Ice hockey: Czechs announces first Olympic team members

NHL strikers Ondřej Palát (Tampa Bay), David Pastrňák (Boston) and Jakub Voráček (Columbus) are the first three nominees for the Czech national ice hockey team for the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing. The Czech Ice Hockey Federation (ČSLH) published the names on Thursday.

Czech team general manager Petr Nedvěd said in a press release that the three players have done exceptionally well in the NHL, which he called “the best ice hockey league in the world”, and would be pillars of the national team.