The national team is preparing for the home world championship, which will be played in Prague and Ostrava after nine years. In 2015, the Czech team remained just below the podium. Already in May, he will probably have another chance to fight for medals in front of his fans, even with reinforcements from the NHL. In the past, home team victories came rather rarely, in the 104-year history of the world championships, it happened nine times. In the 21st century, only the Swedes and Finns succeeded.
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9:00 a.m. April 29, 2024 Share on Facebook
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Finland, Sweden and Czechoslovakia managed to celebrate the title of world champions in front of their home audience | Source: iROZHLAS collage
Hockey fans have vivid memories of Finland’s triumph at the Tampere and Helsinki 2022 world championships. After a heroic performance in the final where the Finns defeated the Canadians, the legendary 203-centimetre-tall Marko Anttila celebrated with the cup above his head in a packed Nokia Arena in Tampere. But the Finnish team is not the only one that has won gold medals in front of the home crowd in history.
Title in times without playoffs
Historically, the Czechoslovaks became the first winners of the hockey championship in their country in 1947. At the first world championship held after the Second World War, the home team won by one point over Sweden, although they lost to them in the match between them. At that time, the classic elimination system was not used. All teams competed against each other and the champion was decided by the final total of points in the table. Striker Vladimír Zábrodský played a significant role in winning the title in 1947, scoring 29 goals in the tournament. He became the best scorer of the entire tournament.
Two titles in one
Until 1968, the winner of the Winter Olympics automatically became the world champion. At the 1960 Games held in Squaw Valley, USA, nine teams participated in the tournament, which were divided into three groups of three. The best two teams from each group then advanced to the final group, which thus provided a total of six teams. In this group, each team played one match against each other, and the team with the highest number of points became the winner of the Olympic Games. The gold medals were won by the Americans, who were never defeated in the final group.
The second golden ride in Prague
The Czechoslovak hockey team achieved a great triumph in front of the home fans in 1972, because in a politically tense time they were able to surpass the selection of the Soviet Union. The nine-year dominance of the USSR at the hockey championships was thus interrupted at the World Championships in Prague. Mutual matches ended 3:2 and 3:3 for the Czech hockey players, in the final table the home team gained three more points and celebrated the title.
The return of the strong ‘sthick headed’
Sborná, as the hockey players of the Soviet Union are nicknamed, returned to the hockey throne a year later in Moscow. With the legendary goalkeeper Vladislav Treťyak, who later worked in the coaching staff of the Russian national team, the USSR team in 1973 convincingly went for the gold.
The Soviet Union equaled Czechoslovakia in the number of domestic championships in 1979. At the World Championships in Moscow, it dominated both the preliminary and final groups, and Czechoslovakia had to settle for silver this time. From then on, the choir’s golden dominance at the World Championships continued until 1985.
Golden hat trick
In 1985, the Czechoslovak hockey players managed to break the Soviet dominance again at the home championship. In the basic group, in which all the participants of the tournament were, they finished only fourth, but in the final group they defeated the USSR 2:1. The legendary Vladimír Růžička scored the decisive goal. The same scorer also took part in the demolition of the United States, scoring a hat-trick, and his team won supremely 11:2. The home team also beat Canada in Prague, which was also scored by Jiří Šejba with a hat trick.
The last victory of the Soviets
For many years, the last victory of the home team at the world championship was the triumph of the Soviet Union in Moscow in 1986. The team sovereignly dominated the main group and in the final beat second place Sweden by a difference of three points.
Nordic dominance
The next triumph of the domestic hockey players at the World Cup came in 2013. The championship was held in Stockholm and Helsinki, while the official host country was Sweden. And the Tre Kronor selection mastered the championship played in a modern style, i.e. a system of basic groups and playoffs. The home team finished in third place behind Switzerland and Canada in Group A, which was played in Stockholm. The Czechs advanced to the quarterfinals from fourth place, but did not enter the fight for medals, as they were eliminated by the Swiss. Sweden progressed through the knockout stage through the other side of the spider, knocking out Canada, Finland and beating Switzerland in the final. They celebrated gold after a clear 5:1 win.
So far, the last victory of the home team at the World Cup is the already mentioned Finnish gold from 2022. The championship in Prague and Ostrava, which starts on May 10, offers a unique opportunity for the Czech hockey players to repeat the feat of their predecessors in 1985. If the national team were to win any precious metal, it would be the first time in the history of the independent Czech Republic in front of a domestic audience.
If the Czechs won the title, they would surpass the Soviet Union, which celebrated world gold in Moscow three times. If the national team succeeds in the final on May 26, the home team will be decorated in Prague for the fourth time in history.
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