New York Rangers’ Filip Chytil is an important piece in Kari Jalonen’s World Cup puzzle. Senteri is a close friend of Kaapo Kako.
Filip Chytil and Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Tony DeAngelo battle for the puck. In the next couple of weeks, Chytil will try to become the Czech world champion. AOP / USA TODAY Sports
Central striker Filip Chytil scored 22 goals and 45 power points for his employer New York Rangers this season. Czech played quite a lot in the same chain with Kaapo Kako.
The friends may meet in the next games of the tournament in Tampere. Finland and the Czech Republic are among the early favorites for the World Cup tournament.
– After the season, we joked that it would be nice to play against each other in the semifinals or the medal game. It would be fun, I have never played against Kaapo, Chytil tells Iltalehte in Riga, where the Czech Republic is playing in the preliminary series.
Friends
The young players have become friends during the NHL years.
– We have played together for four years. We spend a lot of time together outside the rink in New York, the 191-centimeter player continues.
The Czech Republic starts the tournament on Friday against Slovakia. The lion will roar for the first time on Friday as well, the United States will be up against it.
– Maybe the game against Finland is still ahead. But we have a long way to go before that, 23-year-old Chytil reminds.
Defeat kismite
Kaapo Kakko (right) and Filip Chytil fan the goal. Both players are Rangers’ first-round picks. AOP / USA TODAY Sports
The Rangers drafted Chytil in the 2017 draft in the first round with the No. 21 pick.
The second is also the men of the first round, the TPS breeder’s name was called number two in the summer 2019 draft.
Raised in Zlin, Chytil would currently rather play in the NHL playoffs and chase the Stanley Cup victory. However, the Rangers lost in the opening round of the playoffs to the New Jersey Devils.
– The loss was a hard piece to swallow. A couple of days after that were quite difficult. But when the general manager of the Czech national team Martin Havlat called, so I still wanted to play because the NHL season ended so quickly.
– I thought that I want to help the national team. When the opportunity came, I went to the WC tournament.
“Good coaches”
Fredrik Norrena (left) is responsible, among other things, for the underpowered game of the Czech Republic. Kari Jalonen is the country’s head coach, TIMO KUNNARI
The Czech Republic has five NHL players at the start of the tournament. Chytil joined this week Kari Jalonen to pilot the national team.
– Based on the two training sessions, I can say that the coach’s style suits the team. We have a good result from last spring, it’s good to build on that. We have a good team and good coaches, an NHL star known as a fast skater is flourishing.
Former top goalkeeper Fredrik Norrena is also involved in the Czech coaching.
Chytil talks a lot about the attacking game.
– We want to play active puck. We have to think about the game through attack. The tempo has to be high and we have to play fast puck.
The goal is the world championship
Chytil postponed the start of his summer vacation for only one reason.
– Of course we go to the tournament to win the gold medal. You have to go into this tournament with that attitude. On the other hand, we can’t think things too far yet. We have to go one game at a time, we have a long way to go.
– First we want to beat Slovakia in the opening game. And that’s how we continue the tournament forward, thought Czech star player Chytil.