MILAN – Boston forward Pavel Zacha dropped out of the Czech hockey team at the Olympic Games in Milan due to injury.
He was replaced by Filip Chlapík from Sparta. The Czech team announced this in a press release today after the exchange of players was approved by the International Olympic Committee.
Last year’s world champion Zacha was injured on January 30 in a match against Philadelphia and subsequently missed two NHL games.
Annoying phone call from Boston
“We have been in contact with Pavlo from the beginning of his injuries to know exactly how he is doing. At first, the progress was positive, so we believed that he could be available for the tournament. However, over time, his situation worsened, and on Friday night, the general manager of Boston, Don Sweeney, called me saying that according to their medical team, Pavol will not be able to play a single match in the tournament. They will not clear him for the Olympics.” stated the general manager of the team, Jiří Šlégr.
The 28-year-old captain of Sparta Chlapík was preparing with the European part of the team in Karlovy Vary before leaving for the Olympics. “We started preparing possible alternatives right after Pavol didn’t finish the match at the end of January,” said coach Radim Rulík.
“We had six centers nominated. Pavel, who could start in the middle and on the wing, dropped out of it, so there are now five of them. We decided that each position will be filled by five players. The arrival of Filip Chlapík means that we have five wings on both sides. So we already had centers insured before, that’s why we take Chlapík as a wing.” said Rulík to the third most productive player of the extra league, who collected 19 goals and 26 assists in 45 matches.
Before the Olympic break, Colorado forward Martin Nečas was also out of the game, but he should be fit and will arrive in Milan on Sunday with other players from the NHL. Rulík’s men will enter the tournament on Thursday with a meeting with Canada.
- Author: © List/
- Source: CTK
