In the lead-up to the World Junior Hockey Championship back in late December, Moose Jaw Warrirors forward Martin Rysavy had a feeling his Team Czechia crew might be something special.
Something about their work ethic combined with their level of talent made it all look like things could turn out very well for a team that hadn’t won a medal at the tournament in nearly 20 years.
As it turns out, Rysavy’s instincts were spot on.
Czechia would go on to defeat Canada in their opening game, finish first in their round robin pool, and eventually fall in overtime to Canada in the gold medal game.
As a result, when Rysavy returned to Moose Jaw this past weekend after a week off back home in Prerov, it was with a silver medal and plenty of incredible memories from two weeks of success in Halifax and Moncton.
“It was such a great experience, second place in the World Juniors is a real success for us,” Rysavy said after the Warriors’ 4-2 win over Portland on Friday night. “It means a lot to people in Czech hockey because we hadn’t won a medal in 18 years, that was the main thing for us. It was a great experience for me and the whole team, only good memories, and it was great for the fans and everyone watching in the Czech Republic.”
It all started on Boxing Day in front of a packed house in Halifax’s Scotiabank Centre.
Czechia was the overwhelming underdog heading into the game, but they didn’t care about any of that, and would put together a 5-2 victory that raised a ton of eyebrows from many an onlooker.
“We had a great training camp, we did a good job and worked hard, and we took that into the game against Canada in the opener,” Rysavy said. “We just did the right things at the right speed, everyone was doing the same thing, playing together, that was the most important thing for us. I knew we had a good team and had a chance and it worked out that way.”
Czechia spent the rest of the round-robin showing that win wasn’t a fluke.
A 9-0 victory over Austria the next night maintained their hold on first place, and an overtime loss to Sweden still gave Rysavy’s crew a point in the standings.
Czechia then finished things off with an 8-1 win over Germany, with Rysavy enjoying his best game of the tournament in the process with a goal and three points.
Just like that, Czechia was 3-0-1-0 and had top spot in Group A, ahead of perennial World Junior luminaries Canada and Sweden.
“Everyone wants to finish in first place, it’s a better opportunity to get to the semifinals since we played the fourth-place team in the other group,” Rysay said. “There was a lot of pressure on us to beat Switzerland because we’d finished in first and they’d beat us in a pre-tournament game. But we played as a team, and we had a great game.”
Czechia cruised to a 9-1 victory in the quarter-final contest, setting up a semifinal rematch with Sweden. There, Czechia trailed 1-0 in the final minute but would find the tying goal, with Rysavy on the ice for the marker that sent things to overtime.
“I didn’t even see the shot, I was just standing there trying to see the puck and all of a sudden it’s in,” Rysavy said with a grin. “It was just great, awesome, it’s always something when you play hockey at any level, especially international hockey, and when you score that big goal.”
Jiri Kulich then scored in overtime, sending Czechia to the gold medal game.
There, it once again looked like things were all but over as Canada took a 2-0 lead into the final 10 minutes of the game, but Czechia scored goals less than a minute apart to send things to overtime. There, Dylan Guenther became the latest Team Canada World Junior legend when he scored the championship-winning goal.
“I think that was where we showed just how strong of a team we are,” Rysavy said.”We put everything we had into it, it’s always a lot of pressure when you want it so bad and we put our bodies, our legs, everything we could into it and ended up playing a great game.
“We ended up with the silver medal and it was close, but it was still a great success for Czechia and building confidence. Everyone on the team is a way better player than they were before the tournament and this will just help us in our careers.”
Rysavy drew an assist on the Warriors' second goal Friday night, and the fact he was at all effective after getting in at 1 a.m on game day after 26 hours of travel could be a sign of things to come.
“Through the tournament I could feel my confidence growing,” he said. “Now I just want to bring my experience from the World Juniors here and help the team have success.
If we play as a team in the playoffs, we can beat the big teams, and I just want to do what I can to be a better player and help the team win.”
The next home game for the Warriors is Tuesday, Jan, 17 when they host the Saskatoon Blades. Game time is 7 p.m. at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
