Another Calgary Flames player heading to world championship
If making the NHL was always Adam Klapka's hockey dream, representing his country was No. 2.
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Now, after a season that saw him playing on the Calgary Flames first line as they battled for a playoff spot right until the second-to-last game, Klapka's going to make a second dream come true, too.
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On Tuesday morning, the Flames announced that Klapka will be joining the Czechia national team for the coming IIHF world championship.
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'It's a kid's dream for me, back home it's really big,' Klapka said at his exit interview last weekend. 'All the people watching it, all the pubs are full just watching hockey. For me, it was play in the NHL and then under it was playing for worlds.
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'If there was an opportunity for me, I would definitely go.'
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That opportunity did come, and Klapka will now be joining his country's national team for the tournament, which runs from May 9-25 in Stockholm, Sweden, and Herning, Denmark.
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It's a nice reward for a player who is coming off a breakthrough season in which he established himself as one of the more intriguing pieces of the Flames future.
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The 6-foot-8, 235-pound winger always has had size, but had played in only six NHL games prior to this season. In 31 games with the Flames in 2024-25, though, he managed six goals and four assists, with three of those lamp-lighters and three of those helpers coming in the Flames' final eight games, when the stakes were at their highest.
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It's expected that Flames head coach Ryan Huska will be joining Canada's staff, while Mikael Backlund and Rasmus Andersson will play for Sweden, MacKenzie Weegar will be a key part of the Canadian team and Sam Honzek will skate for the Slovakians. Dan Vladar will be joining Klapka on the Czechia team, too.
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