It was a surprise to many, but not the readers of this site, when the Czech Republic went on to finish fourth in last year’s tournament. This year, Czechia will look to improve and really challenge for the medals.
However the factor many deemed was a big part of the success last year, coach Filip Pesan, only had a one-year contract and decided to continue his coaching job with Liberec rather than take a full-time position with the Czech Ice Hockey Federation.
The new coach, Václav Varau010fa, is used to the national team, previously coaching the U18s and U19s at the international level, and has had success, winning the Hlinka Memorial Tournament in 2016 and finished second in 2017.