MILAN — There were some bruised feelings a year ago, when the four nations selected unilaterally by the NHL in a Russia-less return to international best-on-best hockey did not include the likes of Czechia, which had won IIHF World Championship the previous summer.
Ditto Slovakia, ditto Switzerland, ditto Germany, as what sort of tournament can call itself best-on-best without the young dynamo Juraj Slafkovsky or the old sage Roman Josi or let alone the surly yet electric Leon Draisaitl?
No tournament, of course, and certainly not these Olympic Games, where 12 countries — again, sans Russia, still under righteous sanction for the invasion of Ukraine — compete for gold starting Wednesday when the Slovaks face the Finns.
And for all the understandable attention on the United States, Canada, Sweden and Finland, this is not a case of four teams and then everyone else.
Hockey-loving nations like Czechia, where they filled Prague’s Old Town Square and where David Pastrnak giddily chugged beers after the 2024 Worlds, might have something to say about that.
“Half of the whole career, I’ve been waiting [for this],” said Pastrnak, the Bruins superstar who waved the Czech flag at the opening ceremony. “For a kid in Europe, you don’t have much chance to watch [the] NHL because of the time change, so all you do is watch the Olympics and the national team. It’s an amazing feeling, enjoying every day. I want it to start, but at the same time, I know when it starts, it’s going to go fast.”
Switzerland and Czechia, which have the most NHL players of the non-4 Nations teams, are considered the biggest medal threats of that group.
But even the likes of Germany, which include Draisaitl and Senators star Tim Stützle, and Latvia, which nearly upset Canada with a 55-save performance from goaltender Kristers Gudlevskis at the 2014 Games, need to be taken seriously.
“When we won the bronze medal at World Championships, our national president [Egils Levits], he made a holiday on that day,” said Elvis Merzlikins, Latvia’s goaltender this time around. “If we’re gonna bring medals home from the Olympics, I don’t know what’s gonna happen. They’re gonna build a statue of us probably.”
Islanders winger Ondrej Palat, who came a disappointing third in the group with Czechia at the 2014 Sochi Games, admits his nation is not the favorite here.
“But anything can happen in those games,” Palat told The Post. “So we’re gonna try our best, play in a good system, follow it. Hopefully we can surprise some teams.”
The Czechs open against mighty Canada on Thursday a few hours after the Swiss begin their campaign against underdogs France.
Unlike the U.S. and Canada, who often bring half-baked squads to World Championship each spring, these are countries where the IIHF’s annual tournament is treated as a big deal, and thus where their rosters are not at all dissimilar from what they’ve brought to Italy.
“We’re definitely a confident group,” Josi told The Post. “I think one of our strengths is that we’ve played with each other for a couple of Worlds now. A lot of guys know each other really well. And I think our team game is our strength.
“When we play top teams, you gotta play as a team as best you can. You gotta have a good team game. I think that’s one of our strengths. I think we understand who the favorites are, I don’t think we need to hide. We definitely have a lot of confidence in our group.”
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Josi, after the Swiss first practiced here on Sunday, called this the best national team he’s ever played on.
Milan’s proximity to Switzerland — just 45 minutes to the border town of Chiasso by car — will likely mean the national team is well supported here., and the trio of Devils on their team already have plenty of chemistry
“You grow up watching these big events, Summer and Winter Olympics,” said Nico Hischier, one of those three along with Timo Meier and Jonas Siegenthaler. “It’s only every four years. It’s very cool to be experiencing this now. It took a little while, but the players are all very happy to be part of it.”
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