They are used to the fact that every night their opponents prepare a plan to tame them. But the matches usually end with the failure of the plan. Pardubice acquired Lukáš Sedlák and Roman Červenka to be dominant. They are too. There is no better offensive duo in the extra league.
“I go into the match prepared that Roman can prepare things that no one else in the league can do,” Pilsen goalkeeper Nick Malík immediately nodded. “That’s why I enjoy it, I take the match as a challenge to match such a guy,” he added.
At that moment, Malík was satisfied. Although Červenka gave him a goal, which Sedlák recorded, but Plzeň managed to suffocate the best offensive pair of the extra league. She won 4:3 in overtime.
The proof of how difficult it is to defend the pair from Pardubice is here – only seven times since the start of the season has it happened that neither of them scored in the match. Thirty-one times the plans to eliminate them were made in vain.
Extraliga scoring | Sport SZ
| name | body | matches |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Červenka (Pardubice) | 56 (17+39) | 40 |
| 2. Sedlák (Pardubice) | 46 (17+29) | 45 |
| 3. Nellis (Vítkovice) | 43 (22+21) | 47 |
| 4. Guy (Sparta) | 43 (19+24) | 43 |
| 5. Starling (Sparta) | 40 (14+26) | 44 |
The wealth and power of the extra league is nicely illustrated on the two stars. It is not the case that a great job in Pardubice would get them into the national team. Here it’s the other way around. Mutual chemistry in the national team got them to Pardubice.
In May 2024, Roman Červenka directed the representative powerhouse at the WC in Prague. His collaboration with Pardubice captain Lukáš Sedlák also worked.
Billionaire Petr Dědek, who owns Pardubice, also watched the matches. After the playoffs, he released Tomáš Hyka, whom he brought with Sedlák as a pair. A replacement was being sought for its biggest star.
It sounded like a utopia, because he still had a contract in Rapperswil and players from Switzerland are not guaranteed to go to the Czech Republic. Especially when they have a contract.
But the combination of money and high ambitions convinced both Červenka and the Swiss.
“This is probably the first case when a Czech club has bought a player from Switzerland. There is a first time for everything. I would compare it to the situation when Juventus bought Ronaldo,” Petr Dědek enjoyed the big purchase in an interview with the newspaper Sport.
At first glance, this seems like a good irony. Pardubice first released Radim Rulík in 2023, who, as a coach without a club commitment, could sign a contract with the national team. Well, the former coach of Dědka’s club then paired the captain of Pardubice with Červenka, won the world championship and gave the owner of Dynamo instructions on who could start next to Sedlák.
But the whole story is still a year older.
Finnish coach Kari Jalonen brought Sedlák and Červenko together for the 2023 WC. He didn’t want to at first, but he had to.
Červenk’s center Filip Chytil was injured, so he moved Sedlák to the leader. But it only lasted one match. Then Sedlák was also injured. The connection between the two attackers would probably have been revealed a year earlier.
Instead, before the WC in Prague, Sedlák reported to Červenka’s address: “We don’t know each other very well, we’ve only seen each other a few times. But I like the way he sees the game, he can calm the team down and dictate the pace.”
Nevertheless, he described hockey in the presentation of the national team leader. That they didn’t know each other very well.
The chervenka is hard to break down
The captain of Pardubice is Lukáš Sedlák. The captain of the national team is Roman Červenka. How does it go together? Good.
They don’t measure egos and the size of the letters on the jersey. The cooperation that charmed the club owner in this way also developed in the Czech highest competition.
“Special preparation for them took place before the match,” nodded Daniel Malák, for example, from Pilsen. He can play hard to the body, an ideal fighter who should trouble the stars. “They are great players, it makes sense to watch what they do after the throw-in.”
Malák added that something works differently for everyone. Červenka is usually respected even by the opponent’s fans. He can be brilliant with the puck, he’s not the type to provoke anyone. He’s just playing hockey.
The energetic Sedlák, on the other hand, is a hockey player who carries a bottomless backpack with emotions on his back. He collides, barks at the referees and the opponent. He doesn’t get whistled enough for fouls, he makes quite a few of them himself.
“We know that Sedlo likes to get into fights and falls a lot. It doesn’t hurt to get under his skin a little bit. Sometimes a word is thrown,” smiles Malák.
And how to finish Červenka? Silence. “Cervus doesn’t talk much in a match, nor can he hit properly. It’s harder to get to him there,” admits the Pilsen defender after a moment’s thought.
It makes sense to pay attention to them. Not only because of the points, because they can be a little deceiving at first glance. A lot of purely offensive players have goals and assists, but they are dangerous especially in power plays. They can be caught more often in five-on-five. But a different point of view applies to Sedlák and Červenka: they are always dangerous.
Outstanding pairs in the extra league | Sport SZ
| pair | goals | shots | time in the offensive zone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Červenka + Sedlák (Pardubice) | 28:13 | 295:178 | 47,4 % |
| Flynn + Hudáček (Třinec) | 25:20 | 245:204 | 42,6 % |
| Nellis + Yetman (Vítkovice) | 25:20 | 262:274 | 40,8 % |
| Lenc + Sanberg (Liberec) | 15:8 | 177:152 | 43,2 % |
| Boy + Starling (Sparta) | 14:9 | 168:120 | 45,4 % |
*data describes a five-on-five game
A large part of the time on the ice is played with them in the attacking third, the opponent has to defend. They always find a way to stay in the attacking third.
