Josef Černý

“It was an experience with the Russians indeed. Naturally, we were aware of the political situation. We knew that if we lost to Canada or the United States nothing much would happen. But that if we beat the Russians that would be something. Well, and then there were the demonstrations in the Wenceslas Square. I told myself that I was virtually a dissident. We caused it, we were the dissidents. But let me tell you that I really had a problem when the situation calmed down. Then there were the so-called street committees. We won the National Cup and as a reward were given a trip to the sea to Yugoslavia. But we had to pay the trip for our wives and needed a permit for them to go. We, players, got the permit with the prize. So I went to the street committee. I told what I wanted. The man there told me I took part in demonstrations after the match against Russians that we had won 2:0. I told him I had taken no part in the demonstrations since I was in Sweden at that time and scored the second goal – just in spite of people like him. Eventually I got the permit for my wife. But you see what some people responded like back home.”

“When young boys start playing ice-hockey today, they ask for ice clear as a mirror. But it was our advantage that on a pond there were trees, leaves and stuff like this. You skated and kept running into things. This taught you to keep balance. I didn’t fall. Even when I ran into something, I was caught off balance but didn’t fall. This was a huge benefit for me into future, because whenever I stumbled on someone else’s stick or when someone wanted to trip me up, I could cope. I didn’t mind. I was used to it from my youth. The pond taught me to skate excellently.”