“I’d like to play, but my health doesn’t allow me. I have a herniated disc, so I’ll just be in rotation,” admitted Martin Ručinský, whose coaching colleagues will also include Martin Straka, Jaroslav Špaček, Josef Beránek and Pavel Patera . “My back hurts, I can’t even play tennis, which I love. I should train all January, because you can’t play such a match from the penalty spot. I haven’t been on the ice for two and a half years, I only played tennis summer at the farewell of Franta Lukeš and Viktor Hübl, where I hurt my back again. But it’s crazy how time flies and it’s already been like this since Nagano 25 years.”
Despite the absence of hockey elegance, despite the absence of the insurmountable Dominator in goal or the golden goal scorer Petr Svoboda, a decent show is preparing in February. The squad of Czech legends will include Patrik Eliáš, Petr Nedvěd, David Výborný, Petr Klíma and Jan Hlaváč.
And since the match will also be a rematch for the recent similar match in Bratislava, which the Czechs won 5:4, the Slovaks are preparing a bulging roster. Ľubomír Višňovský is putting together a squad in which Mariánové Hossa and Gáborík will appear, Richard Zedník, Žigmund Pálffy, and Peter Bondra and Zdeno Chára are also in talks.
“In Bratislava it was heated and loaded. Now we want to return it to the Czechs,” promises Višňovský. And Ručinský, also on the substitute bench in Bratislava, nods. “Regular hockey was being played, which is good because people who come to see don’t want to see some retired hockey players just slip in there and just push the puck.”
Tickets for the duel have been on sale since Tuesday and cost between 790 and 2,990 kroner.
