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Keygan · 07-24-2020, 04:57 PM

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Barret McCarthy
Position: Right Defense | Shoots: Right
Height: Six-foot two-inches | Weight: 225 lbs | Born: Hartford, Connecticut

Drafted: 17th Overall, Vancouver Whalers | 16th Overall, Manhattan Rage

Originally an American born player, Barret McCarthy was granted exceptional waiver status in a successful bid to play for his mother's homeland of the Czech Republic during the 45th season of the Simulated Hockey league. A household name now in Manhattan, Barret has been manning a top 4 position in the Manhattan defensive core for the better part of a decade. A true to the name two-way defensemen has been a blessing for a Czech team, as it allows former winger DeMaricus Smyth the opportunity to man the wing position for a forward starved Czechian roster.

During the regular season, Barret seemed to struggle compared to an average season of his, only putting up seven goals and twenty-two assists, good for twenty-nine points overall. Though the blame may not lay directly on McCarthy, a negative six rating on a strong Manhattan team showed that he was a bit out of sorts this season, and ultimately I expect him to pick it up come the IIHF season, as he is typically a very strong defender in his own end.

Though the Czech players have had a strong tournament as a whole, McCarthy has struggled when compared to the lofty expectations placed upon him as a defensive captain of the team, putting together a line of the following: one Goal, two Assists, three Points with a Plus / Minus hovering around two. The Czech management will need to see a much more defensively responsible game from the now veteran defenseman. Look towards the veteran as an important piece going forward if the Czech Republic looks to repeat their success from last season.

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Piotr Czerkawski
Position: Right Wing | Shoots: Left
Height: Six-foot two-inches | Weight: 220 lbs | Born: Radomsko, Poland

Drafted: 8th Overall, Montreal Militia | 3rd Overall, New England Wolfpack

The Polish superstar, relative of Mariusz Czerkawski of the National Hockey League, a direct competitor to the Simulated Hockey League. An odd situation for the Simulated Hockey League when declaring nationality is the fact that if your home country is not one of the current teams, you are allowed to declare your nationality on a whim. Luckily for the Czechs, Piotr was clearly interested in the team they were building, as in the 41st season of the Simulated Hockey League Czerkawski opted to use the ability to declare his nationality as Czech.

The former third overall pick of the New England Wolfpack has been a part of a flurry of transactions, playing for a total of four teams in total, most recently the San Francisco Pride. An elite winger in his many years in the league, winning a Challenge Cup with the famous Edmonton Blizzard during the 45th season of the Simulated Hockey League. An original member of the dominant expansion franchise the New Orleans Specters, Czerkawski left the team following the 51st season of the SHL, his fifth season with New Orleans.

An absolutely outstanding four goals and seven assists for the Polish born superstar is good for fifth on the team this season, and a large part of Czechia’s offensive output can be credited to Czerkawski. Similar to McCarthy though, the one knock that can be made on Czerkawski is the fact that even though he is scoring at quite an electric pace, the team around him is clearly letting in a lot of goals themselves, as he sits at a plus one rating overall, slightly disappointing considering his eleven points. If Czechia is to repeat their medal success, Czerkawski will need to continue to score points at an exciting rate, and begin to slow down the opposing offenses as well.

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Brady McIntyre
Position: Left Defense | Shoots: Left
Height: Six-foot four-inches | Weight: 220 lbs | Born: Grand Haven, Michigan

Drafted: 5th Overall, St. Louis Scarecrows | 4th Overall, Edmonton Blizzard

The centerpiece of Edmonton’s strong core of players maintained throughout the entirety of the 40’s was originally an American player for the World Juniors tournament, but ultimately decide to fall back into his father’s footsteps as a players for the Czechoslovakian ice hockey team we have come to know and leave these past seasons. Though, when McIntyre originally joined the team, it was not all great players like you see today. Often times back then teams thought of the Czech players and team as a bit of a joke, a laughing stock of the IIHF you would have to say, but since bringing in McIntyre, he has been vocal to free agents of the IIHF on the importance of community within your team, this has allowed him to build a strong team from the ground up to compete with powerhouses such as Canada and the United States of America, this is no small feat for a small Czech team.

A team first player has historically always been willing to do whatever it took to win as a unit rather than as an individual, the ultimate example of a selfless player. McInytre has always been a star, but many would claim he hit a ceiling that he never found a way to surpass due to his selfless nature. Eclipsing fifty points only once, back in season 47 of the SHL, nineteen of which came VIA the disgustingly good powerplay unit with Tor Tuck on his side. Unfortunately though, this selfless came at the cost of individual hardware, as McIntyre has only been able to secure one award in his career, an Aidan Richan (Most Improved Player) award, back in the 44th season of the league.

Clearly he has put himself in an advantageous position with the Czechian roster though, as he has been their best player thus far through a full twelve games, sporting five goals, eleven assists for a total of 16 points while also sporting a team best plus minus rating of twelve. McIntyre as a veteran on this roster, and a person who built their heart and soul into building this roster has begun to reap the benefits as he looks as though he has a great chance of bringing home the tournaments best defensemen around at the end of round robin play. I can imagine you will continue to see the young Czech roster rally around McIntyre as a centrepiece of their offense, and the coaching staff will need to depend on his continuous offensive production out of the defense position if they look to repeat success this season.

