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Czech 2006 prospects: Antonin Drbohlav
Written by: Robert Neuhauser on 11/30/2003 
Antonin Drbohlav had a very late beginning to his hockey career. He didn't have anyone to direct him towards hockey and as a small kid he was just playing different kinds of sports outside with the other kids. When he started to attend elementary school in his native capital city, Praha, Czech Republic, his interest for hockey began to grow. Drbohlav watched the games often and when he was nine years old, he finally decided that he wanted to try play organized hockey. "I had enough of just watching the games in the stands. I wanted to play, so I was looking for a team which would accept me."
Being nine years old, he was among the oldest kids at the Sokol Zizkov entry level squad, a small team of a local Praha district league. Most of the kids begin their careers at the mere age of four or five years, so it was up to Drbohlav to cut this advantage with a strong attitude and work ethic.
Fortunately, he didn't lack those needed attributes. The coaches put the lanky Drbohlav in the back rows and he felt comfortable with patrolling the blueline. He was very eager to learn new things every practice and could take advantage of his natural gift for sports. This enabled him to outplay the less dedicated kids soon and after some time emerge as one of the most talented blueliners on the Zizkov team.
In fact, Drbohlav spent just two years playing for the provincial Sokol Zizkov team. After the season for the 4th grade team it was obvious that he needed to perform alongside more talented teammates against stiffer competition in order to keep his steady improvement. His parents held an offer from Slavia Praha, one of the two Extraleague franchises based in Praha. Drbohlav could benefit from joining a strong developmental system and so beginning with the 5th grade he was wearing the red and white colors of Slavia Praha.
There he spent two years under coaches Rudolf Dlouhy and Vladimir Ruzicka, an ex-NHL player with the Edmonton Oilers, Boston Bruins and Ottawa Senators. Drbohlav, nicknamed 'Tony' or 'Tonik' from his first name, had to cope with the fact that he is no longer the star of his team and show up every game. He focused on rock-solid defense instead of making risky rushes and tried to develop his shooting skills.
In the 8th grade under head coach Ladislav Slizek Drbohlav took home the first individual awards. His defensive savvy paid off and the Slavia Praha defensive anchor Antonin Drbohlav won the most valuable player award at a pair of 8th grade tournaments. He was outstanding against kids of his own age, so he got promoted to the 1987 borns team for the first time that season. Antonin Drbohlav admires the play of Detroit Red Wings winger Brendan Shanahan and New York Rangers forward Eric Lindros. "They both are big, strong players. I like their mix of size, skill and toughness."
In the season when Drbohlav performed for the 9th grade team of Slavia he also played his debut in the midget Extraleague under coaches Petr Novak and Jiri Dolezal. He managed to stick with the team for most of the season. Seeing playing time mostly on the third defensive pairing, Drbohlav contributed to the strong Slavia Praha midgets playoff run. They were eliminated in the semifinal series, but still the third place means a considerable success for Drbohlav. "I remember it as a huge team success, we knew that we can go a long way in the playoffs and finally managed to get the bronze medals." A reliable rearguard, Antonin Drbohlav in his rookie midget Extraleague season dressed out for 47 games, registering 7 points for 1 goal and 6 assists to go along with 18 PIMs.
He could look forward to the beginning of his international career. Drbohlav captained his Praha region at a meeting of the top regional 9th grade teams, which served as the pre-evaluation camp of the next Under-16 team. Drbohlav was a lock to make the new Czech Under-16 team of the 1988 borns, but had to wait until early November for his debut. "I hoped to get invited already to the first tournament, a three-game series against the Under-16 team of Slovakia, but unfortunately it didn't happen."
It was the Czech cities Rakovnik, Slany and Kralupy and Vltavou which witnessed Drbohlav play for the Czech Under-16 team against the Swiss. Playing on the first defensive unit with Jiri Suchy from the Ceske Budejovice midgets, Drbohlav logged a big portion of playing time and focused on his defensive role. He slipped into four scoring chances, but went scoreless with 4 PIMs.
Drbohlav is in his sophomore season with the Slavia Praha midgets in 2003-2004. "This year we have a real good team. We all know that we are able to win the midget Extraleague this season and it is our ultimate goal."
Under coaches Martin Pesout and again Vladimir Ruzicka is Drbohlav making strides in his all-round play and tries to develop more of an offensive upside. "I especially like to play with Jiri Jebavy, Martin Ondracek or Jakub Stromko. They are all very skilled guys who are fun to play with." Drbohlav appeared in 19 midget games so far, scoring 4 points for 2 goals and 2 assists, is +6 and has 16 PIMs. To commemorate both Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr, Drbohlav prefers to wear number 67 on his sweater as a number 'in between' the numbers of these legends.
A big rearguard, Antonin Drbohlav impresses with his above average size. At 6'2”, 178 lbs he possesses good height, but there is some filling out still ahead of him. He plays a very steady game, taking care of his own end before joining the rush. Drbohlav stays with his man and shows a low number of positional gaffs. Thanks to his strong reach he is extremly tough to beat in one-on-one situations. He is capable of firing hard blasts from the point, he only needs to do more frequently. A player with decent toughness, Drbohlav doesn't shy away from the tough play, but is no crash and banger. He brings in adequate offensive flair, but decision-making with the puck is something to work on for him. The same for his skating skills, Drbohlav could use bigger bursts of speed and a bigger mobility. Drbohlav sees the ice quite well and is useful on both powerplay and penalty killing units.
Antonin Drbohlav can't be counted to the very superstitious players.
Before each game he just tries to cool down and concentrate on his own
performance.
A computer freak, Drbohlav spends nearly all of his non-hockey time in
front of a computer. He is in the first year of his studies at a
secondary school for informational technologies and also in his free time he
likes to search the internet for news or play computer games. He is so
good in the Quake 3 game from ID Software that he even considers a
career as a professional computer games player. As a strong skier, he never
misses the opportunity to go to the mountains for a weekend of skiing. As for the eating habits, Drbohlav isn't very demanding.
"I eat every food suitable for an athlete. To drink I like mostly
Coke or mineral water."
Represented by Toronto-based agent Petr Svoboda, Antonin Drbohlav isn't rushing to the CHL. "I would like to finish my education first. And if I would have that chance, the NCAA would attract me a lot. I like the opportunity of getting both a university degree and play quality hockey."
Overall he is a good prospect with Above average chances to hear his name called in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft. After David Ruzicka from Kladno he is one of the most promising Czech 1988 born defensemen.
Copyright 2003 Hockey’s Future. Do not reprint or otherwise duplicate without permission of the editorial staff.
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