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The Stanley Cup finals begin later on Wednesday, pitting the Boston Bruins (with Czech players David Krejčí and future hall-of-famer Jaromír Jágr) against the Chicago Blackhawks. The first two games take place in the Windy City. The Chicago Blackhawks have Michael Frolík and Michal Rozsíval on their roster, so regardless of which team wins, the feted cup, as is custom, will travel to the Czech Republic later this year. Members of the winning team are each ‘unofficially’ allowed to borrow the trophy for a day.

The state-owned power utility CEZ is to waive three monthly bills for households hit by over half a metre of flooding, its director, Daniel Beneš, said on Tuesday. Homes where flood waters were less than half a metre will not be charged for one month’s power, he said. The prime minister, Petr Nečas, described the gesture as a sign of social responsibility and called on other power suppliers to make a similar gesture.

President Miloš Zeman named 58 new professors at a ceremony at Prague’s Carolinum on Tuesday. However, seven academics due to receive the title did not attend. The issue of the president’s right to name professors hit the news last month when he said he would not confer the title on Martin C. Putna, a move which caused outrage in the academic community. Mr. Zeman said the literary historian had acted inappropriately by carrying a provocative banner in a gay pride parade. Mr. Putna is to receive his title from the minister of education later this month. The president says the right to appoint professors should be removed from the head of state, in line with practice in other countries.

The TOP 09 minister of culture, Alena Hanáková, is to be replaced by Jiří Hlaváč, a former deacon of the Faculty of Music and Dance at Prague’s Academy of Performing Arts, the new website iDnes.cz reported on Tuesday, referring to a government source. There has been speculation for some time about the future of the minister, who has been criticised by some in the arts world.