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Coach, your last pre-tournament event is over, how do you feel about it?
I was disappointed with the first game where we played with not enough confidence and failed to do what we were supposed to do. In game two, however, the girls showed their quality out there and I liked their persistent checking and frequent shots. Nonetheless, we still have got to improve both the quantity of shots and driving the net.

What exactly went wrong in the first game?
First off, we failed to pass the puck up from the back, our defenders had no chemistry neither with each other nor with the forwards who were also quite bad at their positioning in that game. Up front, we didn´t check the way we wanted. Maybe it was that way because our girls aren´t used to playing such tough opponents, while the Japanese team had more time to focus on its game. It´s been a recurring problem that we have a bad first game before the girls get used back to international hockey again.

How much do you like playing against Japan?
Japan has a fast team with great discipline which can frustrate the opponent. Also, they had all their players here in Třemošná and flew right to Sochi for the Olympics. We missed about five of our girls.

In the second game the entire second line consisted of U18 players. How were you impressed with their performance?
I liked it. They are talented players and we want to try as much of them and their peers as possible. That doesn´t mean they´re going to be in Přerov with us though. We are happy to have them, however, and we hope they can have impact in the future.

The first line consists of experienced forwards Alena Polenská, Simona Studentová and Eva Holešová. Do you plan to keep them together?
They have played in one line together since the tournament in Japan. They meet our requirements, but I can´t promise that they will play together forever.

You will play against Denmark, France, Slovakia, Norway and Austria in Přerov. How are they going to be different from Japan?
I believe that teams between numbers five and fifteen in the rankings are very similar in strength. This year we have only played Slovaks and I haven´t seen other teams much. We´re ready for tough matchups and we know that the opponents have loads of experienced players. We can´t underestimate them and so we must reckon they´re as good as Japan.

Do you believe that you will be in place of making plays and the opponents will rather just wait what you do?
Every game is different, it´s as hard as we make it. It depends on how well our girls are going to meet the requirements. Of course we´d love to make plays in every game and not play passive hockey. If we play as active as we did in the second game against Japan, we can cause real problems to anybody. That way we also managed to play well in all our games at last year´s World Women´s Championship in the elite division.

How much of an advantage will home ice give you?
That´s tough to say, but after what we saw a couple years ago at the U18 WWC in Přerov, we expect full house in every game. I hope the girls don´t break down under that weight.

All games are free to attend. How would you lure potential fans in?
I´d tell them to come and see the beautiful girls in action. A lot of people know nothing about women´s hockey. In December we went to an U16 men´s hockey tournament in Liberec and most coaches we played against were surprised by the way our team played. They liked it. Some people don´t like that there´s no hitting, but that requires the girls to skate more and harder. I think it´s a great opportunity for people to come look what women´s hockey looks like.