It is a beautiful tradition that is already taking root in the Czech Republic. Hockey Day. It took place in Ostravar Arena in Vítkovice on Friday and Saturday and had many famous guests. The most famous one did not consist of flesh and bones, but of nickel and silver. It was the Stanley Cup, which graced this hockey holiday on our territory for the first time with its presence. Ostrava experienced a real harvest for NHL fans, a colourful festival as a celebration of the prestigious overseas competition and hockey as such.
The NHL hockey atmosphere returned to the Czech Republic for the third time, and this year's edition promised to be the biggest and most impressive yet. After a successful edition in 2023 in Karviná and an unforgettable continuation in 2024 in Tabor, the event is back, this time even bigger and richer. For the first time, the programme was divided into two days to make the most of the busy schedule and to ensure that every participant had an unforgettable experience.
NHL Hockey Day in the Czech Republic 2025 brought the full NHL Global Fan Tour, offering interactive activities for fans of all ages - from precision shooting and shot speed measurement to hockey simulators, virtual reality, PS5 with the latest NHL 25 video game and more. The program also included a youth tournament to showcase the talents of future hockey stars and on-ice activities.
The highlight of Friday's day was the expected Match of Legendsfeaturing Czech hockey icons and famous faces from the NHL world:
TEAM BACK:
Michal Neuvirth (number 30), Antonín Nowak (1), Radim Vrbata (17), Václav Nedorost (13), Martin Hanzal (11), Petr Míka (79), Libor Procházka (5), Jakub Nakládal (87), Lukáš Krajíček (25), Jiří Tlustý (19), Jakub Belan (71), Dominik Buják (37), David Pastor (29), Viliam Béreš (12). Coach: Slavomir Lener
TEAM COP:
Dušan Salfický (72), Rostislav Olesz (57), Zbyněk Irgl (24), Milan Kraft (14), Jaroslav Bednář (21), Zdeněk Kutlák (80), Rostislav Klesla (4), Michal Barinka (42), Roman Polák (46), Filip Byčkov (91), Denis Puchala (10), Ondřej Rybníkář (18), Petr Smíčka (9). Coach: Vladimír Vůjtek st.
If you go back some ten or fifteen years, it could look as if the NHL was playing in Ostravar Arena in Vítkovice. Logos of the overseas league decorated the boards and hockey players like Roman Polák, Radim Vrbata, Rostislav Klesla, Václav Nedorost, Jiří Tlustý, Rostislav Olesz and others were on the ice.
But it's 2024 and these players have been retired for a year. Still, like several thousand fans in the stands, they enjoyed the exhibition game that culminated the first part of the Ostrava Hockey Day in the Czech Republic on Friday.
"I enjoyed it. The last time I stood on it (during Hockey Day 2023) in Karviná. That was two years ago. But it wasn't the worst. I think it wasn't the biggest shame and there were worse players, I won't name them - Zbyněk Irgl for example - who were much worse than me," lamented the former defender Roman Polák.
The Ostrava native played 806 games in the NHL for the St. Louis Blues, Toronto Maple Leafs, San Jose Sharks and Dallas Stars before leaving for Vítkovice in 2020 and retiring two years later.
He took the exhibition quite prestigiously, as he was also the captain of a team composed mainly of stars of the region and younger players from the university competition. His team "flowed" at first, in the third period they were already losing 1:4 to Radim Vrbata's team full of players from the Czech Republic. But in the end, they turned the four-on-four game around spectacularly and won 9:6.
"The goaltenders were unbelievable, they were catching very well, so then we gave them some notes and it got a little bit crazy," enjoyed an eight-goal cannonade in the final period.
The highlight of the exhibition was the 60-year-old Bedřich Ščerban, former famous Jihlava and national team player. Among the younger players, he was not lost in the defence of Vrbat's team.
"It was excellent. I was very happy to come. I still miss hockey and I miss it, so when I was asked to come and play, I decided to come right away and I had a great time," Shcherban said. "The guys are younger, you can see that they are 20 years better, but I played well, I'm happy..."
The performance of the Vítkovice matador was also appreciated by Václav Nedorost. "Yogi goes to play with the old guard. And if you're on the ice once or twice a week, it helps. But hats off to him. I'm 42 years old and I'd rather not go anymore because you don't get that much joy out of it because of the movement that's not there on the ice and the lightness. But that's the way it is." shrugged the former Colorado Avalanche and Florida Panthers forward.
On the other hand, he was very critical of his own performance. "My knees held up, but my fitness didn't. I don't go out to play, the last time I wore gear was last year. (on Hockey Day) in Tábor. It's clear that the movement is not there, the coordination, the agility... It's hard," he sighed, adding that he had seen similar things with other veterans - for example, his friend Vrbata.
"I shot in the first period, a tragedy. Vrbic in the second, he didn't score either. So we made fun of ourselves. But the main thing is that after that, goals were falling for people. There were a lot of kids here, the guys made nice bluffing moves, so the crowd was really into it." Nedorost said.
"I was on the ice for the first time since July, so I can't say I enjoyed it," agreed Vrbata, who has over a thousand NHL games under his belt - 1,057 with Colorado, Carolina Hurricanes, Chicago Blackhawks, Tampa Bay Lightning, Phoenix Coyotes, Vancouver Canucks and Florida.
"But it was a good event, especially for the people. It was great to meet guys I haven't seen in a while. Hockey-wise, it was more about surviving it."
The veterans' duel was preceded on Friday by the boys' tournament, which was dominated by Poruba's players ahead of second-placed Vítkovice and third-placed Krnov. Přerov, Krnov, Havířov, Opava...
And that's what the event is all about - it's a festival for young hockey players and all the other fans who will get one step closer to the NHL and hockey itself. On Saturday, a varied programme with the NHL Global Fan Tour and a number of interactive attractions right in the Ostravar Arena contributed to this. And for the first time, the Hockey Days in the Czech Republic the fans could have their picture taken with the Stanley Cup.
At 6:30 p.m., the event culminated in a party watching the NHL championship game Florida Panthers and Boston Bruins with Czech aces David Pastrňák and Pavel Zacha in the lineup, which was projected on a cube under the ceiling of the arena.
"I think it's amazing." Polák said. "The main thing is to make it a little bit etched in people's memory, because after all these matches (NHL) are mostly due to the time shift elsewhere. So it's only good if it's promoted like this with these events. There could be more."
nhldenhokeje.cz/ nhl.com/ gnews.cz - RoZ
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