Czech forward Tereza Plosova, a 2023 Women's Worlds bronze medalist, has 20 points in 13 career WW18 games heading into the 2024 quarter-finals.
photo: © International Ice Hockey Federation / Andrea Cardin
Tereza Plosova may not have gotten as much hype for her three assists when Czechia topped Germany 6-1 as Chloe Primerano and Caitlin Kraemer did for their hat tricks when defending champion Canada walloped Finland 10-0.
Yet right now, those individual statistics aren’t a top priority.
In the playoff format for the 2024 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 Women’s World Championship, all eight teams make the quarter-finals. So for Plosova, whose linemate Adela Sapovalivova is coming off a third-period natural hat trick, the key thing is the confidence boost that earning Czechia’s first three points in the standings brings.
If it carries over into the elimination game against Finland on Thursday, anything is possible.
“Our line is playing better and better every game,” Plosova told IIHF.com. “It’s our third time playing together on the same line at the U18. It’s really fun. [Sapovalivova] is really good and she’s super-fast.”
This tall 17-year-old forward, who jumped to the SDHL’s Djurgarden for 2023-24, wants to be a difference-maker at these U18 Women’s Worlds. Plosova is always hard on the puck. She looks for her teammates and bulls her way to the front of the net. With four assists, she ranks second in Czech scoring behind Sapovalilova (5+1=6).
She’s also just behind the Czech captain in medals won at the IIHF Women’s World Championship. Sapovalivova boasts two bronze medals (2022, 2023) to Plosova’s one (2023).
Getting a taste of success in Brampton, Ontario last April has made Plosova – who led all Czech skaters with 10 points at the 2022 WW18 in Madison and Middleton, Wisconsin – even hungrier to bring home some hardware from Zug.
“It’s a really nice feeling when you win and go to play, say, in the bronze medal game instead of for fifth place,” she said.
Coach Dusan Andrasovsky’s young team was understandably downcast after disappointing losses to Finland (3-2) and Canada (8-1) to start this tournament. Life comes at you fast in this environment. It just underlines the importance of being adaptable as a hockey player.
It can be the little things, like enduring the unusual delay before the second period of Germany-Czechia as the ice crew came out to clean up some puddles. Or it can be the big things, like uprooting your life to live in the capital of a foreign country.
Plosova spent years playing in the Bili Tygeri Liberec system, some 80 kilometres northeast of Prague. Now she’s living in Stockholm. She’s adjusted well on the ice, ranking in the top 30 in SDHL scoring (7+12=19 in 23 games) this season.
“It's a big city and a new culture for me,” Plosova said. “I have just learned a little bit of Swedish.”
Head-to-head encounters with Sapovalivova, who’s starring for Ornskoldsvik’s MoDo Hockey (10+12=22 in 23 games), don’t faze Plosova.
“It’s really fun,” she said. “Honestly, I love it. When we play against each other, we don’t talk or anything like that. But afterwards, we talk about what we did in the game.”
And while it’s fun to get a taste of home with Czech conversation, Plosova realizes that to take her playing career as far as possible, learning the international lingua franca is huge.
“I have mostly learned English from the other girls in the dressing room. One of my linemates is from the U.S. and one is from Canada, so that helps.”
The U.S.’s Anneke Linser, a 2017 WW18 gold medalist who spent five years at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, is in her first year with Djurgarden. Captain Brette Petter, who earned a WW18 silver medal with Canada in 2017 before earning two NCAA titles with the University of Wisconsin, has been with the classic Swedish club for two seasons.
Those two 24-year-olds can also give Plosova some handy advice about playing U.S. college hockey. She’s committed to the University of Minnesota for 2024-25. So what convinced her to become a Golden Gopher?
“Have you seen the arena [Ridder Arena] where they play?” Plosova said. “It’s amazing. But mostly important, the coaches [including longtime bench boss Brad Frost] seem really nice.”
For now, though, Tereza Plosova is happy to focus on (hopefully) schooling Finland in the 2024 quarter-finals.
Yet right now, those individual statistics aren’t a top priority.
In the playoff format for the 2024 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 Women’s World Championship, all eight teams make the quarter-finals. So for Plosova, whose linemate Adela Sapovalivova is coming off a third-period natural hat trick, the key thing is the confidence boost that earning Czechia’s first three points in the standings brings.
If it carries over into the elimination game against Finland on Thursday, anything is possible.
“Our line is playing better and better every game,” Plosova told IIHF.com. “It’s our third time playing together on the same line at the U18. It’s really fun. [Sapovalivova] is really good and she’s super-fast.”
This tall 17-year-old forward, who jumped to the SDHL’s Djurgarden for 2023-24, wants to be a difference-maker at these U18 Women’s Worlds. Plosova is always hard on the puck. She looks for her teammates and bulls her way to the front of the net. With four assists, she ranks second in Czech scoring behind Sapovalilova (5+1=6).
She’s also just behind the Czech captain in medals won at the IIHF Women’s World Championship. Sapovalivova boasts two bronze medals (2022, 2023) to Plosova’s one (2023).
Getting a taste of success in Brampton, Ontario last April has made Plosova – who led all Czech skaters with 10 points at the 2022 WW18 in Madison and Middleton, Wisconsin – even hungrier to bring home some hardware from Zug.
“It’s a really nice feeling when you win and go to play, say, in the bronze medal game instead of for fifth place,” she said.
Coach Dusan Andrasovsky’s young team was understandably downcast after disappointing losses to Finland (3-2) and Canada (8-1) to start this tournament. Life comes at you fast in this environment. It just underlines the importance of being adaptable as a hockey player.
It can be the little things, like enduring the unusual delay before the second period of Germany-Czechia as the ice crew came out to clean up some puddles. Or it can be the big things, like uprooting your life to live in the capital of a foreign country.
Plosova spent years playing in the Bili Tygeri Liberec system, some 80 kilometres northeast of Prague. Now she’s living in Stockholm. She’s adjusted well on the ice, ranking in the top 30 in SDHL scoring (7+12=19 in 23 games) this season.
“It's a big city and a new culture for me,” Plosova said. “I have just learned a little bit of Swedish.”
Head-to-head encounters with Sapovalivova, who’s starring for Ornskoldsvik’s MoDo Hockey (10+12=22 in 23 games), don’t faze Plosova.
“It’s really fun,” she said. “Honestly, I love it. When we play against each other, we don’t talk or anything like that. But afterwards, we talk about what we did in the game.”
And while it’s fun to get a taste of home with Czech conversation, Plosova realizes that to take her playing career as far as possible, learning the international lingua franca is huge.
“I have mostly learned English from the other girls in the dressing room. One of my linemates is from the U.S. and one is from Canada, so that helps.”
The U.S.’s Anneke Linser, a 2017 WW18 gold medalist who spent five years at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, is in her first year with Djurgarden. Captain Brette Petter, who earned a WW18 silver medal with Canada in 2017 before earning two NCAA titles with the University of Wisconsin, has been with the classic Swedish club for two seasons.
Those two 24-year-olds can also give Plosova some handy advice about playing U.S. college hockey. She’s committed to the University of Minnesota for 2024-25. So what convinced her to become a Golden Gopher?
“Have you seen the arena [Ridder Arena] where they play?” Plosova said. “It’s amazing. But mostly important, the coaches [including longtime bench boss Brad Frost] seem really nice.”
For now, though, Tereza Plosova is happy to focus on (hopefully) schooling Finland in the 2024 quarter-finals.