“Captain Radek Smoleňák leads Hradec Králové to historic silver medals after challenging season”

He can be proud of his team. Radek Smoleňák as captain led Hradec Králové to historic silver medals, which are especially valuable for Mountfield after the problems he went through during the season. Few believed that he could go all the way to the finals – and in it still resist Třinec brilliantly.

Radek, what emotions rule you?
Such a mixed bag. One feels a little bit that Třinec was meant to be. Of course, it would be different if we lost four times and didn’t tap. Třinec has an experienced team, they play in the finals every year, and we went into it as total novices and learned as we went. It was also a thing that played for Třinec, that it has played these matches.

In what way did you learn along the way?
Leaving aside the fact that there are thirty of you journalists at every match instead of two (Laughs). People stop you. And on the ice… Třinec usually scores the first goal, then makes the red flags. We learned to play smart, because if someone fucks it up in the regular season and gets a goal, it’s still November. Here today we give the house the first third, but then we make one mistake and boom, a goal. These are things we have to evaluate. These situations cannot happen to us if we want to beat such a team. On the other hand: I would like to win it, but if you have to lose, then with a team like Třinec.

Play off is really in his blood.
I don’t want to lower his level, he deserved to win, no problem. He beat great teams, hats off. But I think that we outplayed him in a lot of things and knew how to deal with him. However, our work around the goal, hunger for goals and skill in finishing condemned us to second place.

Even second place means a historic success for Hradec Králové.
I have it in me so that… (thinking) People only remember the winners. It’s more in my head that I wanted to experience the euphoria in the city and in the winter once more, like when we played the Champions League final. Even now, the people created such an atmosphere for us that it completely surpassed any match I’ve ever played. This is what I will remember from the final.

Do you feel that you have something to be proud of after the rough course of the season, when you were troubled by the malaise and you were scraping from the bottom half of the table?
Of course. What has happened this year, even to the players personally, is something you cannot imagine even in your wildest dreams. Even in the playoffs, from a health point of view, things happened that no one knows about. We put it together in such a way that whoever was healthy and had the morale to play went for it. Everyone in the dressing room deserves credit for playing with brutal self-denial.

How do you take silver personally? Do you think you missed one of your last chances to win the title?
It is so. When a person is twenty, they think that the chance will come ten more times. It was the second final for me now. God knows what will happen next year and the year after that. I wish I could experience it again, but I don’t know what tomorrow will bring.

Health problems really disrupted your entire season. Are you upset that you couldn’t get to your standard then?
It was not simple. I had a hip and now I can say that when I wanted to come back, I unluckily broke my heel. After four weeks I flew into it, which was a fluke. Then, in the last match in the regular season with Pardubice, when I fought with Musil, I broke my hand. I think I picked it up. But there were more of those in the squad who played with injuries that are not compatible with hockey at all. I’m sorry that I didn’t play as well as I should have, but the guys who got priority played excellently. I can’t even say ash. The coaches did everything for the team to make it work. They put guys there who were in the lauf and whom they trusted. When I broke my arm, I was thinking to make the playoffs, and if I get a minute, I’ll be happy. Of course, in my head I would like to play more, otherwise I wouldn’t be an athlete, but I took the role as it was.

How do you see the future of the Hradec Králové team and especially the younger players?
The boys played well, they have a lot of potential and I think they are far from showing what they can do. I keep an eye on them every day and see what they can and can’t do. I still wish them to aim even higher, to rake and that Hradec might not be the last stop for them. It’s up to them. It makes me happy when I can help them. When I was young I was happy for any advice.

You still have a contract for two more years.
I don’t give a fuck about it. I’m really looking forward to switching off, putting my body in a bit of a heap. Even more so, as I got through the injuries, I have the motivation to play the whole season and get back to some standard. But now it’s completely empty and I don’t care at all about what will happen in the summer.

You said goodbye to the fans with a nice thank you note. Did it make you feel at least a little better?
The fans come to see us, it costs them a lot of effort, money and so on, they take time off work… We can only repay them with some good performances. I hope that we made them at least slightly happy and that they saw that we did not slouch. That’s important. I wish they left feeling like we didn’t deliver.

After all, the Třinec fans were also calling you out.
I didn’t notice that, but it’s pretty. The fans here are hockey fans, they can also appreciate the other team. He doesn’t swear obscenely like in some other stadiums. I think Třinec is the only one where they don’t shout “Smolenák is a chu*ák.” (Laughs) I quite appreciate that. I applauded their team afterwards because they cheered well and we thank them for that.

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