Yeah! I enjoyed it as well, I think long term I like šapovalivová at center more but the point of these games is to try things out and I digged them trying it out

“Dara Greig's scheduled event with the Walter Cup in Lethbridge, Alberta was postponed because the Cup did not arrive in time. A commenter on Reddit claims that the Cup did not show up - that the case was filled with computer parts instead.”

This is crazy I just opened my bag of computer parts and the Walter cup was there

I think both are in such interesting spots.

For Czechia, they now have two Olympic cycles under their belt. The process of making their first Olympics and winning their first two bronze medals were led by the core of Mrázová, vanišová, mills, pejzlová, tejralová, lásková, peslarová, and křížová. Other players like čajanová, pejšová, mlýnková were there but were very very young and thus didn’t start getting bigger roles until the second Olympic cycle. All of those players are still a huge part of the team, but in this upcoming cycle, I think you’ll see the offense primarily get built around Kalty (who’s place in the team last cycle was also weird as she didn’t join the team until the world championship before the Olympics), mlýnková, and šapovalivová. I think they are the most talented of the 25 and under players, but it never felt like the offensive systems were built for them to succeed in the last few tournaments, and that is the focal point I think needed for Czechia to succeed this cycle. Not to say that players like plosová and gildainová won’t be a big part of the team going forward, but those are the three that I think are both 1) players that just can completely take over a game on their own 2) will be entering their prime years.

But as you said, despite a pretty big wealth of forward talent, I think Brian Idalski even at his best (st cloud state, university of North Dakota) has never been one to run a system of overpowering offense, which is what I think Czechia should be leaning into, but I’m less familiar with the assistant coaches (well, I know Ivo from his time at the riveters and think he actually did a decent job with very little but it’s such a different situation I can’t really compare) so maybe that’s one of their strengths.

Sweden is a different configuration. Because of the boycott and other stuff the team is very young, having spent most of the last cycle developing together and rebuilding, so most are in the same age group and played in national team programs vs a lot of other teams which have to find a way to mix several generations of players and land on a style of play (of course the best teams have consistency in how they develop so this is less of a problem as everyone is used to the same thing.) on top of them building up their domestic u19 league to allow players to develop together under similar conditions / philosophies, now a bunch of their key players have joined Ohio State, so they get the benefit of going to one of the best collegiate programs and continuing to build chemistry with each other.

Czechia has done a good job setting its players up with good abroad opportunities, but I think seeing some of the other euro teams has had them realize the benefits of strong domestic junior leagues when it comes to developing players for your national team and being able to influence more of what your players focus on and what coaches they know and such, which is why they’re beginning to turn their focus that way

Sorry if this makes zero sense or my wording is off I’m once again slacking and blogging at work lol

I very very strongly believe in Sweden this upcoming cycle for the reason that ljungblom - Svensson as your top two centers + jungåker as your long term top defender (I know it’s kind of between her and MNP right now, but I think as jungåker gets older she’ll be the clear cut #1 as much as I love MNP), and Svensson träff in goal is just one of the best units in Europe all around.

Have been watching these games at work and it’s been a busy time of year so haven’t been able to give my full attention but enjoyed watching today a lot. Obviously you can’t put too much on these (especially with both rosters missing some key players, Czechia a bit more impacted imo just bc of how important Kalty and Mrázová are, but I think these are games where the process / player evaluation for bubble players matters more anyway) but it’s gotten me so excited for worlds !!

“(From Ian Kennedy) BREAKING. Multiple sources have confirmed that 2026-27 PWHL training camps will open November 18.That’s roughly 48 hours after the WC gold medal game in Denmark.”

The way they asked for it to be moved and still do this shit

Especially now with almost all teams having new coaches!