Winter Olympics 2014, Czech Republic VS Slovakia
If you were to name a country where ice hockey was a closely followed sport, you might say Canada or Russia or a place covered in snow for a good part of the year. But despite the fact that the Czech Republic does not have a particularly cold climate compared to its neighboring countries, ice hockey is one of the most popular sports in the nation, and their players are known worldwide.
Around the beginning of the 20th century, a similar game called “bandy” was played in the region which would become Czechia that also featured skating but used a ball instead of a puck. After being introduced to ice hockey, a Czech team was invited to an international competition in 1909 held in France and proceeded to lose every single match. One of the players told Czech Radio that they “didn’t even know the rules to the game.” They played once again in Berlin in 1911, but this time won.
Since then, Czech teams have won 12 gold medals, 13 silver medals, and 21 bronze medals in the world championships as well as one gold medal, four silver medals, and five bronze medals in the Winter Olympics. The national league, Czech Extraliga, features fourteen teams and the season generally runs from September to April.
Fans cheering, Winter Olympics 2014
However, it has not been all smooth skating and success for the Czech team. In 1950, while then Czechoslovakia was under communist rule, the Czech team was scheduled to play in London. After they were unable to leave the country, a series of events unraveled (including a fight in a pub) which resulted in eleven of the team’s players being sent to prison for espionage and treason. The year prior, six players had died when their plane crashed en route to a match.
In recent years the popularity of other sports such as football and floorball (a type of hockey that is played off the ice) has begun to rise, in large part due to how expensive it can be for parents whose children play ice hockey. With little to no government funding to support clubs, some families simply cannot afford it. However, despite this, hockey remains one of the country’s most popular sports.
A 2018 report stated that for every ice rink in the Czech Republic, there are 420 registered players. Although some say that number is not entirely accurate, it is still four times more people than in Finland, which has 121 players per rink. Due to the limited space on the ice, practice begins early, sometimes at five or six in the morning. And the players start young. In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, one coach says that “after age nine, it is too late” for the kids to start.
Today, with talented players leaving to play for other nations, it is unclear if the Czech team will ever win another Olympic gold medal or enjoy the level of success they once did. But the love the people of the Czech Republic have for the game of ice hockey continues.
