On Thursday, Team Czechia announced their training camp roster for the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship in Ottawa.
While this is only the preliminary roster at this time, more cuts will come right before the tournament begins in late December, and this article will be updated as we get closer to that point. Regardless, with the announcement coming out, it is important to remember that this is subject to change.
Related: Guide to the 2025 World Junior Championship
The roster consists of 14 players who have either been drafted or are in a professional team’s system, and features a few questionable exemptions such as Jaromír Pérez and Maxmilian Curran, and a curious addition in Adam Jiříček who has not played since early November.
As it stands, the Czechs have a 27-man roster that will be trimmed to 22 before the tournament officially begins. Here’s who will be representing the Lands of the Bohemian Crown.
Forwards
Vojtěch Čihař, Jiří Felcman, Mirsolav Holinka, Vojtěch Hradec, Adam Jecho, Ondřej Kos, Matěj Maštalířský, Adam Novotný, Dominik Petr, Petr Sikora, Eduard Šalé, Pavel Šimek, Jakub Štancel, Richard Žemlička, and Adam Židlický.
Of all the forwards on Team Czechia’s roster, there is no doubt that Eduard Šalé was a shoo-in to make the team. Šalé is playing in his third consecutive (and final) WJC, and has had a great season for the Coachella Valley Firebirds. With the Firebirds, he has played in 20 games racking up 12 points (four goals, eight assists).
Jakub Štancl, Adam Židlický, and Matěj Maštalířský are also all returning from the 2024 WJC and will look to lead their teammates to a second consecutive tournament where they have medaled. This time, however, they will look to win silver or gold, as opposed to bronze.
Štancl too is having an excellent season thus far, racking up 32 points in 26 games. The St. Louis Blues’ draftee has scored 11 goals and added 21 assists to his ledger, and will look to lead the attack on one of Team Czechia’s top lines throughout the World Juniors.
Židlický and Maštalířský are where the rubber hits the road for the Czechs, as the former has racked up 26 points in 27 games all while on a stretch that includes 15 goals. Maštalířský on the other hand, in the pre-tournament games went on a goal-per-game stretch where he scored 10 goals in as many games, and even added five assists…
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