point they have exactly what the other has in their head. An exact example is their 5-0 goal against Latvia. That was proof that they were reading the thought ahead. They perceive themselves well, so Pastrňák can get the pass into an empty goal, because a second or two earlier he knew exactly what would happen and where to go.
So you had it with Pavel Patera?
I came to Paul and Ota (Dukes) like New. We sat down. And the pair or trio who makes it this way should know about themselves outside the ice. When Pavel and I watched hockey or discussed matches together, we had the same view of the situation. We had the same opinions, which is packing. Only then can you play almost blindly.
Do they have to be friends in life?
Must. Patys and I always lived together in a room. We had a lot of time talking about hockey, but it wasn’t forced. We responded automatically to situations and opinions that arose. All this creates a common hockey mindset. It’s the same with David. Although Pasta is much younger, it’s great how they get along with Krejča. The chemistry is between them. And they showed it to us not only in the fifth goal. They’re in the same mood, so even if they want to play differently, it doesn’t work. I wonder if other opponents will handle it or not.
The first attack of the Czech selection. From left: David Pastrňák, David Krejčí and Roman Červenka during the morning skating.Photo: Michal KamarytČTK
Is it telepathy in a way?
Yippee. For example, we didn’t care who recorded whom, but the player always knew in advance what the other was up to. And so he was in that free space before the opponent could react. This is a huge advantage for such couples if they can take advantage of it.
What intrigued me was that the telepathy didn’t go away. Pastrňák did not play with Krejčí for a year, but from the first substitutions it looked as if they had no hockey separation. You experienced the same thing when you played with Pavel Patera at the turn of the millennium, didn’t you?
It will remain. It’s in those people and they don’t need to train together for a week. All they have to do is climb on the ice. They don’t even have to wonder how they will play it, because everything will come out of the situation. Like when David Krejčí put the recording in blank. They didn’t say that during training or before the match. But it’s a combination of a recording and a finishing player that they had the idea in mind.
I don’t even remember if anyone in the national team dared to take the two of you apart.
Only at the Olympics in Nagano did Patýs go to power, I didn’t. But in the 5 on 5 game, we were still together. When it didn’t work out, they gave us another wing, but the coaches didn’t divide us.
Roman Červenka plays here with Pastrňák and Krejčí. How important is the role of the third to come to the hockey twins?
It has to fit. It worked great for us with Vlada Vůjtek at the World Championships in Finland (1997). This was exactly the type of player that fit us perfectly in the attack. He was a great technician with great recording and thinking. Players who play combination hockey will already feel what their partner is up to. We played power play and I knew that Vlad would record it for me. I remember a lot of goals, when I stood up so that the puck flew over the goal area and I just knocked it down. But there were also players we didn’t fully understand on the ice. For example, Venca Varaďa is a great hockey player, bulldog type, but he was not so close to the combination and at the World Championships in St. Petersburg we didn’t like it. Our style was based on a combination game, and when we dropped one, it creaked.
Didn’t you mind that the NHL team never took you as a couple? That you tried to succeed alone?
Well, hey. I recall an article in which the famous scout Craig Button told what he considered his greatest failure and mentioned the two of us. That he did everything to get us to Dallas, because he knew that if the two of us put each other side by side, we would be successful. And that it’s a big loss for him (in Dallas he played only Pater for a while). The words pleased me because I was saying that too at the time. At that time, hockey was played even differently in the NHL, it was the classic Canadian one with a throw-in and emphasis, but there were already moments when Europeans showed them that it could be played differently. And I think it would suit us there with Pavel. We had no problem with hard play. The Canadians have always wanted to beat us, they had it in them, but thanks to our cleverness, they never matured on us.
But I understand that due to the business operation of the NHL, it was difficult to put you together, while in AIK Stockholm or Omsk it was different.
Exactly. We had a great season in Stockholm. We were coached by Finn, who demanded his style from other players, but let us play. Sure, we couldn’t score goals and do what we wanted, but we could play offensively and defend on our own, not with the center back like the rest. It’s also about the cleverness of managers to give space to the players they care so much about.
However, even in the Bruins, they speculate that they would want David Krejčí back again. He still has the NHL, doesn’t he?
I agree that he would be fine there. If he hadn’t returned to Bohemia for reasons he had explained himself (he wanted the children to know where he grew up and his loved ones saw him play at home), he would still play there. I do not want to downgrade the quality of the Latvians, but the first third of them was terrible. They stood like skittles and didn’t know what would happen to them. The boys took advantage of it. Matches with America or Finland will be on a different level. And so is something else in the NHL. The pace at which there is less time for everything.
