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<\/p>\nLuk\u00e1\u0161 Dost\u00e1l was a bit starstruck.<\/p>\n
In the summer of 2024, the Anaheim Ducks goalie met legendary Czech netminder Dominik Ha\u0161ek for the first time. The surprise meeting was on the stage of the Zlata Hokejka (Golden Stick) award show in the Czech Republic, where Ha\u0161ek congratulated Dost\u00e1l for being named one of the country\u2019s best hockey players.<\/p>\n
Ha\u0161ek is athletic royalty in the small, hockey-loving country in central Europe. The Czech Republic (also known as Czechia) has a storied history of goaltending, of which Ha\u0161ek is the star. Not only is he arguably the best to ever play the position, he also delivered his country its first and only Olympic gold medal in 1998. Dost\u00e1l joked afterward that he might skip a shower that night following a handshake with Ha\u0161ek.<\/p>\n
The moment between the two on stage was a symbolic passing of the torch. Now, Dost\u00e1l leads a new generation of talented Czech goalies that may be its deepest yet. As Czechia begins play in the men\u2019s hockey tournament at the Olympics on Thursday against Canada, the latest wave of Czech goalies \u2013 led by Dost\u00e1l \u2013 gives the nation hope that it can shock the world again, as it did with Ha\u0161ek in the crease.<\/p>\n
Dost\u00e1l, Karel Vejmelka of the Utah Mammoth and Dan Vlada\u0159 of the Philadelphia Flyers are Czechia\u2019s three goalies. It\u2019s still unknown how Czechia, with three games in four days in the preliminary round, might split its goaltending duties, but Dost\u00e1l is considered the best option.<\/p>\n
Dost\u00e1l was born in Brno, Czechia in 2000, roughly two years after the greatest moment in the country\u2019s hockey history. Ha\u0161ek led the Czechs on a stunning run to a gold medal at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano, Japan. That year, Ha\u0161ek allowed only six total goals in six games. With his flashy, acrobatic style, he shut down the powerhouse Canadian team in a semifinal shootout thriller, then shut out the Russians in the gold-medal game.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously I\u2019ve seen a lot of 1998 in Nagano,\u201d Dost\u00e1l said. \u201cThat was running on the TV all of the time (while I was growing up), so I saw plenty of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, 28 years after Ha\u0161ek backstopped a squad of underdogs to Olympic gold,\u200b\u200b Dost\u00e1l hopes to do the same.<\/p>\n
\u201cEspecially in these tournaments, the goalie can steal a game,\u201d said Vegas Golden Knights forward Tom\u00e1\u0161 Hertl, who is one of Czechia\u2019s top forwards. \u201cThat\u2019s a great starting piece for us, because we might not have that many NHL players. In these tournaments, when you see upsets, it starts with the goalie.\u201d<\/p>\n
Only 26 Czechs have played in the NHL this season, and eight of them are goalies. While the country only makes up 2.6 percent of the league\u2019s forwards and 1.1 percent of its defensemen, Czechia accounts for nearly 10 percent of the league\u2019s goalies.<\/p>\n
Dost\u00e1l\u2019s emergence as one of the most talented goalies in the Western Conference has helped Anaheim turn the corner on its rebuild and enter playoff contention. Vejmelka has become a true workhorse starter for the Mammoth, and is currently tied with Andrei Vasilevskiy for the most wins in the NHL. Vlada\u0159 is having a career year and has arguably been the Flyers\u2019 best player.<\/p>\n
Czechia had plenty of other Olympic options this year. Jakub Dobe\u0161 has had strong stretches for the Montreal Canadiens and David Rittich has played lights-out behind Ilya Sorokin on Long Island. Petr Mrazek, Vitek Vanecek and Jiri Patera have also earned starts elsewhere.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an impressive list from a nation with a population a fraction of the size of the United States or Canada.<\/p>\n
Top 5 NHL goalie-producing countries<\/p>\n
CountryNHL goalies<\/p>\n
Canada<\/p>\n
22<\/p>\n
United States<\/p>\n
21<\/p>\n
Sweden<\/p>\n
10<\/p>\n
Czechia<\/p>\n
8<\/p>\n
Finland<\/p>\n
7<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s huge for our country,\u201d Vejmelka said. \u201cWe are a small country, but we have so many great goalies, and they play huge roles on their teams, which is great.\u201d<\/p>\n
There aren\u2019t enough Czech NHL defensemen to even fill out a blue line, but more than half of the Czech goalies in the NHL didn\u2019t receive an invite to Milan. Producing top goalies is nothing new for the country. Ha\u0161ek and Tom\u00e1\u0161 Vokoun are the clear top two all-time, but Petr Mr\u00e1zek, Ond\u0159ej Pavelec, Roman Turek, Michal Neuvirth and Roman Cechm\u00e1nek all carved out impressive NHL careers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was a kid, I watched almost every tournament for the Czech hockey team,\u201d Vejmelka said. \u201cSo whoever was in the net, I was excited to watch him. It maybe built me, a bit, as a goalie too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dost\u00e1l can remember looking up to the goalies on his hometown professional team, HC Kometa Brno. Jiri Trvaj and Finnish-born Sasu Hovi were Brno\u2019s top netminders at the time, both of whom Dost\u00e1l idolized as a child.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s actually funny, I have a picture of me and Hovi when I was like 10 years old,\u201d Dost\u00e1l said. \u201cWe were doing some kind of advertisement for the current generation, and the generation coming up. Then, eight or nine years after that, we took a similar picture on the ice, after I was drafted (by Anaheim). So that was pretty cool. It\u2019s funny how small the world is.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n Luk\u00e1\u0161 Dost\u00e1l poses for photos with former HC Kometa Brno goalie Sasu Hovi as a child (top) and after being drafted to the NHL (bottom). (Photos courtesy of Luk\u00e1\u0161 Dost\u00e1l)<\/p>\n
