Junior Review: Milan Dvořák

[solas 1,951]

JUNIOR REVIEW: Milan Dvořák

 

Czech defenseman Milan Dvorak seems to be one of the big question marks surrounding the recently opening Season 82 VHL draft class. On one hand, hee signed on with the Yukon Rush at the trade deadline in Season 80 and was drafted 16th overall by the Ottawa Lynx in the S81 VHLM draft. And he seems to be performing well for Ottawa thus far. But at the same time, he doesn’t seem to be a player with too much of a reputation prior to his decision to cross the pond and enter the VHL system. So what is his background?

 

Dvorak was born in Prague, Czechia, to a working class family. From even a young age, Milan found himself attracted to sports. Hockey in particular caught his eye. But equipment was expensive, so it was a while until he could even make his way onto the ice. He spent a lot of time on local rinks learning how to skate, but if anything it made him even more hungry to play hockey. Finally, at age 14, he was able to convince his parents to save up enough money to buy him some second-hand hockey equipment for his birthday. And that was where everything started to kick into gear.

 

While many other hockey players his age had already been playing for years, Milan hit the ground running right away and didn’t look back. He dedicated himself to practicing as much as he could, wearing his second-hand gear everywhere and spending hours just working on his shot and his puck handling. After playing for a year with some local youth teams in his area, Dvorak caught the attention of scouts from the biggest team in the city - HC Sparta Praha. 

 

It would take a lot more convincing to get his parents on board with joining Sparta Praha’s academy. They had wanted him to focus his efforts on school in order to get a good career, but eventually they were persuaded. The fact that someone who had only been playing hockey for a year could even get the attention of a top professional hockey team in Europe was proof of Milan’s raw talent. He’d still be taking classes for the possibility that hockey didn’t work out, but hockey would become the main focus. Dvorak took that opportunity and didn’t look back.

 

Despite his lack of experience and slightly smaller size compared to his teammates, Dvorak’s raw talent and coachability helped him to develop quite quickly. He comfortably slotted into a role as an offensive defenseman. Three more years of work and time spent playing for youth teams passed, and by the age of 18 Dvorak was called up to the Sparta Praha’s senior team. He wasn’t one of the stars of the team by any means, but he did much better than expected for such a young player, finding himself moving back and forth between the second and third defensive pairings for the team as well as a key spot on the powerplay. Which is why it was a shock when, after his first season with the team, Dvorak made the announcement that he would be entering the VHLM.

 

Because of the lack of game tape on him (only one proper season in the Czech Extraliga, no time spent with youth national teams), surely this coming VHLM season will have a big effect on how scouts view Milan Dvorak. Are teams willing to take a flyer on his raw ability? Surely the upcoming VHL and VHLE drafts will give us our answer.

Edited November 29, 2021 by solas