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National women's ice hockey team skates on, despite lack of investment, development and interest By Heather Faulkner The Prague Post (January 22, 2003) It's so quiet you can hear the players breathing. Two teams line up on the illuminated ice as their national anthems begin to play. Flags of the Czech and French nations hang solemnly from the rafters. Although it is an International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) event, the stands around the rink are empty, save for a few regular patrons of the stadium pub in Marianske Lazne (Marienbad). For the players on the ice, neither the empty stands nor the looming World Championships in March can throw a shadow across this night. Only the game counts.
The whistle blows, the puck drops, and No. 22, Zuzana Kralova, pounces. The 26-year-old center from Strakonice wins the faceoff, passing the puck to her right, where team captain Drahomira Fialova makes contact and storms down the ice like a blizzard on blades to make a quick wrist shot at France's net. The French goalie deflects the well-aimed shot, but left wing Hana Stofirova retrieves the puck. She passes it off to Simona Studentova. The 16-year-old sensation makes the assist as Fialova's next shot goes deep into the French net. The game ends in a 3-3 tie, disappointing both teams, who would have liked to see a more definitive end to the tournament.
"It was a mess," Kralova sighs as she leaves the ice and heads to the showers. This result left Kralova and other members of the Czech national women's ice hockey team with a suitcase of issues to ponder. Foremost on their minds will be how strongly they will play in the championships in March and if their efforts will be enough to win them a spot in the A league of the International Ice Hockey Federation. But for many Czech players, making the A league is a receding dream. During the B-league first-division championships, they will play against teams that are developing fast and moving up in the division and league standings. To advance, the team needs a lot of development. First and foremost, the team needs more training sessions together, but support from the Czech Ice Hockey Union is reluctant at best. There is very little local development of the game, resulting in a small talent pool for the 22-member national team to recruit from. Lastly, the largely conservative Czech ice hockey fans have yet to warm up to the idea of women playing ice hockey. "We probably don't have the skills to be A level," concedes team manager Antonin Tolkacev. Fialova works as a service attendant at a garage owned by one of the Zurich team's sponsors. "I have to turn down better jobs because they can't afford to let me play," she says. And to Fialova, playing is everything. The diminutive (158 centimeters/5 feet, 3 inches and 62 kilograms/136 pounds) captain has been in hot demand in Switzerland for the last five years. She helped lead the central Swiss team from Reincach (AG) to victory at the national championships and is currently working to move the Zurich team up from its third-place standing. "I didn't need to try out for the Zurich team," she grins, "they signed me on my reputation alone." "You just have to sacrifice everything to play hockey," she says. The ides of March "Their game hasn't been driven by the dollar sign at the end of the rainbow," says Julie Healey, director of female hockey for the Canadian Ice Hockey Association. "Anyone who watches the game ends up loving it because it is played as it should be." When the six Division 1 teams in the IIHF B league face off in Ventspils, Latvia, in March, a drama is sure to unfold. Kazakhstan will be in a fighting mood to regain the A-league status it was relegated from last year at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics. "For sure, they are the favorites," says France's team leader, Renaud Jacquin. "They have had a lot of training, plus the Olympic experience." Japan and Korea, the new kids on the block, will pose the biggest challenge to teams hoping to advance. "We haven't had the chance to have friendly matches with them, so nobody knows how they've advanced," Jacquin says.
The Czech team's Kralova may not know how far the two Pacific Rim nations have advanced, but the 12-year veteran can draw on championship experiences. "The Koreans have the same game style and physique as we do, which is a bit disturbing," she says. The Japanese team is noted for its physical and mental strengths through martial-arts training. "They're always screaming, to try to psych us out." Though the team is looking forward to the March matches, each player will participate with a heavy heart. In the last three years other B-league teams have been improving through increased training and more sponsorship from federal and private associations. And they're catching up to the Czechs. Fialova says, "In previous years we were winning 8-0 [against France] and just last night it was 5-2." Hana Fidrmucova, an 11-year veteran of the team and the sister of the head coach, says that there's no future for the team. "The skill level probably won't improve enough to get us to the next Olympics. The training conditions remain pretty much the same -- we can afford only three camps a year from the hockey union. ... It's just not enough anymore." But the Czech Ice Hockey Union thinks it is fine as it is.
In obscurity Karel Gut is chairman of the Czech Ice Hockey Union, which is responsible for funding and developing ice hockey at domestic and national levels. "I have to say openly that the junior [men's] teams have priority. We do spend some crowns on women's hockey but we know that it is not as widespread here as is the case overseas, in America or Canada." In fact, only 14 women's teams currently compete in the Czech league, offering a talent pool of 200 players for the national team. About 2,000 women play ice hockey in Switzerland's three women's leagues. In Canada, 58,000 women pursue the sport. "The Czech union would prefer to cancel us -- they overlook us," Kralova says. She blames conservative attitudes barring young girls from pursuing the sport. "I had to play on the pond with my brothers until I could join the women's team [at 13]." Kralova's older brother, Vaclav Kral, plays Slovak Extraliga hockey for Trencin.
Some players hope that support from the union will increase if the team makes the A league this year, but Gut nixes that idea. "There are no significant chances that the financial support would increase since the Union 'fights' for the financial means," he says. "I have to say that the Czech women's hockey is kind of in obscurity. It is logical. Junior hockey is much more preferred." The budget for this year is 500,000 Kc (almost $17,000). Each training camp costs 50,000 Kc. The players receive helmets, trousers and travel expenses but must provide the rest of the equipment -- and insurance -- individually. "It is better than 10 years ago, but we still have to return our jerseys at the end of the season," Kralova says. Claims of gender difference Gut claims that the physicality of the sport, coupled with the expensive equipment it requires, dissuades most parents from allowing their daughters to pursue ice hockey. "I also think that it is not an ideal sport for women. There are better sports for women, but I don't want to say by that that they shouldn't play it," he said. "But if I had a daughter I don't think I would be the one who would want her to play hockey." The difference between men and women on the rink is not so much physical as it is psychological, according to team manager Tolkacev. "In general, women think differently in hockey than men. They look for the path of most difficult resistance. Women don't distinguish very well when to pass and when to score. Men make decisions faster. "To exactly finalize the game -- that's something women can't do well. The team tries combinations to the very last moment, but there are times when you must react quickly, and we don't. We don't understand why women act in such a way. It's something natural to them." Healey of the Canadian association puts good skills down to good coaching. "If a coach teaches their team to play like robots, they will play like robots, regardless of the gender. If a coach develops practices that help their players think and play creatively, then they will play creatively. To say that this is a skill limited to the male sex and that females cannot play creatively is totally without foundation."
-- Martina Sedlakova contributed to this report.
Heather Faulkner's e-mail address is hfaulkner@praguepost.com |
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