A CHL Press Conference ahead of the start of the 2021/22 season of the Champions Hockey League took place earlier today in Prague. Apart from CHL CEO Martin Baumann and members of the CHL Board, representatives of participating Czech and Slovak clubs were present, including players Roman Horák from Sparta Prague, Petr Vrána from Oceláři Třinec, Michal Sersen from Slovan Bratislava and Martin Ševc from BK Mladá Boleslav.
We spoke to all of them about what to expect from the new CHL season.
“We are really excited," started Sparta's Roman Horák, "last season the CHL wasn’t played so everybody was kind of sad. This year we are really excited to face three quality teams in the Group Stage.”
The 35-year-old Czech native spent two seasons playing for the Växjö Lakers, who his current team Sparta will face during the opening round of the Group Stage.
"It’s going to be special for me, I’m really excited for those two games (home and away). I know a lot of players, coaches in Växjö and it will be really good hockey and I’m excited to see how we measure up against them.”
The last time Sparta played in the CHL, they made it all the way to the CHL Final, narrowly missing out on the Trophy.
“We want to go all the way, not just participate. We want to get the best result possible,” concluded Horák.
“We are really looking forward to playing international hockey in the CHL again,” said Oceláři Třinec forward Petr Vrána.
Třinec won the Czech Extraliga title this season, their second in three years. Is winning the CHL this year the next natural step for this club on the up? “All the guys in the dressing room feel so. We all know the CHL is a very tough competition, and it won’t be easy, but we will do everything we can to make the Final.”
Třinec have five Slovak players amongst their ranks and Czechia and Slovakia have a special relationship when it comes to sports: “There’s always a big rivalry between Bratislava and Czech teams, we know each other quite a lot – some of us have played together” explained Vrána, “it’s also nice for us because it’s not a long journey to the game,” adding that it is also an “opportunity for a lot of our fans to go to the away game.”
Michal Sersen from Slovan Bratislava, who was also present at the Press Conferene, is also looking forward to facing Třinec in Group F: “I know a lot of players in Třinec, playing against a Czech club in a European tournament is always something special for a Slovakian club so we are all looking forward to it,” he said mentioning national team teammates Vladimír Dravecký and Tomáš Marcinko, who play for Třinec.
We also briefly talked to BK Mladá Boleslav's Martin Ševc - “Our group is really tough, we’re facing the best European team (Frölunda Gotherburg),” he started.
The Czech side will face the reigning CHL Champions on the opening day of the Group Stage. “We would really like to beat them,” added Ševc.
Mladá Boleslav enter the CHL off the back of a very successful season domestically that saw them finish third in the regular season and make it all the way to the playoff semi-finals. They also qualified for the CHL for the first time since participating back in the 2016/17 season. What are their goals for this season?
“We want to win every game, regardless if we face Frölunda, Helsinki or Zurich,” concluded the veteran defenceman who has four seasons and 36 games of CHL experience under his belt.
Tune in later this week for our last two Group Stage Preview ahead of the start of the 2021/22 Champions Hockey League season!