Veteran presence: a former Olympian for Canada, Petr Nedved to debut for Czechs

Petr Nedved defected from Czechoslovakia and eventually played the 1994 Olympics as a Canadian citizen. Much has changed. He is able to realise his dream of playing for his native country in the World Championship after having concluded his fifth straight season in the Czech Extraliga. Paul Romanuk reports.

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[Setrhend]

Petr Nedved - klasa. Jeden z najlepsich akych poznam:)

[Robert Trca]

Lol....he's Czech..

[Alex Ilkos]

petr nedved petr nedved petr nedved petr nedved

[TheMrChillen]

Great story, me being a Canadian, Nedved was my favourite player growing up, I'd always follow him around from team to team. It's great that he got this opportunity and congrats on his bronze medal win and the Czechs

[abliih]

ok, thanks! But I still prefer FIFA rule, once you have played for one country, you can't change anymore.

[pwisnieff]

I thought the IIHF had a rule that once you played in a senior tournament for one country you couldn't play for any other country. E.g. Brodeur wouldn't be allowed to play for USA even though he is now a dual citizen.

[Double17L]

Just change your citizenchip to set country and get rid of the old one. Thats it. Nothing else needed. Atleast not these days.

[Slapshot59]

I agree. You have to feel good for Petr Nedved. I was glad when he played for my native Canada in 1994 (great performance too).  And I'm glad for him that he's finally getting the opportunity to play for his native country. Good for him. He deserves it.

[Geoff Nichols]

There are two rules for dual nationals: a 2-year rule and a 4-year rule. If you haven't played for another nation in an IIHF event before, you have to play two years exclusively in your new nation before being national team eligible. If you have played for another nation, it's four years.

[SonyT250]

Well, since he played for team Czechoslovakia before going to Canada I guess the question should be asked, how was he able to represent Canada in Olympic Games ? NHL World CUp (and Canada Cup) were NOT IIHF sanctioned events so they won't count in any direction.