Evaluation on to Expectation: Czechia Brings a Stronger Core to Lahti
By The Czech Women’s Hockey Report • 30 September 2026
Washington, D.C.
Kloten’s Opening WEHT round showed that Brian Idalski’s group can stay competitive while learning a new system. With Kristýna Kaltounková, Kateřina Mrázová and Dominika Lásková re-joining the roster, the second WEHT stop should show whether Czechia can begin to control games rather than simply survive them.
Czechia left the opening stop of the Women’s Euro Hockey Tour with a 1-2 record, five goals and a more useful result than its fourth-place finish might suggest. Every game in Kloten was still within one goal late. Finland needed an empty-netter to complete a 3-1 win; Czechia made Sweden protect a 3-2 lead before falling 4-2; and the tournament ended with a 2-1 win over Switzerland. This came with seven members of the Olympic roster unavailable, four senior debuts and an entirely new coaching staff trying to install its standards in real time.
The first stop therefore did what an August tournament should do which is establish a baseline. Czechia’s defensive floor looked sturdier as the weekend went on, the young players did not look out of place, and the power play eventually supplied goals. But the same familiar limitation remained. Too much attacking-zone time happened around the dangerous ice rather than through it, and too much of the offense depended on special teams or goaltending buying time. Lahti is the next version of the experiment. The staff has retained most of the group that went to Switzerland, but it has added enough established skill that the expectations should change with it.
What changed from Kloten?
18 of the 23 players on the final Lahti roster were also in Kloten. Continuity for a staff with only three games behind the bench, but the five changes are significant.
In: Veronika Ortová, Dominika Lásková, Barbora Bartáková, Kristýna Kaltounková and Kateřina Mrázová
Out: Julie Pejšová, Aneta Šenková, Anežka Čabelová, Adéla Šapovalivová and Lucie Šindelářová
The initial roster included Julie Pejšová, but the team subsequently announced that Ortová would replace her due to Julie coming down with sickness. Kaltounková is the most obvious addition. She scored 11 goals in only 21 games as a PWHL rookie last season, leading all first-year players in goals despite an injury-shortened year. Czechia did not have another scorer with that combination of release, volume and willingness to attack the middle in Kloten. Her presence should change both the top six and the geometry of the power play: defenders have to respect the shot earlier, creating more room underneath for the playmakers.
Mrázová supplies a different solution. Her value is less about raw goal totals than pace, deception and the ability to connect possessions through the neutral zone and into controlled offensive-zone time. Czechia had stretches in Kloten when its first entry looked promising but the next touch ended the possession. Mrázová is one of the players most capable of turning that first advantage into a second and third action.
Lásková adds the same sort of calm to the back end. She produced 20 points in 34 SDHL games last season before signing with PWHL Vancouver, and she gives the staff another experienced puck-mover for exits and special teams. With eight defenders selected, her addition also creates genuine competition for roles rather than simply filling out three pairs.
Bartáková adds speed and forechecking experience from the SDHL, but the forward swap is not an uncomplicated upgrade. Šapovalivová scored Czechia’s only goal against Finland in Kloten and was one of its best transition players. Replacing her impact will take more than dropping another accomplished name into the lineup.
The more accurate conclusion is that Lahti’s forward group is older, deeper and better equipped to create offense in different ways, but it still has to prove those pieces fit together at even strength. The late goaltending change leaves Klára Peslarová as the clear performance anchor and Ortová as a fascinating development call-up. The 18-year-old made 35 saves in Czechia’s 4-3 bronze-medal win over Sweden at the 2026 U18 Women’s Worlds, standing up to four Swedish power plays in the third period. Whether she starts or simply works with the senior staff, this is a high-value look at a goalie who could be part of the program’s next cycle.
The Kloten Numbers Point to One Central Problem
Czechia scored five times in three games in Switzerland. Three of those goals came on the power play. At even strength, the team was outscored 4-2.
The power play finished 3-for-15, a respectable 20 percent after an 0-for-5 opening game against Finland. The penalty kill operated at 80 percent, but Czechia gave its opponents 15 opportunities and took 36 penalty minutes, including 22 against Sweden. In the two games for which the official shot totals were reliable, Sweden and Switzerland combined to outshoot Czechia 60-46. Those numbers do not describe a team that was structurally overwhelmed. Only four of the eight goals against came at even strength, three were power-play goals and one was an empty-netter. They do describe a team that spent too much time defending, did not generate enough repeat offense and made its own job harder with penalties.
Assistant coach Ivo Mocek identified the same issue after the Sweden game. Czechia needed more strength at the net, more support in the corners and more determination to hold pucks in the dangerous areas. That should be the simplest lens through which to watch Lahti. The question is not merely whether Czechia possesses the puck, but rather, whether that possession ends with a layer at the crease, a recovered rebound or another attack before the opponent can exit.
