Czech captain Roman Cervenka dazzled in his 100th IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship game with a hat trick versus Kazakhstan.
photo: PHOTO: © INTERNATIONAL ICE HOCKEY FEDERATION / MATT ZAMBONIN
Roman Cervenka is as humble as he is talented. That was plain to see when the Czech captain chatted with IIHF.com after notching a hat trick in Czechia’s 8-1 romp over Kazakhstan in his 100th career IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship game on Saturday. He didn’t really want to talk about himself.
His childhood idol, though? No problem.
“When I was a kid, it was always Jaromir Jagr,” Cervenka told IIHF.com. “He was the best player, almost, in the world, and he was from Czech. So it was an easy, easy decision.”
Of course, “Cervus” earned his first of two Ice Hockey World Championship gold medals at age 24 in 2010 with the already-legendary Jagr – a 2024 IIHF Hall of Fame inductee – as his teammate. They upset a stacked Russian team 2-1 in the final. Now Cervenka – the 2024 IIHF Male Player of the Year – is striving to lead this unbeaten 2025 Czech squad to back-to-back world titles.
He’s a man of many milestones.
His linemate Lukas Sedlak is as well-placed as anyone in the hockey world to speak to what Cervenka has accomplished. Last year, they also played together as the Czechs captured the gold medal on home ice in Prague with a 2-0 victory over Switzerland. Professionally, “Cervus” left SC Rapperswil-Jona, with whom he won two Swiss scoring titles, to join HC Dynamo Pardubice, which Sedlak captains, for 2024-25. They made it to the Extraliga finals before losing Game Seven to HC Kometa Brno, and Cervenka topped the playoff scoring race with 19 points.
And this year, Sedlak, 32, and Cervenka, 39, have teamed up again alongside Boston superstar David Pastrnak for more magic
“It’s awesome,” Sedlak said of the hat-trick outing versus Kazakhstan. “It’s just like a nice celebration of the 100th game. Not many players can do that, obviously. So it's just fitting that he’s gonna score a hat trick in a game like this. So I’m happy for him. When you watch him for the whole season, how he’s preparing himself, how he's treating his body. I'm pretty sure he's gonna add many more games. So it's just awesome to watch him play a lot.”
Truly, Czech hockey is riding high again – men’s, women’s, junior, you name it. But life wasn’t always this much fun with the national team. Between 2013 and 2021, the Czech men failed to capture any WM medals, finishing anywhere from fourth to seventh. Cervenka was also on Olympic squads that endured a distressing medal drought. However, a turning point came at the 2022 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship when the Czechs exploded to beat the U.S. 8-4 for third place in Tampere.
“We were stuck for a couple of years,” Cervenka admitted. “Three years ago, we came back and got the bronze medal, and since then, we’ve tried to improve. And I think we are in a good way.”
His childhood idol, though? No problem.
“When I was a kid, it was always Jaromir Jagr,” Cervenka told IIHF.com. “He was the best player, almost, in the world, and he was from Czech. So it was an easy, easy decision.”
Of course, “Cervus” earned his first of two Ice Hockey World Championship gold medals at age 24 in 2010 with the already-legendary Jagr – a 2024 IIHF Hall of Fame inductee – as his teammate. They upset a stacked Russian team 2-1 in the final. Now Cervenka – the 2024 IIHF Male Player of the Year – is striving to lead this unbeaten 2025 Czech squad to back-to-back world titles.
He’s a man of many milestones.
His linemate Lukas Sedlak is as well-placed as anyone in the hockey world to speak to what Cervenka has accomplished. Last year, they also played together as the Czechs captured the gold medal on home ice in Prague with a 2-0 victory over Switzerland. Professionally, “Cervus” left SC Rapperswil-Jona, with whom he won two Swiss scoring titles, to join HC Dynamo Pardubice, which Sedlak captains, for 2024-25. They made it to the Extraliga finals before losing Game Seven to HC Kometa Brno, and Cervenka topped the playoff scoring race with 19 points.
And this year, Sedlak, 32, and Cervenka, 39, have teamed up again alongside Boston superstar David Pastrnak for more magic
“It’s awesome,” Sedlak said of the hat-trick outing versus Kazakhstan. “It’s just like a nice celebration of the 100th game. Not many players can do that, obviously. So it's just fitting that he’s gonna score a hat trick in a game like this. So I’m happy for him. When you watch him for the whole season, how he’s preparing himself, how he's treating his body. I'm pretty sure he's gonna add many more games. So it's just awesome to watch him play a lot.”
Truly, Czech hockey is riding high again – men’s, women’s, junior, you name it. But life wasn’t always this much fun with the national team. Between 2013 and 2021, the Czech men failed to capture any WM medals, finishing anywhere from fourth to seventh. Cervenka was also on Olympic squads that endured a distressing medal drought. However, a turning point came at the 2022 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship when the Czechs exploded to beat the U.S. 8-4 for third place in Tampere.
“We were stuck for a couple of years,” Cervenka admitted. “Three years ago, we came back and got the bronze medal, and since then, we’ve tried to improve. And I think we are in a good way.”
Even though this year’s gold medal game is in Stockholm, the Czechs will come away with good memories of Herning after a strong preliminary round run. Interestingly, Cervenka’s 100-game milestone is inextricably linked to Denmark, as his first WM game was against the Danes, a 5-0 win to open the 2009 tournament in Kloten, Switzerland.
When asked about debuting against Denmark, Cervenka said: “Was it this game? I don't know. I remember the game where I scored two goals against Slovakia at the World Championship. It was also 2009, I guess, [an 8-0 win on 2 May].”
Today, Cervenka – who has long dominated Europe’s top leagues – looks like he has plenty more offence to give. Unlike many scoring forwards, the nifty 182-cm, 89-kg centre has not seen his hands or on-ice vision wither in his 30’s. With his latest hat trick, he hit 87 career WM points, surpassing Ilya Kovalchuk (86 points) for the most in the 21st century. Cervenka also tied Jagr for the most WM goals in a Czech uniform (32), if you discount the Czechoslovakian period.
He looks fit to shine again at the 2026 Olympics in Milan at age 40. What’s his secret for staying healthy and productive at a point when most pros have to hang up their skates?
“It’s up to each player, right?” Cervenka said. “If you are motivated. I was lucky. I didn’t have a big injury during my career. So I feel very good right now. Physically, if I have a chance, if I can bring something to the team, then I would like to keep going.”
In the here and now, his focus remains squarely on the remaining two preliminary round games against the Germans and Americans on Monday and Tuesday respectively.
“We are confident, but still we have now two big tests before the quarter-final,” Cervenka said. “We’ll see. We want to still improve and be ready for the quarter-finals.”