The squad of the Czech hockey team will be expanded in preparation for the World Championship by defender Jakub Jeřábek and forward Daniel Voženielek from the championship team Třinec. Voženielek will be involved from the beginning in the selection of coach Kari Jalonen, who will meet in Brno before the Czech Games this evening. Jérábek will report back a day later. This was stated by the team’s media manager Ondřej Kalát in a press release.
The general manager of the national team, Martin Havlát, is dealing with possible additional reinforcements from North America, where the favored Boston was eliminated in the 1st round of the playoffs last night after a 3:4 defeat against Florida. Gunner David Pastrňák, center David Krejčí, other forwards Pavel Zacha, Tomáš Nosek, Jakub Lauko and defender Jakub Zbořil work in Bruins colors.
“Martin Havlát is in daily contact with the coaches in this regard, and this morning they already resolved the situation regarding the Boston Bruins. We are also watching the series between the New York Rangers and the New Jersey Devils, which will end tonight,” said manager Milan Hnilička. Havlát will join the team on Wednesday.
Today, forward Dominik Kubalík from Detroit will join for the first time as another reinforcement from the NHL, and another forward Martin Kaut from San Jose and defender David Jiříček from Columbus were already in the squad last week for the duels with Austria in the Euro Hockey Challenge. Goalkeeper Karel Vejmelka from Arizona, who has not yet played in duels, entered on Friday. There are 32 players in the team – three goalkeepers, 11 defenders and 18 forwards.
The 31-year-old Jeřábek was the most productive defender in the playoffs with 11 points for three goals and eight assists in 21 games. He could appear at a major international event for the first time since last year’s Beijing Olympics. A pupil of Pilsen, who has played for Montreal, Washington and St. Louis, with 37 games in the NHL and two more in the playoffs, started at the World Cup in 2016 and 2017.
Voženílek, four years younger than him, who shared second place in playoff productivity with 16 points (6+10) with Andrej Nestrašil behind another teammate Martin Růžička, has so far only played two duels in the national team. He won them last December at the Swiss Games in Fribourg.
Squad of Czech hockey players for further preparation for the WC and for the Czech Games in Brno (May 4-7):
Goalkeepers: Šimon Hrubec (Zurich/Switzerland; 30 matches), Marek Langhamer (Ilves Tampere/Fin.; 13), Karel Vejmelka (Arizona/NHL; 10),
defenders: Radek Kučerík (11/0), Tomáš Kundrátek (96/11), Jan Ščotka (all Kometa Brno; 38/1), Tomáš Dvořák (18/1), Jan Košťálek (both Pardubice; 17/4), Michal Kempný (68/6), David Němeček (both Sparta Prague; 22/1), Jakub Jeřábek (Ocelarí Třinec; 73/5), David Jiříček (Columbus/NHL; 19/3), Michal Jordán (Rapperswil-Jona/Švýc .; 108/5), Ronal Knot (Tucson/AHL; 6/0),
forwards: Roman Horák (68/12), David Tomášek (42/13), Vladimír Sobotka (all Sparta Prague; 55/10), Ondřej Beránek (37/6), Jiří Černoch (both Karlovy Vary; 37/7), Tomáš Hyka (34/7), Lukáš Sedlák (both Pardubice; 18/5), Filip Chlapík (24/6), Michael Špaček (both Ambri-Piotta/Switzerland; 46/8), Jiří Smejkal (55/9) . ), Martin Kaut (San Jose/NHL; 11/2), Michal Kovařčík (Jukurit Mikkeli/Fin.; 10/0), Dominik Kubalík (Detroit/NHL; 73/26), Radan Lenc (HV 71/Swed.; 52/11).
