Russian Machine Never Breaks’ Chris Cerullo noted that Red Wings forward and former Washington Capital Jakub Vrana held a charity hockey game to benefit his youth hockey team, HC Letci Lethany, which turned 20 this week.
Vrana’s friend, Vitek Vanecek, was part of the festivities, as were players like David Pastrnak, Jakub Voracek, Jan Rutta and Filip Zadina (among others). Vrana, wearing his old #33, scored 5 goals as the “HC Letci” team took advantage of the fact that the All-Stars team only had 12 skaters.
Because HC Letci is located in Prague, Vrana and his friends gave a ton of interviews, speaking with iDnes.cz, Hokej.cz (including a 3-minute video report from the game), iSport, Sport.cz and Prazsky Denik, which is my preferred interview to try and translate.
It turns out that Vrana apparently spent some time sleeping at the rink (in the ice cream shop, no less) when he was a little kid, and he stayed with HC Letci until he was 15:
Here’s what Vrana and company had to say to Prazsky Denik’s Filip Ardon:
Pastrnak, Vrana and other stars celebrated the anniversary with summer hockey
The Letani [a part of Prague] hockey team celebrated its 20-year anniversary, and they prepared a great program for hockey fans. In an exhibition game, the Airmen’s cadets, led by Jakub Vrana, played against Czech stars, led by David Pastrnak. The packed ice arena saw a total of 19 goals, and the visitors shared interesting hockey artifacts, which were placed into a raffle.
The game itself, which featured the leading stars of Czech hockey, was preceded by a great team honor. Twelve legends of summer hockey received awards on the ice, and three of them received an even greater honor. Frantisek Kuchera, his brother Votjtek, and Zbynek Zavadil looked on as flags with their names were raised to the ceiling of the rink, where they will hang from now on.’
“Goose. I was here every day, so I saw all of them quite a lot. They did well,” praised the Airmen’s most famous student, Jakub Vrana.”
Yes, the translation and the original article said “Goose!”
It was he who led a selection of local students on the ice, including goaltender Lukas Parik and forward Lukas Rousek. It was the home players in blue who asked for an exhibition game, and the Selection of Stars, which included both great players and legends from the past, came together. In one jersey, David Pastrnak, Jakub Voracek, Filip Zadina, Jan Rutta, Vitek Vanecek, David Vyborny and Jan Hlavac raced across the ice.
“It was very nice. Letci are a young team, but they’ve produced one player who has a Stanley Cup, as well as many other talents who play in Europe. Hats off, hopefully they continue like this,” said Pastrnak, who has a very close relationship with the local rink, after the second period of the game. This is where he goes to train in the summer, when he flies to the Czech Republic in between NHL seasons.
“Two rinks were created in Prague, which is great for those of us who play overseas. We have a place to train and they allow us to do so every year. That’s also why I decided to come here, because I spend almost every summer here. I’m glad that people noticed it and that this event was held today,” said the Boston star.
However, Pastrnak and his teammates had to accept defeat in the game. The youngsters from Letnany wanted to show off their team’s celebrations, and in the end, they went on to win 11-8. “We guys from Letci were kicking, we just didn’t want it to end. On the other hand, I think that both teams enjoyed it. I’m very glad that the boys came. You don’t just see the best players in Czechia coming. We boys from Letci also enjoyed playing against them. It was a great experience,” praised Vrana.
Detroit’s forward shined as the biggest summer star. He scored five goals in the game, more than Jiri Tlusty and Jaroslav Nedved from the other team, who scored three goals apiece. But on Saturday in Letnany, it wasn’t primarily about goals. The important thing was to have fun, entertain the fans in the stands, and celebrate a successful young team. Both sides succeeded in this.
Pastrnak did grumble to one outlet that this game was the NHL’ers second exhibition game in two days, perhaps explaining why the team of NHL’ers weren’t at their best.
