The Japanese “Tournament of the Century” opened its doors to players from the NHL for the first time 28 years ago, so the nomination itself attracted a lot of attention. Although the Czechs were rather on the fringes of global interest, The News and Observer from Carolina was surprised by one thing.
“Perhaps the Czechs don’t want to win when they forgot about Robert Kron,” wrote the paper about the then 30-year-old forward from Brno, who previously represented Czechoslovakia in the era and was in his eighth season in the NHL.
He did not fit into Ivan Hlinka’s selection. Just like the youngsters Patrik Eliáš and Petr Sýkora or the extra-league gunner Viktor Ujčík.
Kron, for whose start Jaromír Jágr and influential manager Brian Burke were to intercede, according to the aforementioned newspaper, took the situation in stride. “In the end, the boys managed to do it without me, so they wiped out the journalists,” he commented.
“I was very upset about it, especially when I knew that I had performance and form. But looking back, Mr. Hlinka made the right decision. He won the tournament,” said Eliáš conciliatoryly years later.
Four years later, the Czechs were the reigning Olympic champions, they had won three world championships, and with more than 80 players, they were the third most numerous nation in the NHL, after the Canadians and the Americans.
Nobody was too upset that Josef Augusta didn’t take defender Jaroslav Modry or the productive Radek Bonko from Ottawa to Salt Lake City, but it was rumored that he didn’t fit into the national team’s locker room in the 1990s.
Before Turin 2006, the absence of Aleš Kotalík was addressed. “Sports performance doesn’t decide the nomination for a long time,” said the Buffalo striker, who played at the top of the NHL at the time. In the end, he flew in for the bronze as a replacement for the injured Eliáš.
Four years later, Vladimír Růžička did not take veteran Dominik Hašek to Vancouver, even though he was worth a lot at the age of 45 and won the title from Pardubice at the end of the Olympic season. Attackers Václav Prospal and Milan Hejduk were surprisingly absent.
However, the nomination of Alois Hadamczik before the games in Sochi, the last five-ring tournament to date, at which players from the NHL presented themselves, caused the biggest uproar.
On his list, Hadamczik omitted Jiří Hudler, who had one of the best seasons of his career in Calgary, or defenseman Jan Hejda, the most exploited Czech player in the NHL at the time.
In addition, the nomination of defender Michal Barinka, a world champion from 2010, but starting “only” in the extra league, was irritating. Adding to the piquancy was the fact that Barinka is Hadamczik’s son-in-law.
Overseas defenders Roman Polák and Jakub Kindl were left out, and the national team’s heartthrob Petr Čáslava was not included. On the other hand, 42-year-old striker Petr Nedvěd was preparing for the Olympics.
And the media skirmishes began.
“I would do it as a coach,” Hejda assessed ironically for the daily Sport. “I would take guys towards the end of their careers, maybe they will still have a good tournament. Someone from the extra league. And I wouldn’t forget the family members either,” he dug.
On top of that, he criticized Hadamczyk for leading the national team “completely without a system”, and mainly blamed him for the grossly unsuccessful WC 2013 in Sweden, where the Czechs burned down half a year before the Olympics.
The coach responded by remarking that Hejda does not have time to skate on the big rink and also commented on Barinka’s nomination.
“I’m not an alibi. If I’m convinced that it should be that way, I did it that way. If I hadn’t given my opinions, I wouldn’t have reached the national team as a coach from the second national league,” he recalled.
However, the Czechs only beat the Latvians and Slovaks in Russia, they were a long way from a medal. Hadamczik then ended the bitter period by resigning.
Before the trip to Pyeongchang 2018, Josef Jandač explained that the 19-year-old Martin Nečas from Kometa still “lacks muscles”. He only took it a few months later to the World Cup in Denmark.
The nomination of Filip Pešán to Beijing four years ago did not contain any major surprises, but the tournament ended with a historic misfortune for the Czechs – failure to advance to the quarterfinals.
In a month’s time in Milan, Rulík will correct this result once again with players from the NHL, which, however, has seen a significant decrease in Czechs in recent years. In his selection, he mainly addressed the acute lack of defenders from overseas.
Even so, Kundrátek, who at the age of 36, is not having a successful season in Třinec, was surprised by the appointment of a full-back. However, Rulík has believed in him since the gold championship in Prague.
Some hockey experts are missing tough guy Adam Klapka from Calgary on the roster. However, the nomination may still change in the coming weeks, perhaps due to possible injuries.
