Cze: Pospisils Journey, Part One

The Czech city of Sumperk certainly has a lot to proud of when it comes time to draft the Class of 2005. The small Northern town will have two players wearing NHL jerseys at the draft: Kitchener Rangers defenseman Jakub Kindl and Tomas Pospisil, a right winger with the Trinec senior team.

You might say that Pospisil's NHL dream started in 1994 when the young hockey player was only seven years old. He got to see the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time and it happened to be the tight seven-game battle between the Rangers and Canucks.

The hero for the Rangers in that Cup victory was none other than Mark Messier and Pospisil became so enthralled with the hockey legend that not only did he adopt the Rangers as his favorite team, he also changed his jersey number from 24 to 11.

"Mark Messier just incredibly impressed me during that series," he reflected. "He was the heart and soul leader of the Rangers and from that moment I didn't look upon any other player than Messier."

His love for Messier and the Rangers aside, he patterns his game after Colorado sniper Milan Hejduk.

I really started to admire Hejduk's skill and scoring prowess. He is an excellent offensive player and I try to take the best from his game."

INTERNATIONAL DEBUT

Pospisil's international career started in 2001 when then Czech Under-16 team coaches Vlastimil Koci and Jan Tlacil invited the underaged Pospisil for a couple of exhibition games against the Under-16 team of Slovakia. The talented youngster scored his first international point there and also had 4 PIM's.

He used this experience at the selection camp for the Under-16 team of the 1987-borns. Pospisil was a lock to make the team and in August, 2002 traveled to Humenne, Slovakia, for the first tournament of the Under-16 teams in the season. The young Czechs met the Slovaks three times and he skated on a line with teammate

Ondrej Fiala and 1988-born underager Jiri Tlusty from the Kladno midgets.

Pospisil had a pair of goals and an assist in the three games, proving to be one of the best players on the team. He was a lock to take part in the season's top event, the Four Nations tournament. Although he didn't really turn heads there, he still showed glimpses of offensive talent.

EXPERIENCE HELPED

Pospisil picked up where he left off in 2002-2003. He already boasted enough midget experience to carry the burden of being one of the team's leaders and provided Trinec with consistent offense all season long. He even increased his offensive output in the late stages of the season when the team used him as a pure offensive weapon – a cherry picker, if you will. He thrived on the powerplay unit and for the first time in his midget career surpassed the point-per-game plateau (31GP: 19G, 23A, 0+/-, 42 PIM's)

His international season started with the Under-17 team at the Five Nations Tournament in Prievidza, Slovakia. The talent delivered his usual offensive performance but had trouble battling bigger opponents. Pospisil was left off the team which took part in the three-game series against the Under-17 team of Finland, but made the trip to Canada at Christmas to participate in the Viking Cup. He left a decent impression on the smaller ice surface and despite Michael Frolik stealing the show in this tournament, Pospisil didn't look out of place. He scored two goals for the fourth-placed Czechs; one in the exhibition game against Saskatchewan and the second in the game against the German Under-18 team.

Pospisil closed out his international season as a second-line member in the February Four Nations Tournament, played in the Czech Republic. He started the event on a cold note thanks to nerves but picked up his game and was arguably the best player of his team in the final match against Finland, despite going scoreless in the tournament.

STEPPING UP TO JUNIOR

In the summer of 2003 he was promoted to the junior team as an underager. Trinec juniors head coach Josef Halouzka was impressed by Pospisil's offensive achievements on the midget level and gave him a chance to prove himself against junior players in the summer exhibition games. Pospisil made the most of this opportunity and when the camp finished he found he had survived the cuts. His style translated well to the junior Extraleague and he turned out to be a swift, offensive right winger.

His pro potential had one noticeable drawback though -- he still avoided contact too often and continued to play a pure finesse style, despite being stronger than he was in the previous season.

Pospisil was again at his best in the final third of the season when the team faced weaker opponents and he didn't have to battle tight defenses, resulting in better offensive totals. In 45 junior games in 2003-2004 Pospisil amassed 25 points (14G, 11A) with a +8 rating and 40 PIM's.

Pospisil proved his dominance on the midget level in three games, holding a two-points-per-game average (3G, 3A, +3, 14 PIM's)

In the second part of our feature on Pospisil, we'll take a look at how he bulked up after the season and whether or not it paid off in his play on the ice.