At a time when hockey is wondering if Biało-Czerwony will manage to stay in the world elite next year, two Poles – Maksymilian Schuber from Opole and Wojciech Stachowiak from Gdańsk, in the colors of Germany are became vice-world champions last Sunday. – Wojtek was even in the composition of our U-16 team, Olympic Hopefuls, but later he chose the Germans – tells Polsatsport.pl the legendary goalkeeper of the Poles of the Olympic Games in Calgary, and now coach Gabriel Samolej.

Michał Białoński: Last Sunday, Canada became the world champion in hockey by defeating one of the surprises of this tournament – Germany in the final. What are your conclusions after the tournament played in Finland and Latvia?

Gabriel Samolej, the legendary goalkeeper of the m.in. Podhale Nowy Targ and the Polish national team: The World Cup was very exciting. I watched all the games, mostly through the IIHF YouTube channel. It smelled of incredible surprises. First of all, I feel sorry for the American players who send young people every year to the World Cup, not necessarily to the NHL. In the meantime, they lost two decisive matches somewhat by bad luck, in extra time.

I have to admit that I’m happy with Canada’s victory, as I’ve been cheering for them for years. The Canadians, who didn’t have a single player from the last World Cup, showed they were a great team and deservedly won the world championship, and the biggest surprise was the third place taken by Latvia. Its strength was the ambition, dedication and excellent performance of goalkeeper Arturs Silovs.

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Just before the Division IA World Championships, Poland took on Latvia on equal footing. Is this a reason to be optimistic ahead of the next elite World Cup in the Czech Republic, where the Whites and Reds will perform in Ostrava?

Certainly yes. Of course, Latvia were at a different stage of preparation when they faced us. It doesn’t matter if she was in a full lineup against us or if she was missing someone. The result is always up to the whole world, so Poland’s 5:3 victory is of great value. Also in the second leg, lost 0:2, Poland showed they could play hockey. However, two victories over Hungary also gave a boost to optimism. I was in Bytom for the second game against Hungary and then everyone hoped that our national team would eventually be promoted to the top flight. It is an undeniable success of Polish hockey. First of all, I’m happy that hockey is starting to get talked about in all the media. Let’s not hide that in our country this discipline is treated a little neglected.

For the future, I believe there is a real chance to stay in the elite. Sometimes it is enough to get three points in seven games, as the Austrians did. We have French and Kazakhs in the group. We were originally supposed to face Canada, but the hosts, the Czechs, put the USA in our squad instead. These are teams a little out of our reach, but in sport it is different. You must be optimistic.

I believe our hockey players should bow their heads and congratulate them on their success. Let them fight! I think older players who intended to retire will have the opportunity to play in the top flight. I had the chance to play in the eight team or the Olympics. Times are different now and this result of Polish hockey is really a great success.