December 30, 2019 - 2020 World Junior Hockey Championships - Canada 4 Germany 1

December 30, 2019 - World Junior Hockey Championships (in Ostrava, Czech Republic)
Canada 4 Germany 1
Attendance - 6,102

As a Canadian boy growing up in Canada during the late 1980's and early 1990's, the World Junior Hockey Championships were a very important part of the holiday season.  I remember watching the punch up in Piestany, John Slaney scoring the winning goal against the Soviet Union during the 1991 WJHC.  For the last 25 years, I have not paid much attention to the tournament. 

Over this past holiday season, the WJHC was played in the Czech Republic, and it was a perfect time to see my first ever match in person.  What made it even more special, was that I was able to take my 8-year old son to see first Canada match.  There were thousands of Canadian fans at the match.  Many of them made the long flight from Canada to the Czech Republic.  It looked like around 4,000 were at the match.  It has long been a running joke, that Canadians really only care about this tournament, and that still seems to be the case.  In Canada, it is an over-hyped, and over-priced event. The Canadian fans were typical in their support, all wearing the same jersey and chanting 'let's go Canada' in a very robotic fashion.  There were maybe 40 German supporters scattered around the arena.

Futsal - Okres Prostejov - December 22, 2019

Okres Prostějov - futsal - 5th tier in the Czech Republic
December 22, 2019

With the lack of sporting events around the Christmas period, I made the short trip to Kostelec na Hané by bike to watch some 5th tier futsal. 

November 17, 2019 - 8th tier - Náklo 0 Sigma Hodolany 3

November 17, 2019 - 8th tier - Olomoucký kraj
Náklo 0 Sigma Hodolany 3
Attendance - 170

The last football match for me, until the winter break, came last weekend in Náklo.  The village has a population of around 1,500 and it is located not too far from Olomouc.  It is a popular destination for swimmers, because of a local pond.

The visitors last Sunday were from Hodolany.  They usually get 250-450 fans a match, which is unheard of in the Czech 8th tier.  The fans are active as well, chanting and singing throughout matches.  Around 70 supporters were at the match in Náklo.

November 2, 2019 - 7th tier - Velká Bystřice 0 Haná Prostějov 2

November 2, 2019 - Olomoucký Kraj - 7th tier
Velká Bystřice 0 Haná Prostějov 2
Attendance - 60

This was my second trip to Velká Bystřice, as my first was around 10 years ago.  Velká Bystřice is located not far from Olomouc, so I decided to talk around 8km instead of taking the train.  The town is more known, at least locally, for handball.  The ground is rather non-descript, and nothing too interesting about it.  Haná played a smart away match, and kept the hosts from having any real scoring opportunities.  This was the last match for both clubs until the end of March 2020 when the season restarts after the winter break.

October 19, 2019 - SK Prostějov 2 Viktoria Žižkov 1

October 19, 2019 - Czech 2nd division
SK Prostějov 2 Viktoria Žižkov 1
Attendance - 656

With nothing better to do on a Saturday afternoon, I decided to make my way to a SK Prostějov match.  I usually try to go to two or three home matches a year when nothing else is happening.  Tickets are now up to 80kc, but for this match the club was offering a free beer/soft drink and a sausage with the ticket. 

The first 30 minutes of the match were horrible.  Thankfully, things picked up in the last 60 minutes and I think that Prostějov in the ended were deserving of the three points.