PRAGUE – The 5th World University Floorball Championship, to be held in Prague, is already on the doorstep, and the Czech squads will be trying to build on the medals that they won in the last championships. In May 2010, the best university floorball teams were invited to Sweden. The small university town of Umeå was the meeting place for six men’s teams and five women’s teams, and the Czechs won silver and bronze medals.
On the western shore of the Baltic sea, the team led by trainers Skružný and Zahalka took third place afer beating Norway, and the women, who were competing in the FISU event for the first time ever, finished one place higher after being beaten in the final by the home team. At the fourth university championships in Umeå, only Switzerland among the four elite floorball countries failed to send a men’s team, and were represented only in the women’s tournament. All the other favourites were there.
“There are tens of thousands of students in Umeå, and the campus of the local university is beautiful,” past and present university team trainer Zdeněk Skružný recalls. “Three student teams from the town play in the top Swedish league, so the technical background and the organisation were excellent. There was a highly-charged atmosphere,” he adds.
“We had hoped to reach the final, but it did not work out,” Skružný remembers.
At the last moment two teams withdrew from the men’s tournament, so each team played against each of the others in the group stage. The Czechs played against Austria, Sweden, Norway, Japan and Finland. They failed to win against the Swedes and the Finns. These two teams went into the final. The Czechs finished third, and were only able to play for the bronze medal.
“We began with a draw against Sweden, and we thought we would beat the Finns in the last game and make our way into the final. But unfortunately that is not what happened, and we could only play off for third place against Norway,” Skružný recalls.
The Czech floorball team made no mistakes in the match for third place. After the first period, the Norwegians still had some hopes at 0-1, but in the middle period the Czechs put three more goals into their net, and the match ended in a 9-1 thrashing. Tomašík and Hlavička both scored twice.
The final provided some exciting viewing for the fans. The Finns were leading by two goals almost half way through the game. However, the home team, cheered on by a full sports hall, turned the game round in the third period. After Mattson’s winning goal in the 55th minute they went on to celebrate victory in the University Games by three goals to two.
Czech hard luck repeated itself just a few hours later for the women’s team. The Swedes were able to defeat Markéta Šteglová and Karolína Šatalíková’s team by four goals to three, but only after a big battle. In the dress rehearsal game on the Saturday, the Czech team had won comfortably by 6 goals to 1, and they led for a long time in the big match. Half way through the game the home team was losing 2-1, but they managed to turn the game around. Křížová narrowed the margin in the 58th minute, but it was too late, and the Czech girls had to settle for silver medals. However, there was nothing for them to be sad about.
“The girls played really well, and the whole tournament was a remarkable success for them. It’s just a pity about the the final,” Skružný concluded two years ago.
Will the Czech teams manage to win medals this year, playing on home soil?
(Source: OC of the 5th WUC Floorball)
