Bronze Czechs Arrive In Prague: “We Would Have Died For Each Other”
It wasn’t the entire Czech national junior team, as the 17 players based in North America stayed there, but the eight members of the bronze-medal team who are based in Europe arrived in Prague on Tuesday to meet Czech media. From there, six of the eight will remain in Czechia, while Jiří Felcman will head to Switzerland and Ondřej Kos to Finland to join their respective clubs.
A lot of the players, coaches and team staff were operating on very little sleep between the end of their shootout victory over Sweden and the start of the press conference. Since then, there’s been an overseas flight and somewhat muted celebrations.
“They were short, but they were probably appropriate for third place,” smiled center Petr Sikora, the Washington Capitals prospect who was tied for fourth on the team with seven points in seven games. Sikora probably garnered the most notoriety in Canada of all the Czech players for his collision with Canadian Cole Beaudoin, which led to Beaudoin’s ejection from the quarterfinal game. Canadian fans accused Sikora of embellishing his injury, which Sikora strenuously denied.
Despite being booed mercilessly throughout the rest of that game, plus throughout the semifinal against the USA and the bronze-medal game, Sikora has no regrets about the experience.
“It was a great month with all of us living together,” said Sikora, who will now return to Oceláři Třinec, his Extraliga club. “I think we all enjoyed it a lot.”
“From the beginning, we functioned as a family – that was the main key to success,” said center Vojtěch Hradec, a Utah HC draft pick who had eight points in seven games. He’ll return to BK Mladá Boleslav. “We would have died for each other.”
“For me, as the youngest, it was an incredible experience,” said Adam Novotný, the 17-year-old Mountfield HK winger who won’t be eligible for the NHL Entry Draft until 2026. He called it “something unforgettable.”
“I was very happy with how the team presented itself not only on the ice, but also off the ice,” said coach Patrik Augusta. “What a tight-knit team the players created and how they supported each other. Even Richard Žemlička and Patrik Volas, who we had to cut before the start of the tournament, were part of the team and did a great job for us in training camp.”
After failing to win a medal at the IIHF World Junior Championship from 2006 until 2022, the Czechs have now done so three years in a row with a silver medal in 2023 and back-to-back bronzes in 2024 and 2025. Eduard Šalé – this year’s team captain, a Seattle Kraken prospect who currently plays for the AHL’s Coachella Valley Firebirds – was a member of all three teams.
“I think we're going back to 1998,” said assistant coach Robert Reichel, who was part of that Olympic-champion Czech team in the midst of the country’s so-called “golden generation” of hockey stars. “There was a similar atmosphere in the dressing room then. I believe that the players born in 2006 and 2007, who experienced it, will pass it on to others, and they will have a similar experience and will achieve similar success.”
Nine of the 25 players who were on this year’s Czech roster, including Sikora and Novotný, will be eligible to return to next year’s tournament in Minnesota, as will goaltender Jakub Milota, defensemen Jakub Fibigr, Tomáš Galvas and Adam Jiříček and forwards Vojtěch Čihař, Adam Jecho and Kos. Also eligible will be Radim Mrtka, Jan Skok and Maximilian Curran.
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