Fresh off a fifth-place finish at the 2026 Winter Olympics, Czechia will look to return home with an international medal for the first time since 2023. A new coach and a healthy roster could make all the difference. After a second-place finish in the most recent Women’s Euro Hockey Tour stop, things are looking up for Czechia.
Roster
Czechia will bring 25 players to Denmark to face off at the Women’s World Championship.
Forwards:
- Barbora Bartáková (SDHL)
- Anežka Čabelová (NCAA)
- Tereza Gildainová (U19AAA)
- Klára Hymlárová (PWHL)
- Barbora Juříčková (NCAA)
- Kristýna Kaltounková (PWHL)
- Natálie Mlýnková (PWHL)
- Kateřina Mrázová (PWHL)
- Michaela Pejzlová (SDHL)
- Tereza Pištěková (SDHL/PWHL)
- Tereza Plosová (NCAA)
- Vendula Přibylová (SDHL)
- Adéla Šapovalivová (NCAA)
- Linda Vocetková (NCAA)
Defenders:
- Sára Čajanová (SDHL)
- Ellen Jarabková (SDHL)
- Noemi Neubauerová (PWHL)
- Aneta Paroubková (U22AA)
- Daniela Pejšová (PWHL)
- Tereza Radová (DFEL)
- Klára Seroiszková (SWHL)
- Aneta Tejralová (PWHL)
Goaltenders:
- Daniela Nováková (NCAA)
- Klára Peslarová (SDHL)
- Aneta Šenková (NCAA)
Players to watch
Since she was 15 years old, Adéla Šapovalivová has been playing for the Czech senior national team. She is one of the most exciting up-and-coming players and currently plays for the University of Wisconsin in the NCAA. Last season, on Badgers team stacked with the talents of Lacey Eden, Caroline Harvey, Laila Edwards, and Kirsten Simms, Šapovalivová ranked seventh in points. Now that she’s in her sophomore season, it’ll be exciting to see how Šapovalivová has grown and where she’ll slot in on the Czech team.
The Czechs also have two 17-year-olds on the roster: Tereza Gildainová on forward and Ellen Jarabková on defense. Gildainová had 114 points in 62 games last year playing for Lovell Academy in U19AAA — nearly double the next closest player on her team. This is her first major tournament with the senior national team, but she has three medals with Czechia’s U18 team. The 2026 WWC will be her first chance to play against future NCAA opponents, as she’ll join Cornell after graduation, and likely future PWHL opponents if she can keep up her level of play.
The biggest surprise is not seeing Tereza Vanišová on the roster. The Czech team confirmed to The Ice Garden that Vanišová’s absence is not related to injury. Denisa Křížová is also absent, likely due to visa issues.
Storyline to watch
Like many of the teams heading into this World Championship, Czechia is going through a bit of a changing of the guard. Since 2022, Czechia had been coached by Carla MacLeod. She helped to revamp the program and make Czechia a third- or fourth-place team rather than a sixth-, seventh-, or eighth-place team. Czechia won both of their World Championship medals with MacLeod as a coach. MacLeod, who announced in 2025 that she was diagnosed with breast cancer, will not return as the head coach of the Czech national team.
Instead, Brian Idalski will be behind the bench when Czechia hits the ice in Denmark this November. Idalski, who now coaches at Syracuse University, coached the Vancouver Goldeneyes last season in the PWHL. He previously coached the Chinese women’s national team at the 2022 Olympics.
Idalski undoubtedly has big shoes to fill in taking over this role. While the prosperity of MacLeod’s Czech team tapered after 2023, she did help Czechia find success internationally. The same will surely be expected of Idalski, and November’s tournament will be his first big test.
What success will look like for Czechia
The first note of success will be for Czechia to not finish last in Group A. The top four teams from each group will go through to the quarterfinals, while the last-place team will have to fight for a spot to play in the tournament next year in the relegation round. With Germany and Austria in the group, the Czechs should not find themselves relegated.
That said, Czechia will likely consider this tournament a success by making it to, and hopefully winning, the bronze-medal game. The reality of the international stage is that Canada and USA are most likely to face off in the gold-medal game, leaving the bronze-medal game as the pinnacle of the tournament for the remaining teams.
For the Czechs, returning to their bronze-medal ways of 2022 and 2023 would be a huge success. For the past two years, Czechia has finished fourth at the World Championships. Bringing a medal back would be a great success for this team.
After a poor start to the Euro Hockey Tourn, Czechia seemingly once again found their stride, beating Switzerland 7-2 and Finland 4-1. These results are a good sign as they head to Worlds.
Group stage schedule
- Nov. 6 vs. Austria, 3 PM local (9 AM EST)
- Nov. 8 vs. Sweden, 7 PM local (1 PM EST)
- Nov. 10 vs. Germany, 3 PM local (9 AM EST)
- Nov. 11 vs. USA, 7 PM local (1 PM EST)
Find the full schedule at iihf.com.
