"Czech junior hockey is, I think, worse and worse every year... It's not on a high level."That comment came to us on Saturday morning from a CHL goaltender hoping to represent the Czech republic later this month at the 2012 World Junior Championship. It was blunt and highly critical but perhaps most importantly... it's not wrong.
The Czech Republic has not finished with a medal at a World Junior Championship since 2005 in Grand Forks where they earned a bronze. A huge drop off from their success earlier in the decade where they captured back to back gold medals (2000 and 2001).
Over the last couple of years TPS has touched on the subject with a few Czech players to get a sense of what they think has happened to their national program.
