When new Boston Fleet defender Noemi Neubauerová took the ice in February for her second Olympics with Team Czechia, she found herself lining up somewhere a little different than usual.
Neubauerová had spent her entire career at forward, including professionally in the Switzerland in the SWHL this season. Yet, there she was, standing on the edge of the faceoff circle with her new defense partner, fellow Fleet defender Daniela Pejšová.
“That was kind of a crazy decision,” Neubauerová told The Ice Garden. “Basically, I signed pretty early in Switzerland as a forward so I was set to do that. But then the summer came…I was back home and I was reflecting on a lot of things. Then something that just jumped into my mind was like, okay, what if I was a defender for Team Czech to kind of bring, I guess, more depth and experience. I’ve been on the team for a long time, and I just thought that’s something to maybe consider.”
Neubauerová brought the idea to Czechia’s head coach, Carla MacLeod. They agreed it was “a bit crazy”, but decided to try it for the first pre-tournament Czechia camp. It stuck.
“I really enjoy it,” Neubauerová said. “I think I found myself in this new position, too. There’s still so much to learn, but I’m really liking it so far.”
The 26-year-old then played 10-12 games as a defender, primarily during the pre-Olympic Euro Hockey Tour, before she lined up alongside Pejšová at the Olympic faceoff circle. However, she put in countless other hours of work, talking to coaches and working on her details through video. She still had moments on the Olympic stage where she couldn’t believe what she was doing, but credits the work she put in and her teammates with giving her confidence.
“I know the players on Team Czech a lot,” Neubauerová said. “I know their patterns by now. So I knew when I was out there with certain people…what to expect. I think that helped me so much and gave me confidence. They’ve been so great…There were moments definitely where I was like oh my god, probably on the faceoff I’m not standing correctly, or something like that, but it’s just kind of the stuff that comes with experience and then it gets better over time.”
Neubauerová then returned to the Switzerland to finish out the season there as a forward for EV Zug. However, just a few days after Zug captured the SWHL championship, she received a call from her agent. The Fleet wanted to sign her.
“It was really last kind of minute,” Neubauerová said. “It was not prepared, no really talk in advance…my agent just called me and told me that Boston’s interested, [asked] whether I would be interested, and I was like oh yeah of course. So I literally heard about it and said yes in the same day. Like I said, everything just happened really fast.”
She signed a reserve contract with the Fleet on March 31. Soon after, Neubauerová packed up her things and headed home to Czechia. There, she waited for her visa approval with suitcases packed for about two weeks, joining the Fleet shortly before their April 11 TD Garden game.
After a few days of practice, the Fleet activated her on a 10-day contract on April 15. She logged just 7:50 across two games as the team’s seventh defender while on that contract, but her performance, attitude, and work ethic were enough to earn her a full contract on April 25. Neubauerová played 6:29 that afternoon, the third-highest mark of her PWHL career.
That said, the fact that 6:29 ranked so highly in Neubauerová’s PWHL resume is why she left for the SWHL. The Toronto Sceptres drafted her in the 2024 entry draft and she spent the 2024-25 season there. Across 20 games last season, she averaged just 4:29 TOI. She only crossed five minutes seven times. So, with the Olympics on the horizon, Neubauerová left North America in hopes of better preparing for the Olympics.
“Obviously, as a player, you want to be playing a lot, especially if it’s getting close to like the Olympics,” Neubauerová said. “I’ve been on Team Czech for a couple of years. It was really important for me to be prepared for this tournament…I just didn’t want to risk not having as much ice time before the Olympics.”
The limited roles many European PWHL players find themselves in has been a discussion since the inaugural season. It’s part of why many choose to stay in the overseas leagues, despite the better competition in North America. But Neubauerová says that as the PWHL expands and opportunities increase, so do the conversations about making the jump.
“I think if you’re an ambitious player and somebody who is part of the national team of any country, or considering it, you’re thinking about it [coming to the PWHL],” Neubauerová said. “Maybe you make the decision to come over, maybe you don’t. But you’re definitely talking about it with other people, thinking about it. There’s been some conversation with some players that I know about the possibility of the PDub. So, it’s definitely on our minds, all of the players.”
There were 13 European players in the PWHL inaugural season. Five of them hailed from Czechia. In 2024-25, those numbers rose to 24 and nine, respectively. Now, in 2025-26, with the addition of two teams, there are 28 European players across eight teams. The number of Czech players stayed steady at nine. That increase in European players in the world’s top women’s hockey league has already impacted the national teams, although Neubauerová acknowledged there was still a lot of work to do.
“Maybe you don’t play as much as you’re used to in college or something, or in Sweden, but the quality is so high,” Neubauerová said. “Just the way I think you have the conversations with the coaches and like the different strategies or the details within the game, just so much to learn. So I think it’s beneficial, definitely for all of the players from Team Czech who are here…if you look at some of the recent games that we have against U.S. and Canada, I think you can tell [a difference]. I think it has a lot to do with confidence that we know we can play in this league, so that means we can also keep up with Canada and U.S.”
For Neubauerová, the desire to be among the world’s best women’s hockey minds outweighs the challenges of the PWHL. It’s why she didn’t hesitate when the Fleet came calling.
“It’s ultimately something that I wanted to do,” Neubauerová said. “I wanted to come back to this league and play here. It’s the top players in the world, amazing hockey, and something I want to be a part of.”