WC hockey 2023 | The beer was flowing, the coach had to drink plum wine. Let them try the Czech celebrations, laughing hockey players

The award-winning trainer caught it right when she arrived in the cabin. MacLeod’s players praised her for her always positive attitude and calmness on the bench, for which she was rewarded with an ice shower.

“We wanted to make it really sweet for her,” Lásková explained in a hoarse voice.

But not even the hockey players were left in the dark. “We had a full cabin of beer. Lily and I took it after each other, but then we calculated that every fourth can ended up on clothes. So we cut back a little and started drinking a little,” defender Aneta Tejralová, the scorer of the decisive goal in the quarter-final against Finland, described with a smile.

But the strongest moment for the players came during the bronze medal match against Switzerland.

“Three minutes before the end, I already knew we couldn’t lose. I realized that the long-term effort had finally paid off. An unreal feeling,” Lásková said. “Thirty seconds before the siren, I threw my helmet away and cried. And suddenly I had to go on the ice for the final six seconds. So I wiped my tears, put on my helmet and went to play,” recalled the moved author of eight assists in the tournament in Denmark.

Then only endless euphoria broke out. “Good players should not only be able to take for it on the ice, but also in the pub. Some girls didn’t even go to sleep. We have a lot of videos. I hope the public won’t see them,” smiled assistant coach Dušan Andrašovský.

While the hockey players kept the medals to be safe, so they wouldn’t lose them by accident, they dragged the team prize for third place everywhere. “She was with us in bed, in the shower and while brushing our teeth. We fought over her,” said Lásková, who as one of the nine players flew back to the Czech Republic early Monday evening.

The rest of the national team ran away to their clubs. Including Daniela Pejšová, the best defender of the championship with nine points, who, like goalkeeper Klára Peslarová, made it to the All Star team. “It’s a shame that we couldn’t celebrate longer. But we will definitely remember the success at the next camp in November,” promised Tejralová.