Czechia at the WEHT: What Kloten Taught Us About Idalski’s New-Look Team

By The Czech Women’s Hockey Report  •  23 August 2026

KLOTEN, Switzerland

Brian Idalski and Ivo Mocek’s first tournament produced a fourth-place finish, but also established a defensive foundation, created meaningful opportunities for several newcomers, and clarified the offensive questions Czechia must answer before the World Championship.

Fourth place is the easiest way to summarize Czechia’s week in Kloten. It may also be the least useful. The national team finished its first Women’s Euro Hockey Tour stop of the season with one win, two losses and a 5-8 goal differential. Yet the final table was remarkably compressed. Czechia’s three points left it only two behind second-place Switzerland and three behind tournament winner Sweden. Every Czech game was also separated by one goal late in the third period. Finland needed an empty-netter, Sweden did not restore its two-goal lead until the final three minutes, and Switzerland never found an equalizer in Czechia’s 2-1 win.

The results, in other words, were competitive. More importantly, they gave Brian Idalski and Ivo Mocek their first meaningful benchmark.

Czechia was not the only team beginning a new coaching cycle in Kloten though. Three of the four participating countries arrived with a new head coach: Idalski with Czechia, Erika Holst with Sweden and Shannon Miller with Switzerland. Sweden finished first and Switzerland second, while Finland, the only team with continuity behind the bench, placed third.

Being doesn’t become a blanket explanation for every Czech mistake when two other new staffs immediately finished above them. At the same time, all four countries brought varying degrees of experimentation to the tournament, making Kloten more useful as an initial comparison than as a definitive ranking of the teams’ ceilings. The pre-tournament questions surrounding each country were notably different.

Czechia’s stated purpose was particularly diagnostic. Before the tournament, Mocek explained that the new staff wanted to see how players absorbed information, responded during games and handled different situations. Winning still mattered, but nobody expected a complete system to appear in the first game. The staff also wanted to determine which established players could be trusted in particular roles and which younger players were ready for more responsibility. That evaluation-first approach was evident throughout the week.

Kloten was therefore less a referendum on Idalski’s Czechia than the first collection of evidence about what his version of the team might become.

A comparison between Czechia’s 2026 Olympic roster and its Kloten roster shows seven Olympic players absent from this tournament. That group included Kristýna Kaltounková, Kateřina Mrázová, Denisa Křížová, Dominika Lásková and Michaela Hesová, along with Andrea Trnková and Linda Vocetková.

Not all seven are veterans, but the absences removed important pieces from every part of the lineup. Kaltounková, Mrázová and Křížová combined for 28 points in their most recent PWHL seasons, including 11 goals from Kaltounková. Lásková produced 20 points from the blue line in the SDHL, while Hesová posted a .916 save percentage at Dartmouth.

Those players bring puck management, communication, established special-teams roles and experience recovering when a game begins to drift. A younger lineup can execute a system, but veteran players often supply the connective tissue that keeps that system intact under pressure. Czechia instead used seven roster spots on players who had not been part of the Olympic lineup. Four, Ellen Jarabková, Tereza Gildainová, Julie Jebousková and Lucie Šindelářová, made their senior national-team debuts against Finland.

They were not merely dressed however. By the final game, Gildainová was playing beside Natálie Mlýnková and Adéla Šapovalivová and assisted on the winning power-play goal. Šindelářová continued to receive regular forward minutes, while Jarabková and Jebousková remained part of the rotation.

This indication if anything says development carried nearly as much weight as the standings. The coaches wanted to win, but they did not abandon the evaluation process to chase a slightly better August finish.

The strongest lesson from Kloten may be that Czechia already has the beginnings of a defensive floor. Only four of its eight goals against came at even strength. Three were scored on opposing power plays, while Finland’s final goal went into an empty net. With a goaltender in place, Czechia conceded seven times in three games, and each opponent was held within one goal until late in the third period.

The defensive work was not complete, Czechia experienced coverage and handoff problems early against Finland, and the available shot totals show how much pressure the team still absorbed. Sweden held a 28-21 advantage in shots, while Switzerland outshot Czechia 32-25. Julie Pejšová’s 31 saves in the final were every bit as important as the structure in front of her. Czechia defended well enough to remain in games, but it did not consistently control them.

Still, for a lineup missing several experienced players and learning new terminology, the emphasis was unmistakable. Czechia protected the middle more effectively as the tournament progressed, competed more consistently around its own net and generally avoided prolonged defensive breakdowns

The offense remains the larger concern

Czechia scored five goals, with five different players finding the net: Šapovalivová, Plosová, Pejšová and Pejzlová.

The distribution is encouraging. The total is not. Only two Czech goals came at even strength. No player scored more than once, and the team was outscored 4-2 at even strength. Czechia generated dangerous moments, particularly off the rush, but too few possessions developed into sustained pressure or repeat chances around the crease.

