David Pastrňák arrived at the venue of the World Hockey Championship in Tampere after the shameful loss of the Czech team to the Austrians. And the mood in the cabin quickly changed 180 degrees. Productivity and his eternally positive mood directed the team to the quarterfinals. However, he hid his best in the last match against the USA, when he scored the bronze win 8: 4 with a hat trick in the third period.
Tampere (from our newsletter) – With Boston, he had to bite the elimination from Carolina in the playoffs, he finished the long series with minor health problems and did not know if the Bruins would let him into Finland.
They agreed, and David Pastrňák appeared at the World Championships after four years, for the fourth time in his career. He scored seven goals in seven games and added three assists. They all talked about how he lit up the cabin with his jokes and natural demeanor.
It was also clear how he had developed. After a heavy semifinal defeat 1: 6 against Canada, he came voluntarily among the journalists from the locker room. He described the reasons for the crash and took the defeat largely, knowing that he had harmed the team with an unnecessary foul, after which the Canadians scored the winning goal.
Not even a day later, the “Past” in the bronze medal match with the Americans was not two-thirds. For the third period, coach Kari Jalonen sent him to Tomáš Hertl and Hynek Zohorná, and the gunner from Havířov crushed his opponents with a hat-trick.
He was torn by the joy of winning 8: 4 by a doping control, but then he still came to share his impressions. A bronze medal dangled from his neck, the first with an adult national team. At the same time, Pastrňák drank beer from a can.
Do you have Finnish beer to celebrate? How does it taste?
But yeah, it’s possible. (smile) So the can looks awful, but it tastes better than it looks.
And how does the bronze medal taste a bit after the match?
Well, just… I was doping for an hour and a half, I didn’t enjoy the locker room so much. But let me tell you – those first ten minutes were great. We are very happy that at least we took the bronze.
Is it valuable how you won? Two thirds was the match against you.
The bronze is very important to us, we really wanted to grab the medal. At the end of the day, it has a price of gold for us.
Did you take this match as a big personal mission? After the semifinals, you criticized yourself, you helped the bronze with a hat-trick.
I had it in my head, but I also played terribly in the first two thirds of the bronze medal match. Sometimes, however, one shift is enough and everything turns around. That’s why we play hockey. I am very pleased that we have made some success for Czech hockey, for the fans. I am also glad for Krejča and Červus that we succeeded. They are some age old, you never know when you will represent again. I arrived at the World Cup after four years, I don’t know when it will be next. I really appreciate that we won the medal for these older boys as well.
In the third period, you switched with Matěj Blümel and the cooperation next to Tomáš Hertl immediately began to work. He had assistance with all your goals. Didn’t it surprise you that it was so easy?
We are used to Letňany, where we go to play with veterans in the summer. (smile) No, it was a great change from Kari. Overall, everything was positive. We knew we needed to remove the shortfall, then we were confident that we could turn the result around. America played four defenders, according to which we built our entire game to the third period.
Did you have to negotiate with Hertl?
I have no problem playing with good teammates and I know what to expect from Hertlík. He immediately told me that he would stay on the puck in the offensive zone, let me come for the puck, that he would go to the gate and I should shoot. Fortunately, we fell there. As I say, it was a great step for the coach to change the lines. It’s great that we were able to get up even after the semifinals, when we were very disappointed.
Did you know that before the weekend, Roman Červenka went to church to call on a higher power?
No, but it warms me terribly as I saw him rejoice after a 4: 3 goal. I’ve never seen this with him before. (smile) Krejča and Červus were our leaders on the ice and in the cabin. They also drew us in how much they wanted to succeed.
Everyone automatically expected that when you arrived, you would take care of everything. Is it hard to deal with this?
After all, I’ve been in America for a year. I used to have some problems with pressure, but today I am a completely different player, on the contrary, I take pressure as motivation. It suits me, I found a way to work with the pressure. Maybe it will go on like this. And please last question, I’d like to go see the boys.
Did you notice during the match that your mother became a star in the stands? She took part in dancing and imitating the referee’s gestures on a multimedia cube.
(smile) Noticed. I saw it, she gave a great performance.
Maybe she encouraged you to turn around.
Yeah, it was in the second period that I wasn’t in the mood to watch it. But she did very well. Let’s give her credit for kicking us. (laughter)
