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***artermis*** · 07-25-2018, 03:33 PM

The following is the second of three stories I plan on writing to start off my unofficial SHL history book. I will include my ideals and message in the preface, but the basic premise is that our stories deserve to be told, as all we have left are people's stories of the past, besides numbers that is, and I wish to capture that.

The IIHF Tournament from the perspective of Czechoslovakia as told by artermis

Czechoslovakia wasn’t even supposed to exist. Under the international reform of S19 that saw the foundation of the IIHF to replace the IHF, twelve teams was the final goal. Canada, the United States, Finland, Sweden, Germany, Russia, Latvia and the United Kingdom all had the resources and the players necessary to be guaranteed spots in the IIHF, but there remained 4 more spots to fill and nine teams vying for said spots. They were: the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Ukraine, Norway, Switzerland, France, Italy and Austria. Italy, Ukraine and Poland determined they did not have the resources early on and dropped out, while Norway, Austria and Ireland gained enough support to move forward with their teams. That left the Czechs, the Slovaks, the Swiss and the French. The Swiss dropped their bid once their international forerunner decided to side with the Irish federation, and, to secure the final spot, the Czechs and Slovaks agreed to form a union to force France out and to guarantee their nations’ international hockey team’s future.

Flash forward five seasons to S25. The Czechoslovakians were 14-16-5 all-time in IIHF tournaments, which was good enough for the 11th spot in the world rankings, only out-ranking the Austrians who were struggling immensely. The early seasons of the IIHF were dominated by Canada, who’d go on to win seven straight medals, but just two seasons earlier the Czechs and Slovaks were lead to the quarterfinals almost single handedly by SHL legend Ondrej Ravchitikov, who would justy be named defenseman of the tournament, but his subsequent retirement left a hole. The Czechoslovak depth chart is thin at best and to lose even one key piece is a terrible loss; they would go 4-5-1 in the next tourney. Remaining was West Kendall’s monstrous power-forward Zalleras Szlercheck, the point-per-game phenom out of Toronto: Pierre Luc-Laflamme, and the ever-useful two-way forward Aviad Ratzon (who would play on defense) rounded out the team’s forward core. On D representing the Czechoslovaks was the aging veteran Walter White and Calgary blue-line centerpiece Sachimo Zoidberg. Finally, in net was the legendary Mike Verminski, who had taken on a backup role in the SHL by this point in his career, and with retirement on the horizon.

Czechoslovakia’s group looked fierce, but there was definitely opportunity to be captured. The group consisted of the 2nd and 3rd ranked Scandinavian powerhouses, Finland and Sweden; 6th and 7th ranked growing teams, Norway and Germany; finally the declining 10th ranked United Kingdom. Relying on depth scoring and incredible goaltending, the Czechs managed to make it through the double round robin splitting the series with most teams only not being able to beat Sweden in two scoring pack affairs. The highlight on the team by far had been Mike Verminski, who with a 92.1 save percentage and a 2.34 goals against average managed to get his unspectacular team through the more difficult matchups, at most only losing by 3 which was only one game. Czechoslovakia managed to clinch second in an incredibly tight group with only their defensemen and goaltender on the leaderboards.

In the medal rounds Czechoslovakia was paired against Ireland. That may sound like a tame matchup, but Ireland had won gold just two season prior with the power of it’s immense young generation and would not go quietly. Ireland would keep the pressure on the Czechs for nearly the entire game with 41 shots in total, but Mike Verminski would have an answer for each and every one as he dragged his team into overtime, in which the Irish continued to dominate, but one wrong move almost 14 minutes into overtime and allows Patrik Šatan to score the game-winner to let the Czechs move on, right into the jaws of the Canadian behemoth. Since the first IIHF tournament in S21 Canada has made every gold medal game and won it twice, not to mention they faced Sweden in the first round, the one team the Czechs couldn’t beat, and shrugged them off. Now it was David versus Goliath. It was as back-and-forth as it gets; Czechoslovakia opens scoring in the first but it is answered by the Canadians. The Czechs manage to get the lead early in the second but this too is short lived. The Canadians score in 40 seconds in the third on the powerplay to take the lead but Pierre-Luc Laflamme scores short-handed to take the game to OT. Despite having the shooting advantage the Canadians couldn’t solve Verminski, so the show moved on to the second overtime where, after a minute-long stretch in the Canadian zone, Sachimo Zoidberg blasts one away to send the Czechs to the gold medal game, the first eleventh seed to do so and only the second ever at the time of writing.

While the Czechs may have lost in the gold medal game, the miracle had already formed. The incredibly out-gunned Czechoslovakian teams managed to keep within three goals, and often only one of all their opponents armed with only depth scoring, two hardened defencemen and a 500 TPE goalie, who’d once again show dominance amongst his peers in the medal rounds posting up a 93.5% save percentage and a 1.68 goals against average. The final game was against the Latvians in the middle of their golden age who’d win their second gold medal in four seasons. The Czechs would catapult from their spectacular performance at the S25 tournament and would eventually rank fourth in the world, but wouldn’t medal again until S32 and haven’t again since.

Slappydoodle · 07-25-2018, 07:10 PM

Great article, really enjoyed reading it and it brought back a lot of good memories.

Czechoslovakia

But uh, wasn't I on this team too? Ole Slappy McDoodle, gone and apparently forgotten.

DeletedAtUserRequest · 07-26-2018, 01:52 PM

Very cool look back

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***artermis*** · 07-26-2018, 04:02 PM

07-25-2018, 07:10 PMSlappydoodle Wrote: Great article, really enjoyed reading it and it brought back a lot of good memories.

But uh, wasn't I on this team too? Ole Slappy McDoodle, gone and apparently forgotten.

Indeed you were, but as for Czech star power, you weren't quite there yet being a young player.

***artermis*** · 07-26-2018, 04:05 PM

Also something I neglected to mention, that Canadian team was the greatest in IIHF history, ranking points-wise

Slappydoodle · 07-26-2018, 04:24 PM

07-26-2018, 04:02 PMartermis Wrote:
07-25-2018, 07:10 PMSlappydoodle Wrote: Great article, really enjoyed reading it and it brought back a lot of good memories.

But uh, wasn't I on this team too? Ole Slappy McDoodle, gone and apparently forgotten.

Indeed you were, but as for Czech star power, you weren't quite there yet being a young player.

Yes, very true. McDoodle was still but a third line pup learning the way.

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