Mocek identified the same underlying problem after the Sweden game. Czechia needed more support in the corners, more determination carrying pucks toward the net and greater strength around the crease. Tactical issues, yes, but issues that concern timing, physical engagement and the willingness to remain inside difficult areas long enough to create a second opportunity. His postgame assessment was less about designing prettier entries and more about finishing possessions.

The power play requires a more nuanced evaluation. Czechia went 0-for-5 against Finland and failed to convert nearly a full minute of five-on-three time. Idalski later pointed to slow puck movement and delayed decisions, while also acknowledging that the team had not yet practiced the two-player advantage. That was an obvious failure. The response, however, was not terrible. Both Czech goals against Sweden came on the power play, and Pejzlová scored the winner against Switzerland with the advantage. Altogether, Czechia produced three power-play goals during 21:12 of power-play time. Sixty percent of the team’s offense came from special teams.

That is progress, but it is not yet proof of a solved power play. The unit oscillated between stagnant and productive, and Czechia ultimately needed it to compensate for an even-strength attack that generated only two goals all week.

Special teams also cut both ways. Czechia allowed three power-play goals during 23:02 spent shorthanded and accumulated 36 penalty minutes. Twenty-two of those minutes came against Sweden, repeatedly interrupting Czechia’s rhythm and eventually helping Sweden stop the comeback.

The lesson is therefore broader than “fix the power play.” Czechia MUST create more at even strength, establish a repeatable power-play identity and spend less time asking its penalty kill to protect close games.

The development minutes produced useful evidence

For an evaluation tournament, Czechia collected meaningful information at several positions. All three goaltenders appeared. Klára Peslarová started the first two games, Aneta Šenková entered as part of a planned rotation against Finland and was not beaten by a shooter, and Julie Pejšová delivered the 31-save victory over Switzerland.

The young skaters also received responsibilities rather than ceremonial appearances. Gildainová’s promotion and power-play assist may be the most visible example, but the broader value was seeing how each newcomer handled pace, physical pressure and rapidly changing combinations.

Not every player needed to emerge as an immediate World Championship candidate for the exercise to be worthwhile. The staff now has game evidence instead of camp projections.

The biggest questions for Lahti

Kloten supplied an initial benchmark. The next WEHT stop should begin providing answers.

1. Which missing players return, and how much does the identity change?
   The additions of Kaltounková, Mrázová, Křížová or Lásková would materially alter Czechia’s puck possession, finishing and special teams. The staff must determine whether those veterans simply occupy their old roles or fit into a genuinely new structure.

2. Which newcomers earned another opportunity?
   Gildainová made the strongest statistical case with an assist on the tournament-winning goal, but her usage was just as interesting as the point. Does she remain beside established top-six players? Do Jarabková, Jebousková and Šindelářová remain when more Olympic players become available?

3. Where does consistent even-strength scoring come from?
   Czechia cannot rely on five different players scoring one goal each. The next roster needs at least one line capable of turning possession into repeated net-front chances and staying dangerous across three games.

4. What is the first power-play unit’s identity?
   The unit improved after the Finland game, but its personnel and methods still changed frequently. Czechia needs greater certainty about its puck carrier, its primary shooter and, most importantly, the player responsible for creating traffic and recovering pucks around the net.

5. Can Czechia maintain its defensive base with fewer penalties?
   The team allowed only four even-strength goals, but three more came while shorthanded. Discipline is part of defensive structure, particularly for a team that expects to play close, low-margin games. This has been a huge problem in years past. We are intrigued to know whether discipline becomes a pillar of success for this team moving forward.

6. How does the goaltending hierarchy develop?
   Pejšová earned the final win, Šenková handled her relief appearance calmly and Peslarová remains the established veteran. If Hesová returns (who has been the de facto backup and looks to be a future starter), the next selection will reveal more about how Idalski’s staff views both the immediate hierarchy and its longer-term depth.

What comes next

Czechia’s next WEHT tournament will be held in Lahti from September 30 through October 3. The schedule provides immediate rematches with Finland on September 30, Sweden on October 2 and Switzerland on October 3.

Another tour stop in Sweden follows at the end of October, after which Czechia heads directly toward the World Championship in Denmark from November 6-16. Idalski and Mocek now have film, special-teams evidence, information on their young players and a clearer understanding of what disappears when several veterans are unavailable.

Kloten established that the team can defend well enough to remain competitive while learning, even with a depleted lineup. The next challenge is to add greater offensive efficiency, clearer special-teams roles and returning veteran talent without disturbing that emerging defensive foundation.

For a first tournament, that is a useful place to begin. For the next one, it cannot be where the evaluation ends.