PRAGUE -- The Czech Republic's David Krejci, Tomas Hertl and Radko Gudas are all out of the World Cup of Hockey due to injuries, the Czech Ice Hockey Association said Saturday.
Krejci, the Boston Bruins center, needs more time to recover from hip surgery and will be replaced by Roman Cervenka of Swiss club HC Fribourg-Gotteron for the tournament, which starts Sept. 17 in Toronto.
"David Krejci was supposed to be one of our key players, but his [surgery] makes it impossible for him to participate," Czech Republic coach Josef Jandac said in a statement Saturday. "We have to respect that."
Cervenka played at the 2010 and 2014 Olympics for the Czechs and helped the team win gold at the 2010 world championship.
The Czech association said Gudas, a Philadelphia Flyers defenseman, injured his wrist in training and won't be able to recover in time, while forward Hertl of the San Jose Sharks was still not fit enough to play after he injured his right knee in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup finals against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
On Sunday, the Czech Republic announced that forward Michal Birner and defenseman Tomas Kundratek would replace Hertl and Gudas. Both play for clubs in the Russia-based KHL, Birner in Russia's Traktor Chelyabinsk and Kundratek in Slovakia's Slovan Bratislava.
