Czechia named their roster ahead of February's Euro Hockey Tour final featuring the top nations from across the continent.
Czechia named their roster ahead of February's Euro Hockey Tour final featuring the top nations from across the continent.
Czechia named their national team roster ahead of the Euro Hockey Tour final, which will run from February 8-11 in Liberec, Czechia. Carla MacLeod will be behind the bench for Czechia's first ever home tournament as part of the women's Euro Hockey Tour.
After missing the 2023 World Championships due to injury, Klára Peslarová who played for Brynäs IF in the SDHL is back in net, as is Blanka Škodová who backstopped Czechia to bronze in Brampton last April. Czechia's third goalie for the event is Viktorie Švejdová who also played in Sweden with SDE.
On the blueline, PWHL defenders Dominika Lásková of Montreal and Ottawa's Aneta Tejralová lead the way. They're joined by Daniela Pejšová (Luleå HF), Sára Čajanová (Brynäs IF), Klára Seroiszková (HV71), and Tereza Radová (Leksand IF) who all play in the SDHL, and NCAA blueliner Andrea Trnková (RPI).
Up front, PWHL standouts Tereza Vanišová (Montreal), Kateřina Mrázová (Ottawa), and Denisa Křížová (Minnesota) will lead the way for Czechia's attack. They'll be joined by Michaela Pejzlová who plays for HIFK in Finland and Adéla Šapovalivová (MoDo, SDHL) as Czechia's top scoring threats at the tournament. Czechia's forward group also includes Noemi Neubauerová (Brynäs IF), Tereza Pišteková (HPK), Tereza Plosová (Djurgardens IF), Lucie Gruntová (HC Tygři Klášterec), Kristýna Pátkova (Linkoping HC), Agáta Sarnovská (Leksand IF), Anna Kalová (Kiekko), and Barbora Juříčková Barbora (HPK).
Absent from the roster are NCAA players Natalie Mylnkova and Klara Hymlarova who have been national team regulars.
The other noticeable absence from Czechia's roster continues to be NCAA leading scorer Kristýna Kaltounková, who has chosen not to participate with Czechia's national program. Kaltounková could be a difference maker for the Czech's as they continue to fight their way into the conversation with Canada and USA. This season with Colgate she has 22 goals and 46 points in 26 games.
Czechia is coming off back-to-back bronze medals at the IIHF World Championships, and their U-18 national team recently won silver at the U-18 World Championships in Switzerland.
Also competing in the tournament are Finland, Sweden, Germany, and Switzerland.