Illustration photo – Match of the Karjala hockey tournament, Euro Hockey Tour series between the Czech Republic and Sweden, November 10, 2022 České Budějovice. From the left, Czech goalkeeper Marek Langhamer, Dominik Mašín from the Czech Republic and Pär Lindholm from Sweden
Brno – Hockey goalkeeper Marek Langhamer has said goodbye to Ilves Tampere after two years and his career will continue in Oskarshamn, Sweden, but he would like to return to the hall of his current place of work soon. The World Championship will culminate there in a month, and the Czech national team would like to get to Tampere from the basic group in Riga to fight for medals. Langhamer is close to his second participation in the championship, and the experience of the bronze success from last year in Tampere is vivid in his memory. He told reporters today.
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“Even now, when the Czech play-off is on, I see it on TV. It was very emotional and I think we all felt that a stone had fallen from our hearts. Of course, it is a very great experience, even for me in Tampere, where I felt people cheering for me even against Finland when we played,” said Langhamer.
He made his debut at a major international event last year. After the injury of Anaheim's Lukáš Dostál in the opening match against Great Britain, he got into goal instead of Karel Vejmelka. He replaced Arizona's goalkeeper before half-time in the 3:5 match against Sweden, then caught the entire match against home team Finland in a 0:3 loss, and replaced Vejmelka in the fight for bronze from the second period at 1:3. He could thus enjoy the turn from the goal area to 8:4.
He realizes that the defense of the medal positions leads to a difficult path, but he would be happy to return to Tampere. “It would be a great feeling. We have to go into the games with humility and try to win every one of them and see where it takes us,” said Langhamer. He is again ready to go to the WC in any position.
“The best thing is to go day by day and match by match because anything can happen, illness, injury can come. I don't want to call it of course, but we know what happened last year. If it's the same position, then I'll take it. If it will be the third goalkeeper, I'll take her. It doesn't matter to me, I'll prepare as best as I can,” said the 28-year-old pupil of Moravská Třebová.
He should form a trio just like last year with Vejmelka, with whom Šimon Hrubec is preparing after last year's absence. According to goalkeeping coach Zdeňko Orcto, only the possible reinforcement of Vítek Vaněček from New Jersey could interfere with this. According to Langhamer, it is nice to build on a working cooperation.
“We get along well, there shouldn't be a problem. We will try to do our best for the team and see what comes of it. Mainly, we are in the national team, where it is something like in the playoffs, when the team needs a win and it doesn't matter who in who is standing at the goal, or who scores a goal. We will certainly satisfy ourselves here,” he pointed out.
He joined the others on Tuesday after arriving from Finland on Sunday. On Thursday, he was still fighting for the bronze medal, in which Ilves defeated IFK Helsinki 3:2 at home. “The coaches were kind enough to give me a day off. But I only had time to unpack my things, I saw my parents and my wife, I packed my briefcase again and went,” smiled Langhamer. He arrived excited. “It's already before the World Championships, so it's so exciting. Everyone is already preparing for the Czech Games and then it starts, so we're all trying to do what we can.”
With Ilves after second place in in the regular season, he thought more than about defending the bronze medal, but in the semi-finals his team lost to Pelicans Lahti 2:4 on matches. “Obviously we looked up a little bit higher, but we lacked some aspects in the team. I would say the cohesion was not what a title team needs. And we lacked goals up front. Of course third place is also an achievement and we are happy to have managed the bronze medal game, ” he declared.
In the Finnish league, unlike other competitions, bronze is still being played and Langhamer admitted that it is challenging. “It's just that it's a fight of disappointments. It's definitely better if the match is won. It's a long time, you wait a week. Usually after the semi-finals, when you lose, all you want to do is go home. And not seeing a hockey stick and equipment for half a year. For us, the fact that we won it was a certain satisfaction,” added Langhamer.
