President Cup is around the corner

Here we go!

The ninth edition of the President Cup, one of the most prestigious youth tournaments in Central Europe, kicks off on Thursday at the WERK ARENA with the draw for the group stage.

In addition to home team Třinec, Vítkovice, Sparta, Karlovy Vary, Hradec Králové, Dinamo Riga, Red Bull Salzburg, Davos, and the Ukrainian national team U17 will also be competing for the prestigious trophy at the well-attended tournament. The tournament will kick off on both of Trinec´s arenas early Friday morning, with all matches broadcast live on the Youtube.

"We are looking forward to the home tournament. Playing such a quality tournament at home is not only a pleasure but also a pride and responsibility," says Marek Malík, coach of the Trinec youth team and former outstanding hockey player with more than seven hundred starts in the NHL. "We will try to build on our active and aggressive hockey as in the past years, we will want to put the opponent under pressure with excellent movement and to be unrelentingly dangerous," adds the home coach.

The President Cup is specific not only because of its excellent line-up: in the past eight years, it has featured thirty talents who have been drafted by the NHL. One of them is Adam Raška from Trinec, who also made his debut with the San Jose Sharks last year. The main specificity of the tournament is its intensity, each team will play two games per day. Players get to hit rock bottom.

On Friday and Saturday, the schedule includes the regular group matches, and on Sunday, the battles for placement. The schedule will be published on Thursday evening.