You wouldn’t know it without looking at Czechia’s roster, but Adela Sapovalivova is the youngest player at the 2022 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championships. Born in 2006 (just two months after the second youngest player, Japan’s Kohane Sato), the 16-year-old is relatively new to the international stage, but already making her name known.

This season marks Sapovalivova’s debut on both the U18 and senior Czech national teams, having previously played with the country’s U16 team in 2019/20. She led the Czech women’s league in goals this season, scoring 11 through eight games with the 2022 championship-winning HC Pribram, but the opportunity to play at two World Championships this season was not necessarily something she was anticipating. 

“The coach first called my father, and then my father called me,” Sapovalivova said of the moment she found out that she would be playing for Czechia. “I didn’t expect it, but it was an exciting moment for me. I don’t feel any pressure. [Being here] is only a plus for me.”

In Frederikshavn, Sapovalivova has been entrusted with playing on Czechia’s top line and power play unit along with Katerina Mrazova, a national team veteran who will be returning to the PHF’s Connecticut Whale this fall after three seasons in the SDHL, and Natalie Mlynkova, a former U18 standout goal scorer and current University of Vermont forward.

“She’s just offensively gifted,” Czechia head coach Carla MacLeod said of why Sapovalivova has earned this opportunity. “You look at her and she doesn’t play like a young kid. If you don’t have the birthdate beside the name, I don’t think you guess her age. She plays with a very mature game and it’s a calm game. With a high, high level of confidence. Sometimes the best thing to do as a staff is to get out of the way and just let her play the way she’s playing, and that’s sort of what we saw from her. Kudos to her line mates too, they understand her age and where she’s at, and they’re just really excited to help her grow and get better.”

MacLeod got a firsthand look at Sapovalivova earlier this year at the 2022 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 Women’s World Championship, where Sapovalivova – who was also one of Czechia’s youngest players at the tournament – scored three goals and six assists and was named to the All-Star Team.

“I attended U18s with the Czechia team,” said MacLeod. “Dusan [Andrasovsky], our assistant, was the head coach, so I was more just head coach of the national team there, getting to know him. But certainly saw her play there and saw her capacity to impact a game. She’s a pretty special young player.”

Sapovalivova had a number of chances early in Czechia’s first preliminary round game against Hungary, scoring once in the second and once in the third to contribute two goals to Czechia’s 7-1 victory. Throughout the game, she could often be found in front of Hungary’s net (from where she tipped in her first goal) or making a move into open ice in the offensive zone to receive a pass or take a shot.

“There wasn’t a more exciting moment in the game for our bench than when she got her first goal, and then the second one was pretty nice too,” said MacLeod. “The girls erupted again for her, but it’s neat to see the youth in the game be able to come into a big event like this and for her just play and do what she does naturally. She’s a great kid and she works hard and she loves the game.”

Sapovalivova is fully taking this opportunity to learn from her teammates’ tactical knowledge and high performance experience, and doesn’t see the age difference between her and her linemates—Mrazova is 29 and Mlynkova is 21—as something that hinders her.

“The other girls are just very nice to me, it helps me a lot,” said Sapovalivova. “On the ice it doesn’t matter that I’m 16, it’s like we are all the same age.”

Regardless of whether or not she makes it onto the game sheet again in Denmark, this young winger is one to watch.