Blackhawks goaltender Petr Mrazek grew up idolizing former Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech. He proudly wore Cech’s blue-and-white jersey all around his hometown of Ostrava, Czechia.
So young Mrazek probably would have been shocked and starstruck if he knew what he’d be doing on Jan. 9, 2023.
What he was doing Monday was attempting to convert soccer penalty kicks against Cech — then futilely trying to save Cech’s kicks — at the Chicago Fire’s practice facility while a handful of Hawks teammates watched and, later, joined in. He converted two of five, a respectable effort. He saved zero of five.
“[I was] not bad,” Mrazek said, grinning. “I hit the crossbar there. The thing is, I think [Cech] read almost every single ball from everyone. When he reads that, it’s lucky to get in.”
On Tuesday, the two countrymen switched sports — and thus drastically flipped their hierarchy.
After the Hawks’ team practice at Fifth Third Arena, Cech hit the ice in full hockey-goalie gear and a mask styled like the U.K. flag. He took shots first from Hawks goalie coach Jimmy Waite to warm up, then from the defensemen from longer distance, and later from the forwards in a very well-attended iteration of the customary post-practice game of “two puck.”
Cech said he felt more comfortable once he made a few saves and started moving. He had some trouble stopping the NHL forwards one-on-one, but did manage to knock out a few guys — including Andreas Athanasiou and Tyler Johnson — right off the bat.
“You’re facing the top players in the world, so you have to expect that they will have a good shot and be clever and in control,” Cech said. “But you try to do the same thing: you try to fill the gaps and try to read them, which is harder. Overall, I really enjoyed it. It was a priceless experience for me.”
Ben Pope/Sun-Times
Of course, there’s a backstory to all of this. The idea of Mrazek and Cech uniting in Chicago, as well as the idea of Cech playing ice hockey at all, makes much more sense when it is provided.
The two of them met about 10 years ago, when Mrazek’s pro career was just beginning with the Red Wings while Cech was cementing his legacy as one of the best goalies in Premier League history. It turned out they were both represented by the same agency.
It also turned out they loved each other’s sports. Cech was skating during his free time with a local semi-pro hockey team in England, dreaming of a late-career change that he has since made a reality. He may be a soccer superstar, but he calls hockey his passion. He actually grew up idolizing Dominik Hasek, whom he now wears No. 39 to honor.
And Mrazek, as mentioned, is a diehard Chelsea fan. It became an annual tradition for Cech to host Mrazek in London every August.
“Having that connection…was incredible,” Mrazek said. “Even when he wasn’t playing, he would still take care of us. We would go to Arsenal and Chelsea games, or we would travel with Chelsea somewhere close around London.”
The two of them long ago first discussed Cech returning the favor and visiting Mrazek in North America, but the Premier League and NHL schedules — which both start in the fall and end in the spring — never lined up properly. But they finally made it happen this year, bringing Cech to Chicago for the first time since 2006 (when Chelsea played an exhibition game against the MLS All-Stars in Bridgeview).
Cech attended the Hawks’ overtime win over the Flames on Sunday — a “great game,” he said — and will stick around for the Hawks-Avalanche matchup Thursday.
And now, the backstory explaining why this year worked for his visit. As crazy as it sounds, Cech resigned this past summer from a position in Chelsea’s front office to focus full-time on his hockey career — at age 40.
He previously played part-time for the Guildford Phoenix, an English fourth-division team. This year, he signed with the Chelmsford Chieftains, a third-division team, and has gone 3-1-0 with a .907 save percentage in five appearances. He also practices occasionally with the Guildford Flames, who are currently the first-place team in England’s top league (the EIHL).
“I’m a bit older, so I don’t play back-to-back games,” Cech said with a laugh. “But otherwise, I’m happy. As long as I feel fit and feel like I contribute and I enjoy it and my body enjoys it, then I carry on.”
The positioning aspect of hockey goaltending — determining the correct depth and angle in any given moment — is surprisingly comparable to soccer goalkeeping, he insisted. The playing surface, however, is obviously not.
“The big challenge is skating, because you need to get the technique,” he said. “Once you’re on the ice, the slides and the recovery, that’s something you have to really work on. There’s no other way around it.
“In terms of the positioning, you need to be in the right place and set before the shot comes, so that is a similarity. The pressure on the goalie remains always the same. But obviously, the nature of the game is completely different.”
Mrazek has helped Cech’s training. He often sends videos of himself — some self-recorded on a GoPro camera set up in his garage — for feedback and tips. The fact Mrazek catches with his left hand and Cech with his right complicates things slightly, but Mrazek has still taught him to keep his glove further out and use it more aggressively, in particular.
Cech repaid Mrazek for his consulting time by referring him this fall to a New Jersey-based chiropractor, who ultimately aided Mrazek’s recovery from his recurring groin injuries.
And come Monday, Cech and Mrazek were all smiles and laughs as they filmed silly videos with the Hawks’ marketing staff and kicked the ball around with Hawks teammates.
The whole arrangement was somewhat surreal. Cech explaining how to handle the pressure of World Cup-level PK shootouts to Mrazek, Seth Jones and Max Domi almost sounds like a Mad Lib. So does Cech comparing late-arriving Jonathan Toews to Chelsea star midfielder Jorginho. But both things actually happened.
Jones and Jason Dickinson even demonstrated some soccer prowess, in case they ever consider Cech-esque career changes. Mrazek, meanwhile, would probably be best-served sticking to hockey — but at least he has a friendship with one of soccer’s all-time greats to brag about.
“It’s cool to see that we’ve become this close and that we have a chance to do this,” Mrazek said.
Added Cech: “I’m kind of living my childhood dream.”