Even The Plane Tilted Like A Starling On The Way From Nagano The Pilot Had To Tame Us

"I haven't even been seeing old men for almost three years now Then I was always unable to stand for three days.

Sometimes I go to help my brother train the young guys, but that's not playing I'm happy to walk, I don't want surgery and my knee doesn't limit me when I play golf.

I can run, ride a bike, that's enough," confided Špaček, who just turned forty-nine on Saturday At the winter stadium in Pilsen, even before the trip to the exhibition in Prague, he was hunting memories of the quarter-century-old triumph of Czech hockey.

Is there anything else you've never told journalists about Nagano? Only things that can't be published (laughs) Otherwise, it's hard to find something new.

For me, it's more of a surprise that twenty-five years have passed Very fast.

I still feel young as if Nagano was the day before yesterday A quarter of a century sounds terrible, although it's all still beautiful.

I was also wondering why the celebrations again, After all, no one cares about Nagano anymore But it can be seen that they are still strong memories for us and for the fans.

You were just twenty-four in Japan at the time Before that, I left Pilsen for Sweden, played for Färjestad.

I was part of the team, but when you looked at the rosters for Nagano, the main favorites were practically only NHL players I was even more surprised that Ivan Hlinka chose me.

But he knew very well what kind of players he also had in Europe, who he could trust and how to connect us to guys from the NHL The team was relatively young, including veteran Vláďa Růžička.

It was the right puzzle It certainly helped that the Jágr team was already working at that time, so the boys were together in the summer, you could see how they worked together.

Still, it was incredible and a huge dream come true for me to fly to Nagano what do you mean that it was you who got coach Hlinka? Since I was in my twenties, I visited national team events, but before the Olympics, he wasn't even at the World Championships.

I was supposed to go to the championship in Finland in 1997, but I broke my leg in the last preparation and stayed home It helped me that Franto Kučer returned from the NHL to Sparta before the Olympic season.

They put us together in the workshop, we created a good couple that the coaches at the Euro Hockey Tour tournaments could rely on We didn't have that many defenders in the NHL back then, so Ivan Hlinka bet on the two of us for Nagano and luckily it turned out great.

In two weeks, you helped rewrite hockey history We players from Europe arrived earlier.

There were a few of us, the training sessions were half-time, more like just skating We were waiting for the guys from the NHL to arrive, there was a slight nervousness.

The core was ready, we had Hashan, the best goalkeeper in the world, it was about how everything would fit together It was an advantage that I knew Martin (Straka), I had also been to the Jágr team event before, so a few players from overseas as well.

But the others not at all I went to introduce myself to them, because fighters like Petr Svoboda or Robert Lang, who didn't go to the Czech Republic very often from overseas, probably heard about me for the first time.

(smile) Describing the path to gold is unnecessary But what was the strongest moment of the tournament for you? Semi-final raids with Canada, or Petr Svoboda's goal in the final? More like a quarter-final with the Americans.

They were well prepared for us, they could have decided the match in the first period, where we made terrible mistakes But we survived it, losing only 0:1.

That was the key moment of the entire tournament We went to the cabin and everyone realized that this was wrong and it wasn't going anywhere.

There were some emotions, expressions, but I remember that there was a strange calm towards the end of the break Then Ivan Hlinka came, he said let's start playing our hockey.

For me, this is the greatest moment in Nagano Then everything broke.

I don't want to say that we were a bit of a roller after that, but we played exactly what we wanted, everything connected to each other You compete against stars from America and Canada, it's already an incredible experience.

But at that moment they found out that we also have the stars and that we can match them Then we broke even the Russians and the gold medals were hanging around our necks.

There are also legends about the long flight from Japan to Prague Martin and I skillfully poured a carton of beer under the seat.

The service was terribly slow and the guys kept wondering how we were still drinking (laughs) Immediately after the final, we moved to the Czech house, which was located a short distance from the winter house.

The party has already started there, at three in the morning we left for the airport, slightly tired But it still lived.

