Hejduk believes

ByEurosport

Published 15/02/2006 at 07:41 GMT

Czech star Milan Hejduk has told Eurosport the world champions have high hopes of wrestling gold from Canada's grasp. The North Americans were knocked off the top of the world by the Czechs in Vienna last year and now Hejduk says the Olympic title is the

"I feel pretty confident, I think that we have a pretty good team," revealed the Colorado Avalanche center. "We have at least a chance of the gold medal. There are some other teams that are really good, too. But I think that we can win."

The Czechs took their first gold medal after the 1993 split of Czechoslovakia at the Nagano Games eight years ago.

And with a roster jam-packed with top NHL talent, including New York Rangers star Jaromir Jagr and legendary goaltender Dominik Hasek, Hejduk believes the tightly-knit Czechs can recreate their Japanese triumph.

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Image credit: Imago

"Only time will tell how good this team is," said Hejduk, whose Olympic campaign gets underway against Germany on Wednesday. "But it certainly would be great if we could repeat what we did in Nagano.

"You need a combination of a lot of things. It's a question of team chemistry, but we always have that. Hopefully, this is not going to be a problem. Sometimes, you need just a little bit of luck."

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