Assistant coach of the national team Jiří Kalous | Photo: Jan Beneš, ceskyhokej.cz
A brisk drill lasting about 45 minutes, back to the hotel, regeneration and in the evening it’s off to work. On Saturday morning, the Czech national team tested the quality of the ice in Zurich’s Swiss Life Arena, in which they will face the Swiss in the evening.
Realizák led by head coach Radim Rulík – also due to the two marauders of Kondelík and Malík – resorted to several players in the lineup.
“Fortunately, no one arrived. As for the players, it’s fine. Unfortunately, Marek Židlický took it a bit, he is being treated, but of course he will be at the match,” informed Kalous regarding the condition of his colleague, who was absent from the morning training session.
“Fortunately, no one came in. As for the players, it’s fine.”
The match tempo of the Euro Hockey Tour will again be touched by the defensive pair Filip Pyrochta – Daniel Gazda, the attack of Petr Kodýtek with Matyáš Kantner and Pavel Kousal will also be in action. Defenders Jan Rutta, Jiří Ticháček and forwards Lukáš Rousek, Dominik Kubalík and Matěj Stránský will remain out of the lineup this time. Dominik Pavlát will guard the Czech cage just like last time.
The departure of the Czech team from Prague on Friday was complicated by bad weather, due to the fog the plane took off in the direction of Zurich only two and a half hours later. “It’s always annoying when you’re stuck in an airport and you don’t know how it’s going to turn out. We’ve been watching it along the way, there’s been complications since morning. Unfortunately, it’s affected us too,” Kalous shrugged.
However, the slight delay did not significantly disrupt the plans of the national team. Mančaft was in a good mood for the Swiss, against whom they would like to follow up on Thursday’s 3:1 triumph over Finland. A year ago, he defeated the Helvetic Cross selection in Fribourg, 2-0, and successfully managed four of the last five games with him in the Euro Hockey Tour.
“I think the matches at EHT are similar. Everyone tries to play very actively, there are not many defenses in the middle zone anymore. Of course, there are moments when it is far from the puck, the players stand in the middle zone and try to defend it. Otherwise, 60 minutes are played up and down,” answered Kalous when asked what type of match he expects.
“We keep pushing our game more and more, focusing on us.”
.And he added: “We will show the Swiss, their signals to the bulls. But we are still pushing our game more and more, focusing on us. To get the elements into the game that we want.” The second battle of the Swiss Hockey Games starts at 18:00.
Expected lineup of the Czech Republic: Pavlát – Landlord, Pyrochta, Ščotka, Krejčík, Zábranský, Král, Adámek, Kučerík – O. Kaše, Sedlák, Červenka – Clapík, M. Špaček, Voženielek – Flek, Černoch, Bránek – Kantner, Kodýtek, P. Kousal.
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