Some Favourites

Seeing as I love my European hockey I thought I would write a little bit about some of my favourite European based players out there.I don't expect you to have heard of them all but if you have then consider me to be one of your new very best friends. I mean it, I really do. If you ever need a spare lung, part of a liver or just some blood I'm there for you, well I will be if you can prove you have heard of Jaroslav Török.

So lets starts with him Jaro Török, MHC Martin's #26 and top line winger. What a player!Not only does the Slovak have a wicked twisted wrister, he has the speed and the skills to match. He does the #26 a whole lot of credit. He is that good. I bet Jason Lafreniere himself would agree with that if he ever got the chance to see Török play. Török has spent all his career in Slovakia splitting the majority of his time there with MHC Martin and Zvolen. At Zvolen he was a team mates with Andrej Rajcak, Pavel Kowalczyk and Peter Konder. so I'm hoping that those three guys could put a good word in with Török for the Capitals. We might see him here if they do... and sh'yuh pigs might fly.

Another favourite of mines is Kalle Sahlstedt. A bit like former Caps D man Roland Carlsson he is a Finn with a Swedish name. Shalstedt though is an ickle 5"9 centre that has always played at the top level of Scandinavian hockey. He sets up goals and he scores them. I first became aware of Sahlstedt during his days with HV-71 in the Swedish Elitserien where he put up some fantastic numbers over four years. He then decided it was time to head back home to continue his hockey where he was lucky enough to sign for Kärpät Oulu. He has had a ton of success with them winning the SM-Liiga title a few times and has took part in the European Champions Cup. He is more or less the reason why I travelled to Northern Finland to see Kärpät play.


Next up is Petr Sykora of Pardubice, I could have chosen a few players from that team as I love Pardubice a whole lot. Don't worry though. If the Capitals ever played them I'd be at Murrayfield with my game worn Jan Krajicek top on shouting for the Caps to slay the visiting Pardubice team even when we were 10-0 down. Anyway Sykora, that's Seekora and not Sickora is a goals machine. Its no coincidence that Pardubice failing to make the playoffs this year is tied in with Sykora only bagging 23 goals, thats 13 less than last seasons total when Pardubice made it all the way to the playoff finals. A Czech international Sykora has attempted to start an NHL career twice skating for Nashville and Washington but Pardubice is his home and where he plays his best hockey. I hope he never leaves again.

Another favourite of mines and another Czech is Michal Mikeska. Yup he is a former Pardubice forward that now plys his trade in the Russian Super League with Ufa where he has been for the past two seasons. Mikeska earned that move by playing a big part in the title winning team of 04/05. He was the top scorer in Czech Extraliga that season. That's why I like him. Saying that though having Milan Hejduk, Jan Bulis, Ales Hemsky, Jiri Dopita and Petr Prucha on your side definetly helped him fire in the goals.


Last up and a netminder this time is pint sized stopper Marek Pinc. I travelled over to the Czech Republic hoping to see this guy play a few years ago. I was really looking forward to it but unfortuately his club at the time Vitkovice decided that they would play their back-up in the game I was attending. I was raging. Damn you Vitkovice. Pinc is well known over there for being a bit of a party animal and is often seen out enjoying himself to the fullest in the pubs and clubs of Ostrava. He was actually warned by his club about partying to hard and turning up to training with hang-overs but they couldn't argue with the performances he put up. Pinc has recently moved clubs to play for Liberec, a championship contending team.


Honourable mentions for the other favourites of mines are of course Jaroslav Kudrna, Viktor Hubl, Jani Pesonen, Michal Berran. Johan Davidsson and Tukko Mantyla. Pffft their are a lot of good players I like to watch play hockey. All very good at it they are too. If you have Eastside Hockey Manager why don't you sign up all of these guys and then watch your team win the silverware.