Ten years ago, 15-year-old Dominik Hrachovina moved abroad to gain valuable experience for his hockey career. Six years later, the Czech goalie had two Finnish titles with Tappara Tampere under his belt. After spells in Kazakhstan, Switzerland and the Czech Republic, he’s decided to return to Tappara. The young goaltender has played in 14 Champions Hockey League games throughout his career and has an overall save percentage of 93.96.
Hrachovina moved abroad at such a young age in search of the best goaltending mentors.
“Ten years ago, the situation in Czech youth hockey wasn’t ideal, so I made the decision to move to Finland. It was the best decision I could have ever made,” he began.
“I was one of the first players to move to Finland,” explained Hrachovina, now 25. “When I was in the locker room, I always had to ask someone to translate for me. I sat next to another foreigner with whom I spoke English. Now I speak fluent Finnish, which is great. I like it here, Tampere is my second home.”
Hrachovina has been very successful throughout his time in Finland – he won his first title at the age of 21 and his second the following year. This season he would like to add a third.
“Tappara always expect the best,” the goalie said. “This season they want to win not only the Champions Hockey League, but also Liiga.”
Despite being a star in Finland, Hrachovina waited a long time for his first Czech national team call-up. But finally, in 2018, he debuted as the third-string goalie at the IIHF World Championship in Denmark. And while he didn’t appear in any game during the tournament, he is remembered by Czech hockey fans for his work as a between-periods analyst on Czech television.
Hrachovina decided to undertake a new challenge for the 2018/19 season and moved to the KHL, but an early injury complicated everything.
“I broke my leg in the pre-season,” said Hrachovina. “It wasn’t good, I wasn’t on the top of my game for the rest of the season.”
Last season, he opted for a move to Swiss club HC Ambrì-Piotta before a transfer to Bílí Tygři Liberec in November that marked his professional debut in his home nation after nine years abroad.
“I only started paying attention to the Czech Extraliga after my move to Liberec,” he said. “I hadn’t played there for such a long time – I didn’t really know what to expect. But Liberec was great. The club, team, teammates, everyone. I really enjoyed my time there.”
But Hrachovina knew his stay in Liberec would only be short-term, as he had already agreed to a contract for the upcoming 2020/21 season. And where else would Hrachovina want to go than back to Tappara? This upcoming CHL season will be special for the Tampere-based club, as it will be the first time both Tappara and Ilves, the city's two teams, will both feature in the CHL.
“Of course there’s a rivalry. Our games are always heated and full of battles and emotions. We leave everything on the ice. If we met in the latter rounds of the CHL, it would definitely be interesting,” he said.
“Thanks to the CHL, we have the opportunity to face teams from across Europe.”Dominik Hrachovina (goaltender, Tappara Tampere)
Hrachovina is currently preparing for the upcoming season with his teammates in Finland.
“We’ve just returned from our first tournament. We didn’t do that well, but we’ve got another one soon. I’m not looking forward to it though – it’s going to be played 3-on-3, so the scores are going to be crazy,” the Tappara goaltender laughed.
This year’s pre-season was drastically impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, but Dominik doesn’t have any excuses: “The conditions have been similar for all the teams. When I was still in the Czech Republic, I was lucky to have been allowed to train. The league here has been moved and will start in October instead of September, so we have more time to train and get better.”
The new CHL season also starts in October. Tappara were drawn against Austrian club Red Bull Salzburg – a club both Tappara and Hrachovina know very well. Three years ago, with Hrachovina in net, Tappara beat them 6-1.
“We’re looking forward to Salzburg. They’re going to be an interesting opponent,” he said.
“I’m glad that, thanks to the CHL, we have the opportunity to face teams from across Europe. It’s hard to combine both our domestic league with the Champions Hockey League, but we really enjoy it. I hope that fans will come to appreciate these games more and that one day the league will be as popular as the Champions League in football is,” Hrachovina concluded.