France
Czech Republic
Norway
Slovakia
Austria
DenmarkFans in Přerov love hockey, says Czech captain Polenská
There are two days left until the World Women´s Championship in Přerov starts and the Czech team has already finished their preparation by scoring overtime wins against both Norway and Slovakia. On Saturday, the team will meet in Přerov and get ready for the venue itself. And even though it´s a young team it will rely a lot on its experienced players, including captain Alena Polenská.
We had seven players that we did not in the Slovakia game so we had a chance to work on our chemistry and try new things.
Do you think that the junior players are ready?
I´d say so, yes. We´d be happier if we had more time to practice powerplays and penalty killing. There are a couple practices left though so I believe we can work on that later and it will be okay.
You didn´t have much rest prior to the game, did it make any difference?
A little, yes. The junior players came straight here from Hungary and started practicing after about a half a day of resting so we could se they were fatigued. But we were too, having two practices each day.
What was the most dangerous thing about the play of Team Norway?
We could lock them in their own zone, but they were able to get out of there and make their way onto the offensive very quickly. We had problems responding to that sometimes.
The coaches tried mixing up the lines in the end of the game. Do you know what will the lines be in Přerov?
There were some changes, but I think we know the lines and what they will look like in Přerov.
You managed to get to know a couple of your opponents for the Přerov tournament...
It´s a little advantage, but there were just twelve players on Team Norway so we still don´t know who is going to fill those empty spots. Neither in case of Slovakia. We don´t know if they are going to be stronger or some of them can be injured. That let us down a little in Canada.
What about the other teams, Denmark, France and Austria?
We played with them in Latvia two years ago, but that´s a long time. Coaches got some videos of their play for us to see and we have yet to do that before the tournament starts.
Are you looking forward to the event?
Of course, we´ve been looking forward to it for quite some time.
The fans in Přefov have been amazing, won´t that put you under a little pressure though?
I think we can be under pressure because we were the one who was relegated from the top division last year. We feel that our only objective is to get promoted back up and that puts us under pressure. But the fans can only help us. They were amazing when we played there against Slovakia and they love hockey and to cheer for their team and it creates a great atmosphere. If we do something beautiful, they start clapping and you can hear it down there pretty well. It helps you with confidence.