The vibes around the Polish national team were still at their all-time highs coming into Friday’s match versus Ukraine during the Olympic Qualifiers. Those vibes took a step back as Poland fell to Ukraine after the shootout. It was the first time Poland had lost to Ukraine since 2013 at the men’s senior level. One game can’t define a season, but it can define a tournament. For Poland, they will need to look inward and figure out what went wrong.

The national team came into this tournament down quite a few players, including starting goalie John Murray and forward Alan Łyszczarczyk, but still looked like the clear favorites. Those odds were only raised after Poland dispatched South Korea six to nothing in a pre-tournament exhibition, while South Korea star goalie Matt Dalton announced his retirement from the national team. Poland took their foot off the gas in that game against South Korea after a 5-0 first period. A good sign of sportsmanship and keeping players healthy, but it has felt from that moment that the foot never went back on the gas. Poland won their first game of the Olympic Qualifiers with a 4-0 final over Estonia. While the red and white outshot their foes by 33-11 it didn’t feel like as dominate as a win as one would have hoped.

This led to game two versus Ukraine, a game that was likely for the top spot and promotion to the final round of qualification. Poland got off to the start that we all wanted to see, but they couldn’t finish. After the first period, Poland had a one-to-zero lead, with the shots being 16-4 in their favor. The next two periods saw some of the worst hockey of the Kalaber era. Poland would be outshot in both periods. Dumb penalties and unforced mistakes killed Poland. Still, they were the better squad talent-wise and forced overtime despite their shortcomings. Poland couldn’t find the answer in overtime and then went one for five in the shootout. When Poland needed their veterans and stars to finish the most, they were nowhere to be found.

It has become somewhat of a trend under Kalaber where it feels to me Poland plays down or up to their opponent. This time Poland got caught doing that, and Ukraine took advantage. I don’t mean to take anything away from Ukraine, who came to play today. Their players forced and took advantage of Polish mistakes. There is a lot of promising young talent in Ukraine and plenty of familiar faces to Polish fans, with five players having THL experience. Ukraine has put itself in the driver’s seat to advance to the final round of Olympic Qualification. On Sunday, against last-place Estonia, any kind of win secures them promotion regardless of the result between Poland and South Korea.

For Poland, the question now comes up once again: are you ready for the Elite division at the World Championships in May? Miarka played well in net tonight, this was not a problem of missing John Murray or Tomas Fucik. The consistency and aggressive forecheck that has become a trademark under Kalaber was not there today. I think the extra pressure now rests on the veterans to prove they deserve their spots. Should a player like Patryk Krezolek, who leads the THL in scoring with 20 goals, or a young player like Adam Kiedewicz or Krzysztof Macias take their spot for the Worlds? We will have plenty of exhibition matches in the lead-up to the Worlds to assess the veterans, but tonight it felt like the tank may be running low on a few of them.

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