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Charlie Schieck
Position: Left Defense | Shoots: Left
Height: Six-foot three-inches | Weight: 190 lbs | Born: Halifax, Nova Scotia

Drafted: 1st Overall, Montreal Militia | 42nd Overall, San Francisco Pride

A really exciting prospect in the minor leagues ended up dropping a significant amount, all the way to 42nd overall and landed in the laps of the San Francisco Pride. A centerpiece for the franchise that has been constantly stricken with woe as high draft picks leave to other teams in free agency, often taking captaincy and management positions. Loyal to a fault, Schieck seems like a player many teams build around, a franchise cornerstone would you and to run into that at the 42nd position of any draft is special and a blessing for a struggling franchise.

Coming to the Czech’s in the midst of the 43rd iteration of the SHL, he has since become a defensive stalwart for them in the years since, as he is now proud holder of the third highest plus minus rating in the history of hockey in th Czech Republic.

In terms of the IIHF this season, Schieck has been serviceable. As he has accumulated eight points, one by goal and seven by the way of the assist combined with a positive seven plus minus rating. This has allowed the Czech’s to play more aggressively with their forwards as they know they have a long-time defensemen on the wing, ready to backcheck as necessary. If the Czech’s look to repeat their medal success, look to Scheick to continue providing ample defense from an unnatural position of the right wing.

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Knox Booth
Position: Goaltender | Shoots: Right
Height: Six-foot five-inches | Weight: 215 lbs | Born: Vancouver, British Columbia

Drafted: 20th Overall, Colorado Raptors | 14th Overall, Toronto North Stars

An elite goalie in his own rights, originally drafted 14th overall by the Toronto North Stars was almost immediately shipped off to the Los Angeles Panthers for only a second round draft pick. Which is especially odd when considering Knox himself was taken as a first round draft pick. Though the change might have been exactly what Knox himself was looking for, as he has gone on to have an incredibly productive career as a member of the Panthers.

Knox, another Canadian importee originally transferred after the conclusion of the 49th season of the SHL. He has been one of the most important transfers in the history of Czech hockey, as before him, the goalie situation in the Czech Republic was often seen as a rotation door of mediocrity. Though that is not the case anymore as Knox is a brick wall, and often referred to as one of the best goaltenders in the entire league.

That however, has not been the case this season as Knox has the worst save percentage among all goalies to have played more than 6 games this IIHF season, recording a measly 0.874 save percentage and a loud 3.27 goals against average. If the Czech’s have any hope of a repeat medal performance their best and quite frankly only hope rests on the shoulders of their long time goaltender to step up his game and produce the kind of saves he is known for.

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Conor Tanner
Position: Center | Shoots: Right
Height: Six-foot seven-inches | Weight: 270 lbs | Born: Salt Spring Island, British Columbia

Drafted: 9th Overall, Montreal Militia | 32nd Overall, Edmonton Blizzard

The son of long time Blizzard defenseman Connor Tanner, Conor has begun to make a name for himself in this league separate from his father, as a stark contrast would be the fact that while his father transferred into Canada, he himself has just recently transferred out. After realizing he was buried in the depth charts of an incredible team Canada, Conor opted to use his mother’s birth nation as an option to move nations to the Czech Republic.

A draftee during the 49th season of the SHL, Tanner has been with the Edmonton Blizzard his entire professional career, something his father was unable to do. He has played primarily third line minutes as a young player on the team and aspiring top line center, though those plans have been derailed as the team has asked him to play defense going forward.

A young player with not a lot of responsibility, Tanner has played amicably on the third line for the Czech Republic. Accumulating two goals and five assists good for seven points in total, with a plus minus rating of four. I am not sure the total expectation of Tanner going forward as this point, but I am sure the Czech’s look forward to having another scoring option on the third line for now. Look for Tanner to continuing assisting at a high rate if the Czech’s are to find success outside of Round Robin play this tournament.

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Ruslan Zaporozhets
Position: Left Wing | Shoots: Right
Height: Six-foot one-inch | Weight: 200 lbs | Born: Zaporizhzhya, Ukraine

Drafted: 13th Overall, St. Louis Scarecrows | 9th Overall, Toronto North Stars

A young winger for the Toronto North Stars has been training and improving at an astonishing rate thus far since being drafted. Ruslan transferred to the Czech Republic during the 50th season of the SHL. A first time appearance for the winger will be coming this tournament.

What to expect from Ruslan if we expect Czech’s to make another run at a medal? Nothing dramatic, just that Ruslan defend his position properly and not become a pylon on the ice.

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Ambacas Cuddles
Position: Right Defense | Shoots: Right
Height: Seven-foot nine-inches | Weight: 350 lbs | Born: Land of Gumba, Chuk-E-Cheeses

Drafted: 15th Overall, Carolina Kraken | 2nd Overall, Tampa Bay Barracuda

A young aspiring star in Ambacas transferred to the Czech Republic in season 52 after being told that the Land of Gumba did not actually exist. When told this I suppose Ambacas decided the next closest thing to the Land of Gumba is the Czech Republic. A former top three draft pick has been training and improving at a blistering rate and looks to be a part of the Czech’s defensive core sooner rather than later.

Though he transferred to the Czech Republic recently, he is not yet worthy of an IIHF roster position and as such will not be playing. Therefore in order for the Czech’s to repeat their medal success he will have to do absolutely nothing. A lot of pressure for a rookie, but a former second overall pick lives and dies by the amount of pressure they can handle.