The Czech players celebrate the first promotion to the top-level Women’s Worlds in 2012. The young team went up two tiers in just two years for their premiere in Ottawa 2013.
photo: Romualds Vambuts
The Czech Republic has been one of the six pinnacles of men’s international hockey for a century and more, but the women’s program is far younger, less experienced, and lacking in the same history of success.
The women didn’t enter the World Women’s program until 1999, and it has never qualified for the Olympics to date. But things started to change in 2008 when the Czechs played in the inaugural U18 Women’s World Championship in Calgary, Canada.
That year, the Czechs stunned Sweden, 4-2, in the bronze medal game, an amazing result given that between 1999 and 2012 the senior women’s team never played in the top level.
But the players from that bronze WW18 team kept playing and developing, and their success inspired younger players to take up the game. Ironically, at more or less the same time, the senior team was demoted at the 2009 World Women’s Division I and in 2011 earned promotion back to Division IA for 2012.
The 2012 Division IA tournament was played in Ventspils, Latvia. The six-team event also included Austria, Japan, Kazakhstan, Latvia, and Norway, but it was really a three-horse race between the Czechs, Norwegians, and Japanese to see which team would earn promotion to the top level for 2013.
As it turned out, a game early in the tournament proved decisive. The Czechs started with a 4-3 loss to Japan while Norway earned an easy 7-2 win over Austria. The next day’s Czech-Norway match was critical for both teams.
After a scoreless first period, Sonja Novakova gave the Czechs a 1-0 lead, only to see Marte Carlsson tie the game with only 17 seconds left in the period. Norway ran into penalty trouble in the third, and the Czechs took advantage. Denisa Krisova scored the go-ahead goal midway through, and the Czechs held on for the win.
As it turned out, that game was the margin of tournament victory for the Czechs. Both they and Norway won their final three games, but one of the Norway wins came in overtime, meaning the final standings showed the Czechs in top with 12 points and Norway just behind with 11 (Japan placed third with 9 points).
After eleven World Women’s tournaments, the Czechs had finally earned promotion to the top level. Not surprisingly, that Czech team included seven players who had won bronze at the 2008 WW18, and in the coming years they relied heavily on that junior event to help develop players for the top pool.
One of them was Lucie Povova, who was just 15 when she won WW18 bronze and 19 when the Czech senior team earned promotion.
“It’s amazing. We just came up from one level below. We wanted to win, but we didn’t expect to get to the highest division that fast,” she told IIHF.com back then in Ventspils.
“I think we’re going to get much more respect from the people because in the Czech Republic no one really recognizes women’s hockey and even in the States or in Canada people are going to recognize us. They’re playing well, but we’re up there too now. It’s really amazing.”
Although the Czechs finished last in 2013 and were demoted, they earned promotion a year later and have remained in the top level ever since, a skein of four tournaments and counting.
Click here for the overview of stories.
The women didn’t enter the World Women’s program until 1999, and it has never qualified for the Olympics to date. But things started to change in 2008 when the Czechs played in the inaugural U18 Women’s World Championship in Calgary, Canada.
That year, the Czechs stunned Sweden, 4-2, in the bronze medal game, an amazing result given that between 1999 and 2012 the senior women’s team never played in the top level.
But the players from that bronze WW18 team kept playing and developing, and their success inspired younger players to take up the game. Ironically, at more or less the same time, the senior team was demoted at the 2009 World Women’s Division I and in 2011 earned promotion back to Division IA for 2012.
The 2012 Division IA tournament was played in Ventspils, Latvia. The six-team event also included Austria, Japan, Kazakhstan, Latvia, and Norway, but it was really a three-horse race between the Czechs, Norwegians, and Japanese to see which team would earn promotion to the top level for 2013.
As it turned out, a game early in the tournament proved decisive. The Czechs started with a 4-3 loss to Japan while Norway earned an easy 7-2 win over Austria. The next day’s Czech-Norway match was critical for both teams.
After a scoreless first period, Sonja Novakova gave the Czechs a 1-0 lead, only to see Marte Carlsson tie the game with only 17 seconds left in the period. Norway ran into penalty trouble in the third, and the Czechs took advantage. Denisa Krisova scored the go-ahead goal midway through, and the Czechs held on for the win.
As it turned out, that game was the margin of tournament victory for the Czechs. Both they and Norway won their final three games, but one of the Norway wins came in overtime, meaning the final standings showed the Czechs in top with 12 points and Norway just behind with 11 (Japan placed third with 9 points).
After eleven World Women’s tournaments, the Czechs had finally earned promotion to the top level. Not surprisingly, that Czech team included seven players who had won bronze at the 2008 WW18, and in the coming years they relied heavily on that junior event to help develop players for the top pool.
One of them was Lucie Povova, who was just 15 when she won WW18 bronze and 19 when the Czech senior team earned promotion.
“It’s amazing. We just came up from one level below. We wanted to win, but we didn’t expect to get to the highest division that fast,” she told IIHF.com back then in Ventspils.
“I think we’re going to get much more respect from the people because in the Czech Republic no one really recognizes women’s hockey and even in the States or in Canada people are going to recognize us. They’re playing well, but we’re up there too now. It’s really amazing.”
Although the Czechs finished last in 2013 and were demoted, they earned promotion a year later and have remained in the top level ever since, a skein of four tournaments and counting.
Click here for the overview of stories.