Referring to the best players from the rest of the world, Gudas said: "They came, and we still were able to beat them. It's one of the nicest Czech sports history events. Everybody remembers it. Even people that weren't born yet, they saw the games. It's still sometimes on TV in Czech, and it's one of the proudest moments for Czech hockey world."
Gudas was 18 when he saw the New York Rangers defeat the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 in the NHL Premiere Series before 17,085 at O2 Arena on Oct. 4, 2008. That was the first NHL regular-season game in his hometown of Prague.
Little did he know that Tampa Bay would select him in the third round (No. 66) in the 2010 NHL Draft. He has played in the NHL since 2012-13, skating for the Lightning, Philadelphia Flyers, Washington Capitals, Florida Panthers and Ducks.
He's 6-foot, 208 pounds, and physical; since the start of the 2012-13 season, Gudas' 3,205 hits are second among NHL players to Matt Martin (3,248).
"It's always tough to play against him," said Vancouver Canucks center David Kampf, a Team Czechia teammate. "He's heavy, heavy guy, and playing hard way, so it's nice to have him on my side."
Gudas has represented his country many times at different levels. The highlight was helping Czechia win gold at the 2024 IIHF World Championship in Prague.
He has a presence here along with 40-year-old captain Roman Cervenka, a center who played 39 games for the Calgary Flames in 2012-13.
"They're the biggest leaders on our team," said Dallas Stars forward Radek Faksa, a Team Czechia teammate. "They lead the way on the ice, off the ice. When we don't play well, they will talk to us in the dressing room. Just seeing them on the ice and off the ice, you just feel better. They bring us so much confidence just watching them."
Team Czechia's first of three preliminary round games is against Team Canada on Thursday (10:40 a.m. ET; Peacock, USA, CBC Gem, CBC).
"Our first game against Team Canada is going to be one of the biggest challenges for us, so we got to be ready," Gudas said. "We have to have our feet going from minute No. 1."
Gudas sounds confident.
"We know what kind of stage we're on, and we want to perform at the highest level that we possibly can hoping that we can do some damage in the tournament," he said. "There's some great teams on the other sides too, but yeah, I really believe in our group that we want to do something here and want to give our country a chance again to be proud of us."
Gudas said his father will come to Milan later in the tournament, "maybe for the most important games." But his mother is here. So are his wife and kids.
"It's a fun time in our family," he said. "The kids are really enjoying it. We show the kids that their grandpa was at the Olympics too. Now I'm here too, so they're kind of soaking it in. I don't know if they really understand yet, but it's fun to have them around."
Maybe they'll get to hold an Olympic medal the way he once held his father's.
"When we won [the World Championship] couple years ago, we would take couple pictures with all the medals we had in the family," Gudas said. "Yeah, it still looked pretty nice, so I wouldn't mind having one of those myself."
