The number of Bruins\u2019 Olympians is back down to eight.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On Saturday morning, the Czech national hockey team<\/a> announced that Pavel Zacha<\/a> will no longer compete in the Olympics. Zacha suffered an upper-body injury during the Bruins game on January 29<\/a> and has not returned to on-ice action.<\/p>\n Jiri Slegr, the GM of Team Czechia, said he received a call from Bruins GM Don Sweeney on Friday evening. Sweeney said that Zacha\u2019s injury will take him out of the Olympics and that he would not be able to skate in a single game. Zacha will not travel to Milan.\u00a0<\/p>\n Zacha, 28, and a native of Brno, Czechia, last played internationally at the 2024 World Championships. He has also played in three World Junior Championships and three U18 World Junior Championships.<\/p>\n Over the summer<\/a>, he was one of the first six skaters named to Team Czechia ahead of the Olympics.\u00a0<\/p>\n This season in Boston, Zacha has 37 points (15-22\u201337), with 15 (5-10\u201315) coming on the power play. He plays on both the power play and the penalty kill for Marco Sturm.\u00a0<\/p>\n However, his absence removes one of the Bruins\u2019 most versatile forwards from Czechia\u2019s plans at center.\u00a0<\/p>\n He has found success on the second line, playing in the middle alongside Viktor Arvidsson<\/a> and Casey Mittelstadt<\/a>. When he was injured, he was skating on the first line in the place of an injured Elias Lindholm<\/a>. Team Sweden still expects Lindholm to play, and there is no update on his injury status.\u00a0<\/p>\n