Krejci, Hertl, Gudas to sit out World Cup of Hockey for Czech squad
PRAGUE (AP) The Czech Republic's David Krejci, Tomas Hertl and Radko Gudas are all out of the World Cup of Hockey due to injuries, the Czech Ice Hockey Association said on Saturday.
Krejci, the Boston Bruins center, needs more time to recover from hip surgery and will be replaced by Roman Cervenka of Swiss club HC Fribourg-Gotteron for the tournament, which starts on Sept. 17 in Toronto.
''David Krejci was supposed to be one of our key players, but his (surgery) makes it impossible for him to participate,'' Czech Republic coach Josef Jandac said in a statement on Saturday. ''We have to respect that.''
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Cervenka played at the 2010 and 2014 Olympics for the Czechs, and helped the team win gold at the 2010 world championship.
The Czech association said Gudas, a Philadelphia Flyers defenseman, injured his wrist in training and won't be able to recover in time, while forward Hertl of the San Jose Sharks was still not fit enough to play after he injured his right knee in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup final against Pittsburgh.
It was not clear yet who will replace Gudas and Hertl on the Czech team.