Puck yeah! Czech hockey victors to celebrate with fans on Old Town Square

According to the Czech hockey press department, the Czech hockey team will celebrate their world championship title with fans on the Old Town Square on Monday, starting at 5 p.m.

Old Town Square has historically been a place for welcoming and celebrating hockey players after their great triumphs, including the Olympic team from Nagano. An estimated 15,000 people saw the first third of Sunday’s final game, where the Czechs defeated the Swiss 2-0, from a large screen on Old Town.

The Old Town Square will host a celebration featuring top moments from the championship, musical performances, and Vojtěch Dyk singing the national anthem until 8 p.m. The city has confirmed that an afternoon program will start as early as 1 p.m., with hockey players arriving at the venue and being welcomed by Mayor Bohuslav Svoboda at approximately 5 p.m.

"It’s always played for the fans. And when there are fans like that, it’s a huge motivation for everyone: players, coaches, implementation team, just for everyone. We’re very happy for the support, and I think the boys felt it,” said coach Radim Rulík in a press statement.

A post-game celebration video posted on Czech Hockey’s social media during the featured NHL Boston Bruins and Czech team member David Pastrňák, also known as Pasta, confirmed Rulík’s sentiment. In the video, he personally invited fans to join the Monday celebration at Old Town, saying, “See you at Old Town!”

Rulík called the support and atmosphere the sixth player on the ice. “For the team, it was the necessary energy when, for example, someone thought he couldn’t do it anymore, but then he exhaled and went at it again. The guys were constantly determined, thanks to this. We knew there were people in the fan zone who watched it on Old Town Square...The guys left everything there for those people,” the winning coach said.

The Czechs won gold for the first time since their 2010 triumph in Cologne and Mannheim, where the current team captain, Roman Červenka, was also present.

Coach Rulík's team won the seventh gold medal in the era of the independent Czech Republic, adding to the six gold medals previously won by the former Czechoslovakia.

After a decade of not winning any medals at major international events, the Czechs won their second medal in the last three years, following their bronze in 2022 in Tampere and Helsinki. By winning silver, the Swiss matched their historic achievements from 1935, 2013, and 2018.