For the first time since 2010, the Czechs are in the IIHF World Championship final game and, for the first time since 1985 – when they were part of Czechoslovakia – they will be playing for gold on home ice in Prague.

“Don’t ask me, I wasn’t around then,” said Czech defenseman Radko Gudas, 33, whose first World Championship was in 2017. Gudas’ father, Leo, won four World Championship bronze medals, including one in Prague in 1992. “You can ask that guy over there,” he smiled, motioning toward captain Roman Červenka, who played for the 2010 team. “I think he was around.”

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What about the semifinal against Sweden, Radko?
“It was a hard-fought game. They have a great team and I was happy that our team stuck together. We played our system, we blocked some shots, and our forwards were great in our zone today too. We didn’t let their big d-men do their jobs like they usually do.”

What kind of game was that for a defenseman to play in?
“It’s not usually fun when there’s a lot of goals scored. I don’t think the tendies are very happy with that either, but we came out on top, so we’ll take that. It’s a team victory for us and, overall, I think we played a pretty good game as a group.”

Once you got the 5-2 lead, what was the team’s approach?
“To try to stay as humble and as solid defensively as possible, not to let them get some momentum, don’t give them any odd-man rushes, and force them to open the game up. I believe we did that in the third period. They had a few minutes there in the second where they were all over us, they got the power-play goal and they came came right back at us after that, but overall, I think we handled it pretty well and I’m really proud of the group.”

Your Anaheim teammate Lukáš Dostál faced 40 shots today.
“Like I’ve said after other games, I’ve watched him this whole season play like that. He can handle himself pretty well when there’s a scrum in front of him, he made some big saves today when the game still could have gone either way, and we’re fortunate to have him there behind us.”

It seemed the Swedes were getting pretty mad late in the game. How did you handle that?
“Yeah. I mean, nobody wants to lose and the nerves are high, there’s a lot of testosterone flying around, so you expect that. I’m just glad that our guys stayed calm and handled it pretty well.”

What’s it like to be playing in the World Championship final at home?
“It's a dream come true. Every kid that plays on the street growing up dreams of this situation. This is why all of us wanted to play – because we saw games like this as children. It was just unbelievable to have that crowd behind our back today and I can’t even imagine how it will be tomorrow.”

It’ll be Canada or Switzerland – both teams you faced in the group stage.
“Obviously they’re both really good teams to get to this stage but we’ve gotta focus on ourselves and play the way that got us here. We’ve just gotta play our game.”