31-year-old Jakub Kindl played 331 NHL games over eight seasons in North America, mostly with the Detroit Red Wings. In 2017 he returned to his native country win HC Pilsen, helping them to with the President's Trophy. His only goal of the CHL so far was an important one - the series-tying goal in the Quarter-Final return leg against Skellefteå AIK. Now he looks forward to this week's Semi-Final.
Thinking back to the offseason, what was our first reaction about this Champions Hockey League campaign? When we got drawn in our group I wouldn’t say we were worried, but we were definitely aware of what kind of teams we’d be facing: the defending champions, and a team we’d played before, and lost to, in Lugano.
Although I hoped I could stay in the NHL last year, one of the biggest reasons for coming to Pilsen was that my brother Denis is on the team - I would never have thought that this could happen to be on the same team as him. At the beginning it was very exciting, because you don’t know how it’s going to be to have a family member there with you, but now we actually barely notice it. He has his own job on the team, I have mine, but it’s nice no doubt.
For me coming into the CHL season has been an exciting competition, you get to face the best teams in all these countries. Against Bolzano you’d look at the score and think we won both games pretty comfortably, but the games were both very tight and exciting to play in. For our younger guys it’s an incredible experience to play against players of this calibre, which helps them also gain confidence.
"One thing I can say for sure is that we're going to continue competing and trying to win."Jakub Kindl (HC Pilsen)
Especially there in Italy the fans were amazing and it was fun to see the different culture that they have there within their fan base.
I remember clearly in the second Quarter-Final game against Skellefteå, I had five or so shots and none of them hit the net! Then finally the sixth one was on target and went in to equalise for us just 36 seconds before the buzzer. Shootouts are always a bit about luck, and now here we are, in the Semi-Finals! It’s hard to believe, and it’s exciting above all for the fact that in our own league we’re not playing the hockey that we want to. But in Europe we’re showing the hockey we’re capable of playing.
What would it mean to win the CHL? It’s a good question that to be honest I haven’t really thought about. Even at the beginning it was so far away and we didn’t think about making it this far. We just wanted to come out and enjoy every period, each road trip we had, and now here we are in the Semi-Finals. We’re just going to go up to Sweden and make the best out of it – we’ll enjoy the travelling and playing together. But one thing I can say for sure is that we’re going to continue competing and trying to win.