In addition to losing Krejci, Hertl and Gudas, Team Czech Republic is also without Florida Panthers right wing Jaromir Jagr, who declined an invitation to play in the tournament. Jagr, 44, told general manager Martin Rucinsky he wants to spend some time with the team he owns in his hometown of Kladno before heading to Florida for training camp and wouldn't have enough time to get ready for the World Cup.
"He's one of our best players and he's one of the best players in the world, so it's hard not to see him here," Frolik said. "But he made that decision. It's his choice. I can just wish him luck during the season and we'll have to do it without him."
On the other hand, Team Russia has an impressive group of forwards that includes Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, Vladimir Tarasenko, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Nikita Kucherov and Artemi Panarin.
"They've got some big names there and very good players," Frolik said. "It's going to be a tough game. It's going to be hard, but it's the first game so you want to keep it simple, play hard and focus on our game and see how it goes."
After three days of practice, each team is looking forward to getting in some game action. This is the first of three pretournament games for each. They will play each other again at O2 Arena in Prague, Czech Republic on Saturday (10:30 a.m. ET; ESPN3, SN360, TVA Sports).
"We know it's going to be tough," Kucherov said. "We haven't played for a while, but it's good to be back. First of all, we want to just keep to our system and our plays and prepare for this World Cup and, most importantly, just have fun."
Team Czech Republic opens the World Cup preliminary round against Team Canada at Air Canada Centre in Toronto on Sept. 17 (8 p.m. ET, ESPNEWS, SN, TVA Sports). Team Russia will play its first game of the preliminary round against Team Sweden at Air Canada Centre on Sept. 18 (3 p.m. ET; ESPN, SN, TVA Sports).
LINING UP:Team Russia coach Oleg Znarok confirmed that Montreal Canadiens defenseman Alexei Emelin and Chicago Blackhawks forward Artem Anisimov will sit as healthy scratches. Znarkok did not announce a starting goaltender, but Sergei Bobrovsky (Columbus Blue Jackets) was the first off the ice at the end of the morning skate and Colorado Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov said Tuesday that he expected Bobrovsky to start the first pretournament game.
Petr Mrazek (Detroit Red Wings) will start for Team Czech Republic. Defenseman Tomas Kundratek and forward Roman Cervenka, who were late roster additions as injury replacements, will be healthy scratches.
SIZING UP:Team Russia had an NHL-size rink installed at Yubileyny Sports Place so it could prepare for playing on the surface at Air Canada Centre. International rinks are 15 feet wider than NHL rinks, which are 85 feet wide.
Znarok said he asked Team Czech Republic to install an NHL-size rink at O2 Arena for the game Saturday, but it was unable to do it, so the game will be played on the wider international-size rink there. Team Czech Republic practiced at O2 Arena this week, so it had adjust to the NHL rink at the morning skate Thursday.
"It was a little different, but I think it's good that we're going to play on the small ice, like in Toronto," Frolik said.
TEAM EFFORT:The on-ice officials Thursday will be a combination of NHL and KHL crews. NHL referee Gord Dwyer and linesman Michel Cormier will team with KHL referee Konstantin Olenin and linemen Gleb Lazarev.
SPIRIT WORLD:Following its morning skate, Team Russia went together to a church near Yubileyny Sports Palace.
"It's kind of a Russian tradition concerning the Russian spirit," Znarok explained through an interpreter.
