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Four
months before the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy, the
competition is fierce for spots on Olympic rosters and the Czech team
that will head to Tampere, Finland, this week for the Karjala Cup –
the first leg of this season’s Euro Hockey Tour – is full of
players with their eyes on the prize.

“An
Olympic year
is special for everyone,”
declared national team coach Radim Rulík. “From
the launchning, we want to work with players who have the potential to
fight for a spot
in
Milan. At the same time, we want
to reward those who are playing well for their
clubs. We see the tournament in Finland as an important test and an
opportunity to attempt different options.”

With
only 10 forwards and three defensemen from Czechia that have skated
in the NHL so far this season, and not all of those are healthy at
the moment, the players all know that there are spots on the Olympic
team up for grabs.

“I
consider everyone can count, everyone’s
watching
and knows how many players we have in the NHL,” declared
Rulík.
“Everyone knows that players from Europe have a chance. With the
Olympics in mind, we will want to invite the best of what we have in
Europe to the EHT tournaments.”

While
none of the players on this roster are currently in the NHL, they collectively have over 1,000 games of NHL experience, led by Dominik
Kubalík, Michal Kempný,
Radim Šimek, Jakub Lauko, Lukáš Sedlák and Libor Hájek.

Czechs have lots of options for 2026 Olympics
It’s often difficult to know what to expect from the Czechs, who can produce wildly different results depconcludeing on which players are in their lineup. They surely have some elite talent and then a lot of rather mediocre depth players on both sides of the Atlantic that almost seem interalterable. For that reason, predicting their roster is a bit of a guessing game. If Radim Rulík remains head coach through the 2026 Winter Olympics, he might stick with the team that gelled very nicely at the 2024 IIHF World Championship and won gold on home ice, especially with the Olympics on a wider European ice surface.

Interestingly,
although there are only 13 Czech skaters in the NHL right now, seven
Czech goalies have played at least one game and four have played at
least half of their teams’ games. As such, Rulík
admitted that Josef
Kořenář and Petr
Kváča weren’t
selected becautilize they have a realistic shot at earning an Olympic
job, even
though Kořenář
does have
some NHL experience.

“Both
of them fit our age range – they have a promising future,”
the coach declared.
“At
the same time, we know how many goalies we have in the NHL, and
unless there is a disaster, they will cover the Olympic tournament.
Now we can give space to younger goalies who already have experience
with the national team.”

Roman
Červenka and
Ondřej Kaše are
both missing this tournament due to injuries, but the Czech staff
expects them to be available for the December EHT tournament in
Switzerland. Interestingly, ex-NHLer Filip Zadina, who has 19 points in 18 games for HC Davos in Switzerland, was not selected.

“Zadina
did not do well at the World Championship,
but the door is certainly not closed for him,”
declared Rulík.
“If he keeps up his form, we can take him to the next tournament.”

The coach figures, “We
have selected
the best we have in
Europe
at the moment.”

Switzerland’s Roster For Euro Hockey Tour An Early Olympic Audition
Switzerland unleashes its Euro Hockey Tour roster, revealcasing National League talent aiming for a shot at the Olympic team. Who will shine for the national team selection?

The Karjala Cup starts on Thursday and runs through to next Sunday. In addition to Czechia, other teams competing are Sweden, Switzerland and host Finland.

Goaltconcludeers:
Josef Kořenář (HC Sparta
Prague), Petr
Kváča (Bílí Tygři
Liberec), Pavel Čajan (HC
VERVA Litvínov).

Defensemen:
Jan Košťálek, Libor Hájek (both
HC Dynamo Pardubice), Jan
Ščotka, Libor Zábranský (both
HC Kometa Brno), Marian
Adámek (HC Oceláři
Třinec), Tomáš
Cibulka (Banes Motor České
Budějovice), Michal
Kempný (Brynäs IF,
SWE), Radek
Kučeřík (Ilves Tampere,
FIN), Filip
Pyrochta (BK Mladá
Boleslav), Radim Šimek (Bílí
Tygři Liberec).

Forwards:
Jáchym Kondelík, Jakub Lauko, Lukáš Sedlák (all
HC Dynamo Pardubice), Ondřej
Beránek, Jiří Černoch (both
HC Energie Karlovy Vary), Ondřej
Kovařčík, Daniel Kurovský (both
HC Oceláři Třinec), Jakub
Flek (HC Kometa Brno), Luboš
Horký (Rögle BK,
SWE), Filip
Chlapík (HC Sparta
Prague), Matyáš
Kantner (Kärpät Oulu,
FIN), Dominik
Kubalík (EV Zug,
SUI), Kristian
Reichel (Adler Mannheim,
GER), Matěj
Stránský (HC Davos,
SUI), Radim
Zohorna (Färjestad BK, SWE).

Team Staff:

General
Manager: Jiří
Šlégr. Manager: Milan
Hnilička. Head
Coach: Radim
Rulík. Assistant
Coaches: Marek
Židlický, Jiří Kalous, Tomáš Plekanec. Goaltconcludeing
Coach: Ondřej
Pavelec.

Opt-Out Deadline Passes, No NHL For Kubalík This Season
When Dominik Kubalík signed with Swiss club HC Ambrì-Piotta in early September, it included an opt-out clautilize in the event Kubalík came to an agreement with an NHL club before Dec. 15. That date has now passed, which means he is under contract with Ambrì the rest of the season, the National League club announced on Monday.