Czech Republic

A team from Czech Republic took part only in three first editions of Christmas Tournaments – from 2005 to 2007 – and had twice made it to the bronze medal game. They did actually get the medal in January 2005 after having won the game against their neighbours from Slovakia (7:6).

In the course of the last few years the Czech team has expressed interest in participation in Christmas International Tournament of Hockey Amateurs in Minsk and has finally received an official invitation from the organizers.

The Czechs have all chances to make a good performance this January as they are a well coordinated and experienced team. The roster includes legends of Czech hockey: Jiri Bubla, a silver medalist of 1976 Olympics who has also won world championship medals of all sorts, a two-fold champion of Czechoslovakia and an NHLer with 256 games played for Vancouver Canucks; František Kučera, Olympic champion of 1998 with a career in the NHL; Leo Gudas who has gained an Olympic bronze medal in 1992. The team leader is Milan Novy, an experienced player with a great past, that also has an Olympic medal in stock – he was a part of the team that won silver in 1976 – and medals from world championships.