Jakub Krbček - NCAA D1 experience

He is a bit under the radar in the Czech Republic. At the same time, he is currently one of the most used and best goalies in the NCAA. The 23-year-old Sparta graduate, goalie Jakub Krbeček, went to America four years ago because this path made the most sense to him. What advantages does he see in university hockey and what advice would he give to players who want to follow the same path?

You are now in your fourth year in the USA. How did your transfer come about and why did you decide to leave?

In my last year at Sparta, my parents and I were deciding what I would do next. Staying at Sparta no longer made much sense to me. I wouldn't make it to the first team, I would have to somehow try to get through the first league. Then I got a call from a Czech agency that works with universities in America. Thanks to that, we decided to go this way because it made the most sense to us.

In the Sparta junior team, you also played with goalie Michael Hrabal, who chose the same path and is also playing at the university now. Did you discuss it together at the time? He was probably the first person who somehow forced me to look at it and start thinking about it. So I would say that it was also thanks to him that I made that decision. It was not easy to pack my bags and go to an unknown environment like that, where they speak a completely different language... It was always a dream for me to play and live in America, so from that point of view I was really looking forward to it. But I didn't know English at all, so I was a little worried about the language. But I was staying with a family and they basically taught me English.

First, you played in the NAHL for two years. Even though it is the second highest junior competition in the USA, is the quality not bad at all?

No. I wanted to go to the USHL, but unfortunately I didn't get there, so I had to be in the NAHL. I had a little doubt about the quality, but the competition in America is so huge that they can even fill the NAHL with great guys and the quality is there.

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As a goalie, what was the hardest thing for you when transitioning to American hockey?

I would probably say the rink. In the Czech Republic we played on large sizes and here in America they have small ones everywhere. So the angles, rebounds and speed that the guys have there gave me a bit of a hard time in the first few months.

Then you transferred to the University of Rochester, how was your first season in the NCAA?

Great, but very difficult. Rochester won its league the year before I came here and then a lot of guys left, so the team was in the process of rebuilding. We searched a lot and we didn't do very well that season. It was challenging for me personally, but it gave me a lot. There were some changes here this season. A lot of guys came back, new guys came in and a new coach too. It completely turned things around.

How are you doing as a team, what are your team ambitions?

We are trying to win our group now, but our main goal is mainly to win the playoffs, which start in a month. That's what we're focusing on and preparing for the most right now.

You're doing well personally. You're one of the most used goalies in the entire NCAA. It seems to me that the team values ​​you a lot and the coaches have a lot of trust in you, right?

Yes, I would say that I'm so successful thanks to the coaches, because they gave me that trust. It wasn't clear from the beginning who would be the number one. The coach told us that we had to fight for it. But now it's clear that they have that trust in me and I'm trying to repay them.

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The NCAA is perhaps still looked down upon in the Czech Republic, as if it were just "student hockey". How would you describe the quality of the competition?

I would say that the quality is very high. It's no longer just about students coming here to play hockey. The guys who are here come here primarily for hockey and only secondarily for school. Most of them are trying to make it and then stay in hockey. The quality here is great, which we could see clearly at the Spengler Cup, where the university team finished in second place and performed very well. It clearly shows that these players are fully competitive in men's hockey.

The NCAA is divided into several conferences, mainly according to the geographical location of the universities. Could you tell us whether they differ from each other in terms of playing style or how big the qualitative differences are?

There are certainly differences between the individual conferences, but I wouldn't say that they are fundamental. The Big Ten and Hockey East are generally considered the top of university hockey. In Atlantic Hockey, we play twenty league games and another fourteen non-conference games, so we regularly face teams from other competitions. These games are usually close and often decided by small things. If we were playing the best teams from the Big Ten or Hockey East for a long time, they would probably have a slight advantage, but overall the differences between the competitions are small and mainly lie in the individual quality of the players.

What was the biggest game or the toughest opponent you have had so far this year?

I would say Penn State, who are in the Big Ten. It was a tough and very demanding game, but also my most successful one this season. I had 44 saves there and I made zero, so I did well.

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‍How is it financially? American universities charge quite high tuition fees. Do you have a scholarship?

Yes, I have a full scholarship, so I don't pay for anything. They basically pay for everything for me. To be honest, I wouldn't even be able to go here if I didn't have a scholarship, because schools are really expensive here in America. So it would be unrealistic for me.

If our interview was read by a young player who was interested in playing at a university, what would you advise him?

He definitely needs to know English. If he wants to go to university, I would definitely recommend him to go to an American junior college, where it will help him a lot not only with the language, but also as a person. Otherwise, I would tell him not to be afraid. I was quite afraid. I wasn't sure, I was afraid of school. But the help we get here is amazing. It's not at all difficult to combine hockey with school here.

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