If we don’t count the youth playoff, then Raichl has currently played exactly one hundred matches in the highest competition. If so, then it’s already 106 games. And no one across the league can boast a higher number. The Litvín talent jumped into the competition when he was still a student.
“Every year you can tell, every year I made a shift. In the first season, it was more like groping when they aged me. It was nice, but I still haven’t had the ice time I would like. In the second year, I was already the team’s mover, and now too,” describes Raichl.
What do you think he worked on the most during that time? “I think definitely on speed. I haven’t had such quick decision making before. But also on the hardness and accuracy of the shots,” he is thinking. Like other players, he also has his personal recipes for it. “I have a shooting range in the basement, where I go regarding three times a week. I try to run a lot in the summer, which I don’t have much time for during the season, and I mainly work on the winter. But when I can, I try to run,” depicts.
In 35 games of the current season, he scored 27 goals and 36 assists. Thanks to this, he belongs to the elite five of the Canadian scoring competition. Recordings predominate on his account for the third year, although not significantly. “I guess I like both. Of course, I probably enjoy scoring goals more, but I would say that recording is my domain. I like when I can make someone happy,” he says with a smile.
If we talked regarding his progress over the years, then even in the current year his performances are gradually increasing. In the beginning, he did not make much progress, but now he is collecting points like on a treadmill.
“It wasn’t all rosy in the beginning. I had ice time, but I didn’t score as much as I was expected to. Now we are winning in that ‘base’ and as the team has improved, it has also reflected in my game.” ponders. Understandably, his mood is also improved by the fact that he no longer has the same worries with Litvínov as last year, when the chemists had to play off.
Even this year, they did not advance from the basic group to the higher superstructure, but they continue to fight for an additional promotion to the playoffs. “Last year did not go according to our expectations. This year it’s already better and hopefully we’ll see the playoffs,” believes Raichl, although he admits that the disappointment of not advancing in the autumn was great in the team. “However, we kind of knocked ourselves out of it and said to ourselves that we want to advance from the bottom.”
After all, it turns out that in the basic part Litvínov ran into stronger opponents as well. He had a pretty nasty losing streak. “The matches were definitely harder. We’ve learned from that, we’ve started to defend better and we’re conceding fewer goals. We’ve also started to convert a lot of power plays that work for us,” mentions
What recipe in the numerical advantages of the team bears fruit? “At the same time, it’s a lot regarding improvisation, but we also try to play what we know. The main factor is to give the puck quickly from the stick. That’s what we all said to each other on the line: We don’t want to mess with the puck. We’re looking a lot for a pass into an empty net and so far it’s working out for us,” Václav Raichl praises himself.
Recently, according to his opinion, the clear 6:2 win over Kometa gave the team the most kick. “It showed a lot that we are doing well. We beat the first team and leapfrogged them, even by a pretty big margin of four goals. By doing so, we confirmed that we have what it takes and that it is not unrealistic to get there.” he remembers Lithuanian talent.
However, there is a very dramatic situation in Group O for participation in the playoffs. At the moment, six teams are still striving for two promotion places, and the superstructure ends already next weekend! Before Saturday’s round, Litvínov was third, but only with a two-point loss to Sparta and a one-point loss to Brno.
“It’s complicated because there’s a lot of pressure on two places. Everyone wants to be there and it’s no joke. We are trying to win and grab every point,” shouts Raichl, whose team faces three straight battles for promotion in the final week. He plays once with Sparta and even twice with Liberec. “It’s always been a struggle with him and we don’t have a lot of experience with him. We will see how it goes,” adds Václav Raichl.
Photo: Ronald Hansel, Junior hockey