While Radko Gudas’ Team Czechia could not pull off an upset against Team Canada in the Olympic quarterfinals on Wednesday, the Czech defenseman may have literally upset Tom Wilson emotionally.
During the first period of the game, Gudas was caught on a hot mic, presumably on Canadian TV, delivering a gold-medal-level chirp at his former Capitals teammate.
“You gonna jump another guy that doesn’t know how to fight?” Gudas asked Wilson per TSN’s Bardown.
Gudas is referring to Wilson’s Gordie Howe Hat Trick-clinching fight with Pierre Crinon on Sunday. Wilson dropped the gloves with the Frenchman after the latter elbowed Nathan MacKinnon in the head earlier in the third period.
Crinon didn’t put up much of a fight and tried to exit the bout as quickly as possible, wrestling Wilson down to the ice. In the days that followed, Crinon’s career went south as France suspended him for the rest of the Olympic tournament, and he’s now also facing criminal charges for an incident he had in Ligue Magnus, where he punched a helmetless goaltender in the face.
“If you get intimidated, you don’t have anything, you shouldn’t be playing pro hockey,” Gudas said, coming into Czechia’s game against Canada per the NHLPA. “Obviously, they’re one of the best teams put together in a long time. They have some stars playing even on the fourth line.”
While Gudas’s chirping and individual play were podium-worthy, the Czechs were eliminated after giving up the game-tying goal to Nick Suzuki late in the third period and then the sudden-death winner to Mitch Marner during three-on-three overtime.
Gudas threw his body almost every shift during his 19:57 of ice time. He posted two shots, a two-minute roughing penalty, and the secondary assist on a Lukas Sedlak goal.
