Dominika Lásková has been on the winning side of hockey history twice over the past eight months and can’t get enough of that feeling.
She helped her native Czechia win its first World Championship medal with bronze at the 2022 event last September, and just weeks ago hoisted the Isobel Cup as part of Canada’s first Premier Hockey Federation title with the Toronto Six.
“It’s been a helluva ride,” Lásková said, back with her national team for the fourth time at the IIHF Women’s World Championship in Brampton, Ontario. “Going from the semifinals against Connecticut and doing it in three games, especially losing the first one which was very hard for us, to our trip to Arizona with one game against Minnesota where anything can happen, luckily it came together in the end for us in overtime which is always stressful.”
Lásková scored the first T6 goal against the Whitecaps at Mullett Arena, with fellow Czech teammate Tereza Vanišová the OT hero in the 4-3 triumph. They’ve laughed about how together they started and finished the game but had to limit their celebrations in preparation for a tournament they entered on a high.
“It’s a good feeling when you end this way and you know that you came home with a championship,” she said. “Coming here it gives you a little bit of confidence that you are doing something right during the season. We are prepared for it, we didn’t have a break so we continue rolling into the World Championship which helps because we’ve stayed in game shape.”
The 26-year-old from Praha enjoyed her first PHF season and the bonds she built with new teammates are among her greatest memories and made winning that much more special.
“It was awesome, the PHF was all I was looking for and I can’t wait for the season to continue,” Lásková said. “I would love to say that I had one of the best groups in my life and I’ve been playing hockey for over 20 years. It was an unbelievable group of girls and I love them all. The one thing that flashes in my eyes (during the championship) was the girls who started with Toronto since day one. They put the work in over the past three years, and they brought us in and treated us as one of them. I was just truly happy we could help them bring the Isobel Cup back to Toronto.”
Lásková produced 13 points in 24 regular season games for T6 while playing forward, which is different from her national team role on defense. While adjusting between positions can be challenging, it has also helped develop all aspects of her game.
“For sure it would be the speed and the endurance just to keep up with the game up and down the ice as a center is very tough, because as a defender I believe you don’t skate as much,” she said. “I like playing center because I like to join the rush and be offensive, but for the national team I’ve always played defense since I was 15 years old and I’m used to moving the puck forward as a defender and following the play.”
It’s clear that the extra skating at center has benefited Lásková’s endurance, clocking in at 102:26 in total ice time for Czechia which ranked second overall among skaters with an average of 25:36 over four preliminary round games against tough Group A competition.
“We have never played Team Canada before and I think we’re going to be super excited to play them and show the world what we are capable of,” Lásková said after the team’s first overtime victory against Japan. “Being in Group B last year and getting through the quarterfinals against Team Finland was obviously awesome. We had been waiting for this opportunity for so many years and we finally did it by winning in Denmark.”
Czechia’s road to another World Championship medal runs through Finland once again in this year’s quarterfinals where Lásková and Vanišová represent the PHF alongside fellow All-Stars in Boston’s Aneta Tejralová, Connecticut’s Kateřina Mrázová, and Minnesota’s Denisa Křížová.
“It’s fun to see familiar faces (from the PHF) and when we get here we joke about it but we know what our goal is over here and we don’t focus on what is behind. We know each other for so many years so we are here to do our one job and that is to get a medal.”
Cover photo by Kate Frese
