STYL

Vítkovice Introduce an

Extraleague Superstar!

‘We Are Aiming Even Higher!’ Roman Šimíček Says

HC VÍTKOVICE RIDERA finished eighth last season and are now aiming even higher for

the upcoming season. As proof of their conviction, the team’s leadership managed to

acquire the Extraleague superstar Peter Mueller, an American striker whose statistical

record was second-to-none last year. Roman Šimíček, sports director of HC VÍTKOVICE

RIDERA, talked to us about upcoming changes in the club and revealed the elite team’s

plan for the upcoming season.

Preparations for the new Extraleague

season are in full swing. What changed in

the Vítkovice team? Will last year’s lineup make

a reappearance?

Our goal is to push our performance and results to

a level higher than what we had last season. We began

intensified training of our lineup in January, starting

with our coaches. We elected to keep Miloš Holaň

and Radek Philipp as our trainers. Havel and Horyl will

also continue to serve the roles of video coach and

conditioning trainer, respectively. The progressive, yet

experienced, Martin Faltera will now be our goalkeeper

coach. We knew that we had a couple players signed,

while for others, it was about exercising the option.

This made negotiation simple, whether it came to

goalkeeper Stezka, Lukáš Krenželok, Koch, Lindberg

or younger players.

100 ǀ POSITIV 2/2022

Who will not be moving forward with the team?

Mainly players whose contracts have ended and

we have elected not to extend them. This includes

defenders Plášil and Pedan, strikers Bondra, Flick,

and Hruška, and goalkeeper Dolejš. Unfortunately,

defender Alexei Solovjev will also not be joining us for

the next season as his visa application was rejected

due to his Russian citizenship. On behalf of the team,

I would like to thank everyone and wish them good

luck in their personal lives and hockey careers.

Unfortunately, the current team captain, Roman

Polák, will also not be part of this year’s lineup. He

decided to retire from his successful hockey career.

How hard was it to accept this decision?

Sadly, that is how life goes in the hockey world. Speaking

from personal experience, I can tell you that making