Once a child in the stands cheering on his countrymen in Brno, Dost\u00e1l is now one of his nation\u2019s top goalies, and leads a resurgence of Czech netminders across the NHL.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere had been a little break, and now we have a lot of Czech goalies in the NHL, in very good positions, so obviously that makes me happy,\u201d Dost\u00e1l said. \u201cI love to see that.\u201d<\/p>\n
As recently as the 2019-20 season, only three Czech goalies appeared in NHL games. What led to the recent influx? Dost\u00e1l credits a goalie coach by the name of Radek Toth, who led an effort to unify the development philosophy for youth goalies in Czechia. Back in 2014, the Czech Ice Hockey Association appointed Toth to a newly created position as the head of goaltending with hopes of standardizing goalie coaching across the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were essentially starting from scratch,\u201d Toth explained. \u201cThe first task was to assemble a coaching team and think together about the best development path for our goalies, and where our system needed to improve. What proved most effective was the collaboration between young coaches \u2013 hungry for new information and education \u2013 and coaches who had rich playing careers behind them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The group drew inspiration from Sweden and Finland, both of which have a long history of producing technically sound goaltenders, and combined it with their own philosophies.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor example, Finnish goalies were excellent skaters and used very active hands,\u201d Toth explained. \u201cSwedish goalies were strong in their positioning when defending plays from behind the net.\u201d<\/p>\n
Within two years, Toth and his team had built development programs across almost all age groups, running nationwide in Czechia.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese programs helped us promote a unified methodology throughout the entire hockey community,\u201d Toth said. \u201cWe involved club goalie coaches in every project, and for the youngest age groups, we even invited the parents. In my opinion, the Regional Association Coaches Project was absolutely crucial.\u201d<\/p>\n
Most of today\u2019s Czech goalies grew up and developed in that environment. And while Dost\u00e1l, Vejmelka and Vlada\u0159 all play different styles, there are plenty of commonalities. They play a patient game, holding their edges as long as possible and waiting out shooters. They\u2019re quiet and efficient in the crease, with little wasted movement.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s very different from Ha\u0161ek\u2019s wild acrobatics from the \u201990s, but the trait all of Czechia\u2019s best goalies share with the Hall of Famer is how they read and anticipate plays.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would call it active goaltending,\u201d Toth explained. \u201cIt\u2019s built on several key elements: excellent skating, staying on your feet as long as possible, using active hands, and tying it all together with elite game-reading. In other words, the Luk\u00e1\u0161 Dost\u00e1l style.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is the first time in 12 years that the NHL\u2019s best will face off internationally. After watching the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament last February, Dost\u00e1l expects it to be hockey at its highest level.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was beautiful to watch that hockey,\u201d Dost\u00e1l said. \u201cI couldn\u2019t be more excited to do my best and to be a part of the team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Czechia can\u2019t match the sheer depth of the United States and Canada, but it has plenty of high-end talent. Up front they\u2019ll be led by Hertl, David Pastrnak, Martin Necas and Pavel Zacha. The blue line will feature Filip Hronek and Radko Gudas.<\/p>\n
And as Ha\u0161ek proved in 1998, if the goaltending is strong enough, it can be the ultimate trump card. Dost\u00e1l, Vejmelka and Vlada\u0159 obviously aren\u2019t quite at that level yet. Ha\u0161ek had already won the Vezina Trophy three times at that point in his career, and was on his way to a Hart Trophy he won later that season, but the Olympic stage can produce instant legends. A hot goalie can convince a team it\u2019s capable of the impossible.<\/p>\n
The talented Czech goalies are practically salivating at the opportunity.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the international level, playing in the Olympics is the best thing you can achieve,\u201d Dost\u00e1l said. \u201cTo win a medal would be even greater. It\u2019s going to be exciting times.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Luk\u00e1\u0161 Dost\u00e1l was a bit starstruck. In the summer of 2024, the Anaheim Ducks goalie met legendary Czech…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":452011,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[2210,233,5292,1739,5,54125,4,2602],"class_list":{"0":"post-452010","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-anaheim-ducks","8":"tag-anaheim","9":"tag-anaheim-ducks","10":"tag-anaheimducks","11":"tag-ducks","12":"tag-hockey","13":"tag-mens-olympic-ice-hockey","14":"tag-nhl","15":"tag-olympics"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116040555128685289","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=452010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452010\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/452011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}