Someone always woke up and started the fun again We had to land twice for refueling.

Once they left us on the plane, but the second time they kicked us out into the cold This kicked us off again and the last four hours of the flight were incredible.

We locked ourselves in Ivan Hlinka's lounge and all inhibitions fell Even the pilot Petr Jirmus had to reassure us that the plane was tilting and he had to do something to keep it in the air.

The then Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda and his wife were also on the plane She tried to come after us once, which she shouldn't have done, the poor thing caught it from us, and then from her husband too, why is she coming after us.

Sláva Lener took the most of the celebrations, he "didn't survive" and probably blames himself for it to this day But keeping pace with Ivan Hlinka, it required great qualities.

Upon arrival, a triumphant journey by bus to the Old Town Square in Prague awaited you Clouds of people along the European avenue, all shouting, waving flags.

Unreal Then A Visit To President Václav Havel

Warm slivovica was poured, it was also a masterpiece (laughter) Well, and then Old Man.

Beauty, a pity for words You are now moving among hockey youth Does Nagano resonate among them as well, or is it distant history for them? The latter, after all, they were not born a quarter of a century ago.

They perceive current stars, especially David Pastrňák But also Jarda Jágr or Tomáš Plekanek, fighters who are still moving in the extra league.

They live by the extra league, the NHL, the current national team Rather, the subject of Nagano will come up during my conversation with their parents.

Now is a good time for them to remind the children They found articles, showed them videos, today everything can be found.

Then they will better understand why Nagano is the tournament of the century Eight years later, at the 2006 Turin Olympics, part of the golden party managed to follow up with a bronze medal.

How valuable is it to you? Mainly I have to remember the games in salt lake city 2002 We had the strongest team there.

Even better than Nagano At that time, we were at an ideal age, a lot of guys had a much more prominent role in NHL clubs than four years before.

But the fact that it was not a success makes it fit In the quarter-finals, we beat the Russians, but Khabibulin closed the goal and we didn't give him a goal, it was decided by one of their random players and we went home.

This is also why I value the bronze from Turin very much The team was already going through a generational change, but it was still going strong.

We practiced a bit for the semi-final with the Swedes, but then we thought that every medal is important We passed 3 Russians: 0 and they deserved that cake.

Still back to Nagano Apart from the medal, what do you have hidden at home as a souvenir? Still the hockey stick and gloves I played the tournament in.

But Mainly The Memories That Season Was Great

After Nagano, I won the Swedish league, the way to the NHL opened for me I was supposed to go to the World Championships in Switzerland, but in Sweden they sat on my ankle, I almost didn't walk.

Ivan Hlinka persuaded me to go anyway, but it was not possible Milan Hejduk was injured in the very first match, then we flew home together.

I lost the bronze, that was the only bitter moment of the season But in two years we won the title, then I was at two more gold championships.

That Made Me Laugh That Season Was Great

After Nagano, I won the Swedish league, the way to the NHL opened for me I was supposed to go to the World Championships in Switzerland, but in Sweden they sat on my ankle, I almost didn't walk.

Ivan Hlinka persuaded me to go anyway, but it was not possible Milan Hejduk was injured in the very first match, then we flew home together.

I lost the bronze, that was the only bitter moment of the season But in two years we won the title, then I was at two more gold championships.

That Made Me Laugh That Season Was Great

After Nagano, I won the Swedish league, the way to the NHL opened for me I was supposed to go to the World Championships in Switzerland, but in Sweden they sat on my ankle, I almost didn't walk.

Ivan Hlinka persuaded me to go anyway, but it was not possible Milan Hejduk was injured in the very first match, then we flew home together.

I lost the bronze, that was the only bitter moment of the season But in two years we won the title, then I was at two more gold championships.

That made me laugh that was the only bitter moment of that season.

But in two years we won the title, then I was at two more gold championships That made me laugh.

that was the only bitter moment of that season But in two years we won the title, then I was at two more gold championships.

That made me laugh .