Czechia is being overlooked in the Olympics

Heading into the men’s ice hockey tournament at the 2026 Winter Olympics, many are excited to see if Canada, the United States and Finland have what it takes to win the gold medal.

However, there are a couple of teams that have the ability to turn heads and make an honest run in Milan, especially Czechia.

The team has a solid mix of veteran and youthful talent. From having snipers like David Pastrnak and Martin Necas, to solid assets in David Kampf, Tomas Hertl and Ondrej Palat, there’s a lot of firepower up front. Not to mention the fact that they have an extremely talented netminder in Lukas Dostal, who’s less than two years removed from helping the Czechs win gold at the 2024 IIHF Men’s World Championship.

Czechia certainly doesn’t have the depth that Canada or the United States have, but there is enough talent that can help drive the team to at least the semifinals.

On Tuesday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Carter Hutton explains why Czechia has the chance to be a surprising team in Italy over the next couple of weeks.

Carter Hutton: I think Czechia is a team that gets overlooked a lot when it comes down to it, and these are teams that have played well. They’re coming off a 2024 World Championship victory where LuKas Dostal was unbelievable. He was a big X-factor in that, and again, goaltending can be an X-factor. I remember waking up at 4 a.m. with my dad to watch the Czech Republic game against Canada, and Dominik Hasek stealing the show and winning the gold medal. So, goaltending can be a big factor here. You have a top line with Martin Necas, Tomas Hertl, and David Pastrnak. They could get you a goal, win a power play, and if your goaltending can be good enough, you never know if the team like Czechia. 

You can watch the full segment and entire episode here…