Thursday, 18 August 2022. 04:31
EDMONTON — Jan Mysak sees himself as a rather quiet leader, the classic case of the gambler who tries to lure his companions into his footsteps more by his actions than his words. But the Czech captain admits that he puts a little more than he has been used to since the start of the World Juniors.
A special aura seems to surround the hope of the Habs in Edmonton. A quiet confidence emanates from his movements backstage at Rogers Place. His trainer praises him whenever an opportunity arises. His young teammates gravitate around him.
“He’s the best leader I’ve played with,” defender David Spacek unhesitatingly identifies. In the locker room, he’s the guy everyone wants to follow. »
On the bench, in the moments that followed the defeat of the Czechs against Latvia in the preliminary round, Mysak’s head remained buried between his thighs for a long time before he resolved to go out to face the opprobrium. He was embarrassed, humiliated. Very quickly, he knew that he would take the means to prevent it from happening again.
“It’s not nice when you lose against Latvia,” he said on Wednesday after a stunning victory that eliminated the powerful Americans and sent his team to the semi-finals. We heard the bad comments. People in our country were angry. And I understand them, we lost against Latvia! Today, we wanted to win back our supporters. We wanted to show them that we are a good team. »
Mysak stifles a laugh when asked what he said to his teammates to perk them up and make them believe in the vulnerability of the Americans. “I think I said a lot. I said a lot of things. These will remain secret, but we now know that the words he chose struck a chord.
In the first period, Mysak deflected a puck that he himself had worked to keep in the offensive zone and tied it at 1-1 with his fourth goal of the tournament. In the second, the Czechs scored twice within three minutes while limiting the United States to just four shots on target.
But the best illustration of the scale of the Czech effort can be drawn from the last eleven minutes of the third period, from the precise moment Stanislav Svozil was awarded a major penalty for taking a knee out on Logan Cooley. The Czechs conceded a goal during his sentence, but they also blocked more shots than receiver Rick Ankiel in the early 2000s.
“We all got together behind the cause and we applied our strategy, said Spacek, his bloodstained uniform, who saved his team by narrowly preventing Matt Coronato from throwing into an empty net in the last moments of the match . We threw ourselves in front of all the throws we could block. Maybe we were a little stressed, but we never panicked. »
“I think we learned a lesson against Latvia,” added Mysak. We understood that they simply had more willpower than us and that’s why we lost. Today, we tried to do the same as them. We wanted more and that’s why we won. »
Czech coach Radim Rulik was full of praise when asked about his captain’s role in his team’s redemption.
“I’m not always in the locker room, but Jan is one of our few veterans born in 2002 [NDLR : seulement quatre ont joué contre les États-Unis, qui en avaient 16]. He is definitely one of our leaders. He repaired the broken pots, he helped the coaches to press the right buttons. He was like their father. He helped the youngest to reach a certain maturity and to do what must be done to reach success. »
As a reward, the Czechs will now have the opportunity to seek revenge against the team they collectively consider to be the best in the tournament. It didn’t go so well the last time a game against Canada was on their schedule. They allowed 57 shots and lost by a score (5-1) which did not reflect the mediocrity of their effort.
Buoyed by the euphoria of their most recent accomplishment, they believe the story could be different this time around.
“I guess we just proved you can play anyone,” Spacek said. If we can play like we did today, it will be a good duel. »
“The message is simple: if you believe in something and act on it, you can win,” says Mysak.