While the organizing team is preparing to move the world’s best para ice hockey players to Ostrava for the upcoming championships, the Czech national team has played its first few preparatory matches. And it were the national team newcomers that scored the goals in the friendly matches with Germany !!!
The restrictions for athlete training are slowly being liften not only for the Czech Republic but also for other neighboring countries as well. So it’s no wonder that para ice hockey players, who, in recent months, could only train in enclosed stadiums, used this to their advantage. The Czech para ice hockey team could finally compete with a real opponent. The Czech representation had a friendly two-match competition with Germany. It was only the first time that the team’s newcomers played on international grounds. They had joined the team after the successful 2019 championships. They have been refining their skills since and it seems that they are more than ready for the 2021 Ostrava World Para Ice Hockey Championships. Both Václav Hečko and his 16-year-old team-mate Alex Ohar scored their first national team goal. Both should present themselves as part of the line-up of the Czech para ice hockey team in a month on the ice in Ostrava. “It was a great feeling, I didn’t expect it at all. I wouldn’t mind if it were like that in Ostrava as well,” added Václav Hečko in reaction to his first goal in the Czech national jersey.
Para ice hockey filled with stories
The fact that para ice hockey is not only a sport is proven by the stories of our players. Petr Boček, for example, introduced himself in the hockey goal. “The father of three, who has been involved in para ice hockey for a long time, has, thanks to his willingness, been helping the national team with training, when one of the first two goalkeepers cannot compete. He has improved so much that he got a chance to put on the national jersey in the match with Germany, ” commented the assistant coach of the Czech para ice hockey representation Jan Szturc. And not only did Petr Boček play in the match, but he also didn’t let the Germans score a single goal, leading the Czechs to victory 3:0.
Jiří Raul, who doesn’t regularly train with the national team, also got a pass from home. He decided to stay at his job, but after work, he always joins the training, in the evenings. And even though it was his son’s birthday on the same day as the friendly matches with Germany, Jirka just couldn’t miss out on the opportunity to sit in the sledge. His own children sent him out into battle with the words “He was sent into battle by his own children, saying, “Dad, you have to represent us.” The Czech national team then sent Jirka Raul’s son a greeting, at least, from the locker room as well as a representative cap.
Are you looking forward to other stories that will be written in Ostrava? Let’s relive the moment and cheer on together for the para ice hockey players from June 19 to June 26 2021.
https://youtu.be/IHX_gnAvEPoAre you looking forward to other stories that will be written in Ostrava? Let’s relive the moment and cheer together for the para ice hockey players from June,19 to June, 26 2021.
Mistrovství světa v para hokeji Ostrava 2021 probíhá za finanční podpory Statutárního města Ostravy a Moravskoslezského kraje.
