The Czech Republic's Olympic roster is going back in time with aging veterans Jaromir Jagr and Petr Nedved. The Czechs selected 17 NHL players Monday for the Winter Games in Sochi next month, with Montreal Canadiens forward Tomas Plekanec being named captain. Winnipeg Jets goaltender Ondrej Pavelec, Patrik Elias of the New Jersey Devils, Boston Bruins centre David Krejci, Jakub Voracek of the Philadelphia Flyers, Edmonton Oilers centre Ales Hemsky and Martin Hanzal of the Phoenix Coyotes were also named. Former Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens defenceman Tomas Kaberle, now playing with Kladno of the Czech Extraliga, also got the nod as one of seven on the back end. This will be Jagr's fifth time participating at the Olympics. He helped the Czech Republic win gold at the 1998 Games in Nagano and also earned a bronze medal in Turin in 2006. Notable omissions from the roster include goaltender Tomas Vokoun, who is dealing with complications from a blood clot, goalie Michal Neuvirth of the Washington Capitals, Calgary Flames forward Jiri Hudler, Radim Vrbata of the Phoenix Coyotes, Jiri Tlusty of the Carolina Hurricanes and Colorado Avalanche defenceman Jan Hejda.
Perhaps the biggest challenge facing the Czechs in the 2014 Olympics will be figuring out which water bottles have Metamucil in them and which ones won’t. In fact, with a roster this old, it’s no wonder that Frank Musil isn’t playing for this team. It’s safe to say the Czechs stunned the hockey world Monday when they named their 25-man roster for Sochi and it had a 42-year-old Petr Nedved on it. He still plays hockey? Apparently he does, with 32 points in 34 games for Bili Tygri Liberec in the Czech Extraliga. Didn’t he play for Canada’s Olympic team in 1994? Yup, but as long as he has been playing for four years in his current country, apparently it’s OK for him to change his nationality, again. Or maybe he just forgot he once played for Canada and convinced everyone he qualified for the Czech team and nobody noticed until he was already on the roster.
Anyway, the Czechs go into Sochi with a roster that will have an average age of 30 years and two months by the time the Olympic hockey tournament begins. That in and of itself isn’t as much of a surprise as the players the Czechs chose not to include on their roster. Somehow, a roster that has room for Michal Barinka and Tomas Kaberle on defense does not have any for Jan Hejda, Jakub Kindl, Roman Polak, Andrej Sustr, Radek Martinek or Rostislav Klesla, who have all seen time in the NHL this season. In fact, of the 11 Czechs who have appeared on an NHL blueline this season, only five of them, Marek Zidlicky, Ladislav Smid, Michal Rozsival, Zbynek Michalek and Radko Gudas, were named to the roster.
Up front, the mysteries continue. Jiri Hudler is the top-scoring Czech left winger in the NHL and he was left off the roster, as was Tomas Fleischmann of the Florida Panthers and Radim Vrbata of the Phoenix Coyotes. There was room, however, for Roman Cervenka, who was a spectacular bust with the Calgary Flames last season. Jiri Novotny, who hasn’t played in the NHL since 2009 and has averaged a point every other game in the KHL for the past three seasons, is on the roster as well. In their defense, the Czechs probably would have had 20-year-old NHL rookie Tomas Hertl on their roster had he not been injured this season, if for no other reason than they’d need someone that young to pick up all the pucks after practice.
Perhaps the Czechs are trying to make a point here. There’s a chance they believe that you don’t need a team stacked with NHL talent to win this tournament on the international-sized ice. After all, the Czechs won the gold medal in 1998 in Nagano with 11 players who were not in the NHL at the time. But they had all played together and instantly forged a team chemistry and were familiar with playing on the bigger ice surface. But that team also had Dominik Hasek in goal and Jaromir Jagr in his prime. This team has Ondrej Pavelec in goal and an Olympic tournament during which Jagr will blow out 42 candles on his birthday cake. The Czechs are either going to make a lot of people look stupid for underestimating, well, laughing at, them or they’re going to look pretty silly for some of the choices they’ve made. And hey, won’t it be interesting to see Petr Nedved stickhandle and negotiate a walker at the same time?
Czech Republic Roster
Goaltenders
Jakub Kovar, Yekaterinburg (RUS)
Ondrej Pavelec, Winnipeg Jets (NHL)
Alexander Salak, SKA St. Petersburg (RUS)
Defencemen
Michal Barinka, Vítkovice (CZE)
Radko Gudas, Tampa Bay (NHL)
Tomas Kaberle, Kladno (CZE)
Lukas Krajicek, Minsk (RUS)
Zbynek Michalek, Phoenix (NHL)
Michal Rozsival, Chicago (NHL)
Ladislav Smid, Calgary (NHL)
Marek Zidlicky, New Jersey (NHL)
Forwards
Roman Cervenka, SKA St. Petersburg (RUS)
Patrik Elias, New Jersey (NHL)
Michael Frolik, Winnipeg (NHL)
Martin Hanzal, Phoenix (NHL)
Ales Hemsky, Edmonton (NHL)
Jaromir Jagr, New Jersey (NHL)
David Krejci, Boston (NHL)
Milan Michalek, Ottawa (NHL)
Petr Nedved, Liberec (CZE)
Jiri Novotny, Lev Praha (CZE)
Ondrej Palat, Tampa Bay (NHL)
Tomas Plekanec, Montreal (NHL)
Vladimir Sobotka, St. Louis (NHL)
Jakub Voracek, Philadelphia (NHL)
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