They enjoyed the fact that several dozen fans gave them a stormy welcome right at the airport. “The bitterness of the final fades away for everyone, joy comes from what the girls have achieved. If someone had told us before the championship that we would beat not only the Swedes but also the Canadians in the playoffs and play the finals with America, we would probably be tapping our foreheads,” said coach Dušan Andrašovský.
“Every hour since the match for the gold, our feeling is better, the initial sadness has passed, and now we have realized that we have achieved a huge success, which we greatly appreciate,” described the best striker of the championship, Adéla Šapovalivová.
The coach felt great strength from this junior selection even before the tournament, but he did not think about disrupting the overseas dominance. “I thought we could get a medal. Of course, the silver one around our neck is even better than the one we hoped for,” he said.
A lifetime experience? A win over Canada
At the same time, the Czechs did not play the tournament well. The defeat against the Finns (2:3) was followed by a 1:8 debacle with the Canadians in the group. “But then we pulled together, gave everything, played with heart and made it to the final. An unforgettable experience for me will be how we beat Canada for the first time in history,” said Šapovaliová, who after two bronzes from the adult World Cup also won junior silver.
She has one more medal in her collection than her brother Matyáš, the mainstay of the twenty. “No family heckling, my brother and I wish each other. He supported me, as I supported him two weeks ago,” she said.
Photo: IIHF
Adéla Šapovalivová receives the silver medal from the Junior Women’s Hockey World Cup.
The elite line, Anežka Čabelová, Adéla Šapovalivová, Tereza Plosová, led the Czech team offensively, and the goalkeeper Aneta Šenková, who is still catching for Litoměřice juniors, also paid for the trump card.
“Czech women’s hockey is on the rise, the successes of the A team confirm this, and we have also caught the trend. I believe it can launch our careers for all of us. Coaches from overseas universities were also there, they saw what we could do, and hopefully we got to know them,” explained the best goalkeeper of the tournament. “All the girls played great, I’m really proud of them,” concluded Andrašovský.
2024-01-16 05:42:25
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