From an article in the Star Tribune this morning by John Gilbert, Staff Writer:
**note: MY comments will be in < > brackets!
 
The Gophers hockey team returned to the ice Sunday after a week's layoff, and
it looked like it. The Czech Selects, after a 24-hour air trip, played their
first game ever together, but nobody in the crowd of 6,745 at Mariucci Arena
could tell, as they free-wheeled to a 5-1 exhibition hockey victory.
 
< This may have been the Czechs first time together but there were at least
three sets of 3-4 players that had played together in different "club teams" as
 were listed in the program.  The attendance figure was highly inflated...even
if they counted ALL the people in the building including the teams on the ice
and everyone working the concessions......no way, there were that many people
there!>
 
"Too many penalties," said Czech coach Tomas Herstus. "This was our first game
 on an American-sized rink, and we're just glad to have good health after fly-
ing for 24 hours. We have never played together before, so we are playing just
as good as we can right now."
 
When it was mentioned to Herstus, who coaches the Slava Praha team, that the
Czechs displayed excellent skills, he shrugged and told the interpreter,  "It
was just Czech hockey."
 
The Czech team reflects the split of its homeland, into Czech and Slovak states
 and when this team goes home, there will be two ice hockey federations. The
Select team that beat the Gophers to start a seven-game tour against WCHA teams
 is made up of college-age players, mostly age 19-22 (two are 23, one is 24)
from the First Division league, a development league below the Elite level.
 
"Their individual skill level was fun to watch," said Gophers coach Doug Woog.
"It's good for us to see different styles. This was also the first time our
guys looked at the puck coming at them one-on-one and got beat. We missed a lot
 of goal-type plays, maybe because we had a week off from practice. But we got
a lot of kids the chance to play."
 
< The game was interesting and VERY fast. The Czech players could really motor!
 Woog tried various line combinations with 24-25 players on the bench. There
were three new Gophers that I had never seen skate before, Matt Stelljes,
Ryan Alstead, and Steve Green. I think the team had fun with it too.>
 
Woog didn't suit up Craig Johnson, Scott Bell, or goalie Tom Newman. Freshman
Jeff Moen played goal, and did well after a start that nobody could hold
against him. In the first minute, defenseman Chris McAlpine put an attempted
outlet pass directly on the stickblade of Miroslav Mach, and the player who
might be the best on the Czech team cruised in, held the puck <deked and faked>
 and beat Moen at 0:47.
 
McAlpine admitted he had an erratic day with the puck. Teammate Jeff Nielsen
heckled him, saying, "That was your only pass of the game that hit anybody on
the tape."  < ;-) >
 
Mach circled the net at 12:38 and fed in front, where Jan Kasik's quick shot
beat Moen for a 2-0 lead, and Tomas Placatka drove hard on the left side,
passed back to the slot, then converted Kasik's perfect return feed at the left
 edge at 13:23 for a 3-0 start.
 
"It was fun out there," Moen said. "They're so smooth, and they can give you a
lot of head and body fakes and still hold the puck where they want to. Those
first three goals may have been good plays, but I've got to pick up some of
them."
 
< Moen looked really good for his first game. He liked to move the puck, and
reminded me of Robb Stauber, who used to do that a lot!  At times he seemed a
split-second behind in reaction time, but that should improve as he gets more
experience. He also needs to work on covering his rebounds!>
 
The Gophers countered when Steve Magnusson put away a rebound on a power play
at 14:49 <in the first period>, but the rest of the game belonged to the Czechs
 who slowed the pace and spread out to show their passing skills without
running up the score.
<end quoted material>
 
It was a fun game, even though the Gophers lost. At the beginning of the game
there was a presentation of the Czechoslovakian flag along with the U.S. flag
by a Czech club from the Twin Cities and one of the members sang the Czech
national anthem.  The team captains also exchanged gifts before the start of
the game. The Czech's uniforms were really stylish, with the Czech flag on the
front of the Jersey and the border at the bottom of the sweater was also a
design fashioned after their flag. Looked really cool.
 
The Czech goalie was superb, and a big guy at 6-3! He had a very quick glove
and made some great saves.
 
At the end of the game both teams shook hands and as the Gophers left the ice
the Czech players saluted the crowd who gave them a really nice round of
applause! The crowd was very polite for the entire game, applauding for great
saves on BOTH ends and welcoming the Czechs at the start, when the line-ups
were announced. The Czech team stayed on the ice at the end to take a team
picture.  It was a very entertaining afternoon. If they are playing a team near
 you, go and see it if you can!!
 
Happy New Year everyone!!
-Carol