I have Google email alerts set up to help find obscure interviews and other Red Wings content, and this evening, my email alerts let me know of an interview which Red Wings 2024 draft pick Ondrej Becher gave Polar.cz’s Yvona Fajt.
The Wings drafted the 20-year-old from Ostrava with the 80th overall pick in this past June’s NHL Draft, and the Prince George Cougars forward was training with his childhood team, HC RT Torax Poruba, until today, when he left Ostrava to head to Detroit.
Czech is always a little tricky, but here’s a rough translation of Faijt’s interview, which is accompanied by a video that you’re not going to get much out of unless you speak Czech yourself.
In any case, the interview and the video seem to sync up well, and I believe that Becher will be taking part in the prospect tournament and training camp this September:
Hockey player Ondrej Becher is heading to the Detroit Red Wings. His dream is to play in the NHL.
Ondrej Becher, a native of Poruba and a promising hockey player, will soon be heading to Detroit. The Detroit Red Wings bet on him during this year’s NHL Draft.
Hockey player Ondrej Becher, a bronze medalist at the World Junior Championship this past year, is spending his time preparing with great intensity to play in the NHL. He will be heading to the Detroit Red Wings tomorrow.
Ondrej Becher, hockey player: “I’m preparing here with the Poruba A team on the ice, every day we have practice on the ice, plus I go to the gym. I have my own skills coach, my personal trainer and I go to the gym with him every day. I will fly to Detroit at the beginning of September, and my greatest achievement, I would probably say, is the World Championship, definitely the championship.”
Ondrej spent a week in Detroit [earlier this summer], right after the draft. It was a great experience for him.
Ondrej Becher: “It was great there. I met the management, coaches, a few players, and Pavel Datsyuk was there, the Detroit legend, right, so that week it was great, definitely great. I was there for a week, I had about 3 practices on the ice and the camp was pretty familiar. I think I need to work on everything, how to skate and shoot, I need to work on everything. I need to work on all my shooting, and on my shot.”
Jiri Reznar, coach of HC Torax Poruba: “He’s a very hardworking young man, a good man and we wish him well because he has skillful hands, he sees well, he’s so smart that he’s able to give beautiful passes in game situations, and he’s not an individualist himself. So these are the qualities, of course he has to work on fitness with the strength and conditioning trainers, and these things, and we wish that he will, of course, find a spot, because it’s not just about his work. Of course it’s also about the work of his parents, who supported him, and the youth coaches who led him from the beginning, and it’s good for Czech hockey that the young man will assert himself in America again. There are already capable people who will help him improve.”
Ondrej Becher: “The dream of every hockey player is definitely to play in the NHL, so it’s definitely my dream and one day I would like to play there. And my role model has always been David Krejci of Boston, and I always looked up to him as a child and liked him very much.”
Ondrej started hockey at the age of 4 at the ice rink in Ostrava-Poruba, and he likes to remember his childhood years, when he attended the children’s elementary school.
Ondrej Becher: “I enjoyed it, from then until today. I hope I still will have a long time to play. I spend a lot of time with my friends in my free time. We go out, go out and play sports, we play soccer, we go play tennis, and as I remember, Detska? Definitely great, all the teachers there, all the friends, and so on.”
Being drafted is the first step, but there’s a long way to the NHL, and the important thing is to not be stuck in development.
