For the first time in fourteen years, Team Czechia has created history on home ice by winning the gold medal in the IIHF World Championship.
After Canada’s seven gold medals, Czechia has won the second-most medals of any nation since 2000 with five. In the 11 World Championship trips to Prague, Czechia has already placed second or higher ten times. They have also won gold medals at home ice in 1947, 1972, 1985, and 2024.
Czechia was favored going into the competition this year among the European competitors, but they would have a difficult task against teams from Team USA and Team Canada, which were now stacked with potential Olympians.
That’s the story they started that played out through the preliminary round, with Czechia winning hard-fought games against Finland and Norway — though a surprise performance from Team Switzerland was enough to push Czechia to a shootout loss in their third game.
The Czechs bounced back with wins against Denmark, Austria and Great Britain — and then revealed an ace up their sleeve, adding each of Martin Necas, Pavel Zacha and international standout David Pastrnak to their lineup ahead of their matchup with Team Canada to finish the preliminary round.
Perhaps jet lagged, the reloaded Czechia lineup fell to another shootout loss against Canada. But they showed their cohesion when the elimination games rolled around — winning a hard-fought, 1-0 quarterfinal game against Team USA, re-inspiring their offense in a dazzling 7-3 semifinal win over Team Sweden and then getting revenge on Switzerland with a strong 2-0 win in the gold medal game.
It was, surprisingly, Necas who made the biggest addition of the late-stage NHL additions — scoring seven points in five games comapred to Pastrnak and Zacha’s one point each through four games. But it was Czech hockey legend Roman Cervenka and former Columbus Blue Jacket Lukas Sedlak who led the way for the country’s offense, recording 11 and 10 points respectively through 10 games.
Czechia was also helped along by a standout performance from Anaheim Ducks goaltender Lukas Dostal, who posted a .939 save percentage — saving 200 of 213 shots — through eight starts.
This World Championship win gives Czechia fantastic momentum headed into the 2026 Winter Olympics. They should be poised for a few notable additions in that tournament, including Vancouver Canucks defenseman Filip Hronek, while also holding their breath to see if Cervenka can play into his 40s.
But even through changes, this Czech lineup has stamped their place on top of Europe’s hockey world.
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