Czech Republic looks to play without fear against Canada in World Cup opener

TORONTO – Team Czech Republic knows it needs to play with confidence and swagger against Team Canada in their World Cup opener Saturday.

This may be easier said than done. Not only is Canada the big tournament favorite, they’re also playing in a de-facto home game at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.

“I think we have to embrace it. Team Canada, they have a lot of experienced players. They play in the moments under pressure whether it’s the Olympics or big tournaments in Canada. We just have to embrace it and play our best,” defenseman Andrej Sustr said. “That makes it more exciting for all of us and we want to play our best and not play afraid so we’re going to play active hockey and see what happens.”

The Czechs are arguably the tournament’s biggest underdogs. Their 3,290 career NHL points is the second-fewest for a group that isn’t Team North America. Team Finland has the fewest, but they’ve medaled in each of the last three Olympics.

The Czech Republic has needed to replace forwards David Krejci and Tomas Hertl because of injury. Jiri Hudler reportedly declined a chance to play for the group. Legendary winger Jaromir Jagr also is not here.

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“Everyone talks that we don’t have a good enough team like everybody else. We are small country. We don’t have that many players like Canada, the U.S. or those other teams. We can’t replace those injuries we have,” Czech forward Ales Hemsky said. “It’s hard. Canada can replace like 20 guys, but we had some pretty major injuries and we can’t replace them. But we have good goaltending. I think we’re getting better every preseason game we were getting better and we have a great group and we just have to work hard and focus for ourselves and do the system and if we play together as a (five-man) unit and do the stuff we say in the room we can do well.”

This team still has some firepower. Ondrej Palat notched 63 points with the Tampa Bay Lightning two seasons ago. Jakub Voracek had 55 points in 73 games last season, but had 81 points in 2014-15.

Tomas Plekanec is one of the better two-way players in hockey and Martin Hanzal gives some size and strength at center. Also goaltender Petr Mrazek has the ability to steal a few games.

“We cannot be scared, right? We have to just focus on ourselves and play our game and they will be under pressure too because they’re playing in front of their home crowd and just surprise them and play with no fear and just play our game,” Czech forward Radek Faksa said.

A strong start is key for the Czechs. If they score first the tone and tenor of the game could change quickly.

“They have the crowd behind them. You have to always survive those first 10 minutes of the first period are really important – don’t give them any chance to get in the game and try to take away from them,” Hemsky. “I don’t think they feel that much pressure. They have a lot of good players in there that won Cups. In the team they have a lot of pressure. It’s still hockey. Nothing has changed.”

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper

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