"An ultimate win is always the goal for us, but we need to admit that our position has changed this year." said assistant coach František Musil.

"Rather than bouncing the challengers, we're one of the challengers."

Despite entering the tournament as defending champions, the national ice hockey team no longer has many of the stars that drove it to glory last year. With 15 newcomers in the 23-member lineup, the newly built squad expected to have a difficult time in Riga before the tournament started.

"We won't play with the country's dream team, but rather with the best players who made themselves available at the moment," Musil said.

"Still, it's better to play with less-glamorous but enthusiastic players than trying to convince someone who is not interested in playing for the national team anymore."

As of press time, the team had qualified for the playoffs among the eight remaining teams.

End of 'golden' generation

Over the past decade, the Czech team has become the world's ice hockey powerhouse. In that time, it's won five World Championship titles and Olympic gold at the 1998 Nagano Games.

But the "golden" generation of players led by star forward Jaromír Jágr bid farewell to the national team at the Winter Olympics in Turin in February. After the games, Jágr and many of the other aging stars said they wanted to focus on their NHL careers.

This triggered a wave of other Czech NHL players who were supposed to fill the vacancies to opt out.

"We knew that some players would retire and that some wouldn't be interested in playing another tournament after the Olympics, but the number of refusals was truly unexpected," national team head coach Alois Hadamczik said after nearly 30 candidates refused to play in Riga.

"After all, the new generation gets a chance, and it is a big challenge for young players to prove themselves."

The brightest star in the lineup is Tomáš Kaberle, a defenseman for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Two other strong Czech players in the NHL — Patrik Eliáš of the New Jersey Devils and Ottawa Senator Martin Havlát — couldn't travel to the World Championships because their teams are still competing in the Stanley Cup.

Inspiring the next generation

In contrast to previous World Championship events, the tournament in Riga hasn't inspired much interest from Czech fans, primarily because of the lack of stars in the lineup.

The event also hasn't spurred much interest at the bookies.

"The amount of bets on the Czech team is not as big as in the past," said Dominik Mašek, project manager of Chance bookmaker.

Some speculate the lack of interest stems from the team's time in Turin.

Despite winning the bronze, the star Czech players showed Hadamczik, who took over the team this season, little respect at the Olympics. Jágr and other players reportedly dictated the team's training program.

Kaberle, who played in Turin, called talk of players' attitude toward Hadamczik "speculation," however.

But it is clear that solid communication with NHL players is essential if Czech hockey is to have a bright future, said Josef Augusta, the national team's coach from 2000 to 2002.

He added, however, that the past success of the team should inspire the next generation of players.