Things were well-organized and a really good championship ensued. Twelve teams came to Prague to compete, including the USA and Canada, which were represented by club teams. Of the major hockey nations of the time, only Sweden didn’t send a team. All of the tournament tickets “simply disappeared“ in little over 48 hours.
The rest of the fans could only wait for the live broadcasts of the Czechoslovak radio service – play-by-play being called by the legendary announcer, Josef Laufer.
The core team was built around 11 players, any others were to be alternates. The welcoming ceremony took place straight on the ice – with all the teams waiting as a victory wreath was dropped from a plane flying over the stadium.
There were three groups – each including four teams. From each group the two best teams advanced. These six teams made up two groups and the winners of these groups fought for the gold medal.
The Czechoslovaks beat the Romanians 8-0, Italy 3-1, and after a tough game Austria 2-1 as well.
On Saturday, February 25, the home team lost the game against Canada 0-4 – a loss watched by a sold-out stadium.
The champions of the year 1932 were the USA, who beat Canada 2-1 in the final.
Team Czechoslovakia: Peka, Vorel, Pusbauer, Dorasil, Petrs, Hromadka, Malecek, Tozicka, Cetkovsky, Svihovec, Kucera, Michalek, Mattern.
Lenka Jiroutova
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