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any tea from the czech hockey world that north americans may not know?

To be honest, there is not much, which wasn't already covered even by the American media - from the top of my mind:

During last year's Worlds, Filip Hronek (who, back then played for the Red Wings) and Dominik Simon (who started his 2021-22 season in Pittsburgh, then was traded to Anaheim, and now plays in the Czech league) had an actual physical fight with each other behind the scenes. Prior to that, the team actually played rather poorly and visibly didn't have the best chemistry, making people question why. Simon ended up leaving the tournament (also cause Hronek apparently wanted him to and refused to play if Simon stayed), his family apologized for him taking the heated emotions even outside of the ice, and the discussion about it then just died out cause Pastrnak arrived and the Czechs won the bronze medal after several years.

Patrik Bartosak, a talented goalie who was actually on his way to the NHL as a Kings prospect, playing in the AHL for them for three seasons, ended up being charged with twelve domestic-related charges involving his back then's girlfriend, including a felony assault charge alleging he tried to strangle her at an apartment. Naturally, this just completely ruined his NHL career and he ended up coming back to the Czech Republic, where his scandal wasn't taken that seriously and he actually managed to more or less overshadow it with his performance - not just in the Czech league but also during the Worlds and Olympic Games.

Then in late 2019 and early 2020, he suddenly put his career on halt cause he began to have severe mental health issues, which he tried to solve with alcohol and dr*gs, forming an addiction to them, eventually even by s*icide (one day, he was completely wasted, sitting in a car at a gas station, wanting to end it all, but he, fortunately, called the police instead, which came to get him).

There actually was one post-game interview from that time period, where was visibly high, which immediately began trending and led to him taking a step back from his career to seek professional treatment:

After coming back to hockey, he moved to play in Finland, for a short while even in Russia, still being invited to the Czech representation. Last year he was accused by his own father of physical assault - it was after the father of his wife, with whom he now has two kids if I am not mistaken, contacted his father and warned him about Patrik once again falling down the messy spiral of alcohol and dr*gs.

His father tried to have a talk with him about it but, and I quote: "I warned him that he had a responsibility for his two children and his wife and that he should behave accordingly. Not be a lout and walk around every day under the influence of substances. I don't say alcohol on purpose. I tried to reason with him and he ended up grabbing me by the throat, dragging me all the way down the hall, and slamming me against the neighbor's door."

Important to note, that his mother also ended up speaking to the media and saying: "This information was leaked to the newspapers by a man who used to harshly beat up the said "naughty" child every time he came home from the pub." - so yes, childhood trauma and abuse at its best.

#ice hockey gossip #nhl gossip #f. hronek #d. simon #p. bartosak