Polak is Czechs’ heart and soul
PITTSBURGH— Defenceman Roman Polak pretty much knew the day Maple Leafs GM Lou Lamoriello traded him to San Jose that he would be back in Toronto this fall.
“That was kind of the deal when I was leaving Toronto, that I was going to come back,” Polak said Tuesday after the Czech national team’s practice. “We were talking about it when Lou was trading me. We had a meeting, Lou was saying he wants me back and he was going to call me in the summer.”
Polak, who was dealt at the trade deadline, saw that come to fruition in July when he rejoined the Maple Leafs, his top choice as an unrestricted free agent.
He wants to be a part of the program being built under coach Mike Babcock.
“The system we have (in Toronto), the young guys . . . I was part of that in St. Louis,” Polak said. “We were rebuilding when I was younger, and we turned into a great team, every year in the playoffs.
“I want to come and do the same thing in Toronto, to be part of something . . . with the young guys, great skilled young guys. We can be on the same page, under Babcock, we can be a very good team.”
The rugged defenceman went to the Stanley Cup final with the Sharks in the spring, only to lose to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Now he is in Pittsburgh again as part of the Czech national team, which will face North America in the final tune-up for both teams for the World Cup of Hockey.
“He’s our heart and soul,” Czech general manager Martin Rucinsky said. “He plays hard, blocks shots. He’s a difficult player to play against. With our situation in Czech hockey, he was an easy choice for our team.”
While Polak was part of San Jose’s bottom pairing of defencemen, he will have a bigger role in this best-onbest tournament. The Czechs have lost Radko Gudas to injury and have brought a couple of KHL players who are not used to North America’s smaller ice surface.
“I was looking forward to playing with Gudas, because we play the same game,” Polak said.
“It can be easier if you have the same type of guy . . . He got injured. It’s more pressure on me.
The Czechs are 1-1 after a pair of pre-tournament games against Russia. Still, they look like underdogs with Europe in Group A, where Canada and the United States are believed to be the most likely to reach the semifinals.
“We understand our position and our spot,” Rucinsky said. “We understand we are underdogs. That’s fine with us. I remember years when we were underdogs, and we won the tournament, we won the world championship, we won the Olympics. And some tournaments when everybody looked at us as a big favourite and it was a disaster.
“The game is played on the ice, not on paper. When you put the best team that you can possibly put together, we’re confident in it. We just have to stick together and see what happens.”