Kaltounková and Mrázová can improve the quality of the first chance. Lásková can help the team arrive in the zone with more control. But the next step has to be collective, a low forward arriving in support, a weak-side player getting inside, and defenders keeping plays alive without exposing the group to transition. Discipline is the other immediate correction. Idalski wants Czechia to become harder and more physical without giving away its technical identity. Kloten showed the line the team is trying to find. At its best, Czechia closed space faster and defended the front of its net with more purpose. At its worst, penalties traded valuable five-on-five development time for long shorthanded stretches and prevented the staff from rolling lines or building rhythm.
What Idalski’s Style Should Look Like in Stop Two
Idalski has been consistent about the objective: preserve the skating, skill and fluidity that already define Czechia, then add physical defending, stronger puck battles and the ability to win games when the preferred rush style is unavailable.
Kloten offered flashes rather than a finished product. The first game included missed handoffs and moments when Finland found space behind Czechia’s first layer. By the Switzerland game, the distances between players were tighter and the team looked more comfortable protecting the middle, even while being outshot 32-25.
Julie Pejšová stopped 31 of 32 in that win, so it would be a mistake to call the defensive work complete. The group did, however, show it could protect a lead and remain composed in a one-goal game.
In Lahti, progress should be visible in four areas:
Cleaner exits under pressure. The first pass needs support close enough to avoid hopeful chips and immediate re-entry.
More offense inside the dots. Shots from the perimeter only become useful if Czechia owns the screen, rebound and next touch.
Fewer penalties away from the puck. Physicality is only an advantage if the team can keep five skaters available to use it.
A repeatable even-strength line. The roster has enough talent, the staff now needs at least one combination it can trust to tilt a shift against Finland or Sweden without waiting for a power play.
Players to Watch:
Klára Peslarová: There may not be a Czech player entering the tournament in better club form. Peslarová has started the SDHL season 4-0 for Brynäs with a 0.75 goals-against average, a .965 save percentage and two shutouts. That comes after a 9-0 playoff run last spring in which she posted a .965 save percentage and four shutouts. Czechia should not want to rely on her to erase every territorial deficit, but having one of the tournament’s most in-form goalies changes what is possible in close games.
Kristýna Kaltounková: The return of Czechia’s most direct shooter is the clearest test of whether the even-strength offense can move. But we will also be watching her movement as this will be her first game action since injury last season, so there shouldn’t be a massive expectation for immediate production. Kaltounková does not need a long possession to create danger, and her shot should force opponents to defend the slot and flank differently. Watch where the staff deploys her, who retrieves pucks on her line and whether her presence turns Czechia’s controlled entries into actual shot sequences.
Michaela Pejzlová: Pejzlová has opened her Frölunda career with two early goals and scored the winning power-play goal against Switzerland in Kloten. She is a useful bridge between the two versions of this roster being a returning player who already understands the new details and a scorer arriving in form. If the staff wants continuity on one unit while integrating Kaltounková and Mrázová elsewhere, Pejzlová is an obvious stabilizer.
Tereza Gildainová: Gildainová’s selection is meaningful precisely because the roster is stronger. The young forward earned more responsibility as Kloten progressed and assisted on Pejzlová’s winner against Switzerland. Keeping her while several other young forwards rotate out suggests the staff liked how quickly she processed the new structure. Lahti will show whether she can retain a real role when more veteran options are available.
Barbora Juříčková, Julie Jebousková and the young defense: The NCAA season has only just begun, but Juříčková already recorded an assist for St. Lawrence against No. 1 Wisconsin, while Jebousková has played her first weekend for Maine after a 72-point final season at Shattuck St. Mary’s. On defense, 17-year-old Ellen Jarabková and U18 bronze medalist Aneta Paroubková have both been retained. Idalski is still evaluating the next generation, and he is asking it to compete beside more of the established core.
Two Other Storylines to Keep in View
First, the same opponents make this a useful progress check. Finland’s home roster includes Michelle Karvinen, Elisa Holopainen, Emma Nuutinen, Petra Nieminen and Susanna Tapani. Sweden brings Sara Hjalmarsson and Lina Ljungblom; Switzerland has Alina Müller and Lara Stalder.
Czechia is stronger than it was in Kloten, but so is the environment around it.
Second, the calendar is beginning to compress. Czechia has one more WEHT stop in Sweden at the end of October, then the World Championship begins in Denmark on November 6. Lahti is still a development tournament, but it is no longer consequence-free. Combinations that work here can carry into the final tune-up, players who make the staff’s decisions difficult now can force their way into the Worlds conversation.
Tournament Schedule
Wednesday, September 30: Czechia vs. Finland - 17:00 CEST / 11:00 a.m. ET
Friday, October 2: Czechia vs. Sweden - 13:00 CEST / 7:00 a.m. ET
Saturday, October 3: Czechia vs. Switzerland - 13:00 CEST / 7:00 a.m. ET
