Hockey night in Czechia: Canadian players show that hockey has no borders

Photo: Jan Brzobohaty

Czechia is home to some of the best ice hockey players who have played the game. From Dominik Hašek to Jaromír Jágr, the legacy the country has with the sport is enduring, in fact a Czech player just broke the NHL record for the hardest slap shot to date. But in recent years Czechia has also become home to players from abroad, who come to play in the nation’s top leagues. Among those international players are Canadians, and the Extraliga team the Kladno Knights have three of them on their current roster. I was curious about how these players got here in the first place, and took a trip to Kladno to find out more.

When you think of hockey, it would be hard not to think of Canada, the so-called ‘first nation’ of the sport. But if one thing is for certain, it’s that Czechs equally love the game and have a deep and rich history with it, just like the northern nation where the game was invented and popularized.

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Author: Amelia Mola-Schmidt