As soon as you try to attack and double Červenka, she will release the onrushing teammate. The peasant plays many situations at high speed. Someone in the style of a fighting pit bull fits well with them, i.e. Jan Mandát or Jakub Lauko. Typologically, it complements their chemistry well.
In the national team, they usually have Ondřej Kaše, who is also in the Olympic nomination. He also flies into every fight like Mandát with Lauk, and he’s a better shooter when he’s in shape.
Even Pardubice tried to bring him. But he didn’t want to leave Litvínov, where he had a contract and wanted to play with his brother David. Yet.
He has what he wished for. Pressure
What is impressive about Sedlák and Červenko in the extra league is that the highest quality is demanded of them and they fulfill the required tasks precisely. They know they have to.
“To a certain extent, it is difficult,” Seznam Zprávám Sedlák replies. “On the other hand, I went in here with this expectation and it’s nothing I wasn’t prepared for. I’m glad for that.”
Pardubice offers the best conditions in the Czech Republic, this is neither a secret nor a novelty. But at the same time, they ask players to live up to expectations.
Specifically, Sedlák asked for such pressure.
He signed a contract with Colorado in the summer of 2022, eventually making it to Philadelphia. He had a relatively stable position in the third or fourth formation. He would stay in such a place in the NHL for years, especially with a contract of around a million dollars.
He would probably play around ten minutes per game. If someone got hurt over him, he would probably go to fifteen.
Today, it would probably be decided whether coach Rulík should have written him on his Olympic list. Someone would be upset that he left out a fighter who collected hundreds of games in the NHL. The coach would probably argue that he doesn’t have a very busy workload.
Colorado was going to play for the Stanley Cup. In a strong club, Sedlák would accept a role in the crowd. Additionally, he would work his way to becoming a key player for the underdog. But Philadelphia was a team without ambition. “Jen” would play in the NHL, which he already experienced in Columbus. That’s why he went to Pardubice. He wanted to be the leader the team stood on and he wanted to win.
Sedlák and Červenka in Pardubice | Sports NW
Lukáš Sedlák (seasons from 2022/2023)
- matches: 137
- body: 144 (63+81)
- penalty minutes: 99
Roman Červenka (from the 2024/2025 season)
- matches: 90
- body: 102 (36+66)
- penalty minutes: 28
He experienced a lot of good matches in four seasons at the club. But not yet the desired really big victory. The journey to the cup for his team always ended in the seventh game of the playoffs. First in the semi-finals and then twice in the final.
“When we lost that semi-final against Třinec, I said it was year zero. Do you remember?” Sedlák prompts. He talked about the need to learn. To recognize pain, to build a foundation on an unpleasant experience that might end up higher.
“I wanted to help build something big here, which cannot be done from day to day. Everyone who is around hockey knows that. The boys have to go through something, experience disappointment, form bonds. They have to learn that they can rely on each other,” Sedlák describes how he perceives Pardubice.
When someone calls me and asks about Pardubice, that they could come here, I say let them go. But at the same time let him count that he will get, for example, two minutes less than elsewhere.
Related to this is the fact that there are at least nine forwards on a team with big extra-league stars who would play power forward elsewhere. In Pardubice, everyone has to lower their ego a little. If not, the path to the coveted cup will take another turn.
“When someone calls me and asks about Pardubice, that he could come here, I tell him to go for it. But at the same time, let him count that he will get, for example, two minutes less than elsewhere. This is part of the fact that you play in one of the best teams in the Czech Republic,” Sedlák explains Pardubice’s position.
It is up to him and Červenka to decide the matches. It is their main job. The most productive extraleague player Červenka participated in 38% of the goals scored by Pardubice. It can be taken as a big addiction, on the other hand, for example, Connor McDavid participates in 49% of his team’s goals in Edmonton. So one player can have an even bigger impact on the team.
“I want to go on the ice in important moments, rely on my friends to do their job and rely on me to do mine. That’s one of the things that describe the team,” Sedlák offers his perspective.
At the Olympics, this outlook will change.
He will rely on Pastrňák and Nečas to be able to start the biggest Czech offensive rodeo. They get a lot of power play time. If Sedlák also contributes something, it will be a bonus.
And the task for Roman Červenka for Milan? It is worth repeating the words of goalkeeper Malík: “To prepare things that no one else will do.”
Against Canada with McDavid and co. it will be a very difficult mission. But realistically, the 40-year-old national team captain can conjure up a key situation against Switzerland in the group, break the match, because a trap will be set for Pastrňák and Nečas.
Not on him. And if the Czech Republic wins against Switzerland, it can easily advance directly to the quarterfinals if other circumstances come together.
The two extra-league stars will probably not be dominant at the Olympics. But they have the potential to flash significantly.
