With a 4-1 loss to Ukraine on Thursday, the odds that Poland will find themselves back in the Elite division are almost non-existent. The path would require Japan and Romania pulling off upsets against Ukraine and Italy, while Poland would have to take down the undefeated Great Britain in regulation. I would put the odds of all three of those events happening at less than 1%. It’s a quick fall for Poland, as they were at the top of the standings heading into day three.
The tournament started perfectly for Poland as other expected contenders, Italy and Great Britain, lost multiple points. In turn, the Polish squad won both their opening matches in regulation. It gave the new generation of Polish players a lot of room, but they lost it all. It’s the cruel nature of lower-division international hockey. A couple of mistakes can ruin your entire tournament, and you’re left waiting another whole year for a chance at redemption.
For the white and red, this is a huge step back and a disappointing result. A new generation of Polish hockey has emerged as previous stalwarts of the national team retired or were passed over. A new PZHL president is coming and will have a lot of mess to clean up, and will likely have to lead the national team through a years long rebuild.
With the return of Belarus and Russia likely coming in the next two years, Poland’s window to make it back to the Elite is likely closed. Even if the return is not next year, the white and red will find a division with two of France, Kazakhstan, Hungary, Norway, or Slovenia. You add two teams from that list with the fact that one of Great Britain, Italy, or Ukraine won’t be promoted, and it’s an even harder group in my opinion.
Polish hockey remains in a rough spot. The hope with the World Championship was that it could provide opportunities for new sponsorship revenue, along with increased support from the Ministry of Sport. Instead, the new PZHL president will be tasked with finding ways to raise new revenue in challenging conditions immediately. When talking to a Polish club executive, there are concerns that the Tauron Hokej Liga might not have five teams that survive the year without incurring massive losses. That has his club exploring the idea of leaving the Polish hockey league altogether.
With one game left, there is almost no chance of promotion for Poland. Plenty of questions have already been raised about the national team’s future and what went wrong in 2025. Some of them can already be answered, and it’s likely not the answers fans want to hear after how things went.
Where Were The Stars?
Poland was missing plenty of key players at this tournament. On offense, you didn’t have Aron Chmielewski, Bartosz Fraszko, Damian Kapica, Grzegorz Pasiut, Kamil Walega, Mateusz Michalski, and Patryk Wronka. On defense, fans didn’t see Marcin Kolusz, Pawel Dronia, or Patryk Wajda.
That is a lot of key talent to turnover in a year. While injuries prevented Fraczko, Pasiut, Walega, and Wronka from appearing, the remaining players Poland chose to move on without them.
Those choices will now define what could have been for Poland. Aron Chmielewski has been one of the best Polish players of the century and is still a highly productive player in Slovakia. While Kalaber has cited defensive concerns about the player, it is hard for those arguments to hold water given Poland’s poor offensive and defensive showing this year.
Poland only scored eight goals in their four games, the second lowest in the entire tournament. Four of those goals also came against Romania, who have allowed the most in the tournament and will be relegated. While the power play is showing some signs of life statistically, with an 18.18% success rate, there have been many times when it is dreadful. The white and red were unable to score, and that is going to fuel the debate about Kalaber and his choices. I don’t know how Poland would have looked defensively with Chmielewski, Kapica, or Kolusz, but they would have scored more.
Those offensive struggles only made it more puzzling that Krzysztof Macias was stuck on the fourth line, playing 10:55 minutes on average per night. He is the only Polish forward with an average time on ice under 11:57. While he played junior hockey this year, it’s the best junior hockey league in the world. In the Western Hockey League, Maciaś scored 20 goals and picked up 22 assists in 53 games. What makes it even more puzzling is that last year, as a teenager, Macias played an average of over 13 minutes a game in the Elite Division. It’s just a lineup and deployment choice I don’t understand at all.
Is It Time to Move on From Kalaber?
Robert Kalaber has been coaching in Poland for over a decade and with the national team for five years. He is the coach who led this country to promotion to the Elite for the first time in 22 years. It has to be noted that it was with a diminished Group A.
Kalaber is a great coach and he knows the realities of Polish hockey better than any other foreign coach. I disagree with the roster choices this year, and I don’t think he put Poland in the position to be as successful as they could be.
Here is the harsh reality for Polish fans. No better coach is coming. The money is not there, and you don’t have the budget or attractiveness like Italy to grab a coach like Jukka Jalonen. Kalaber is the best realistic option, unless Poland wants to approach another PHL coach.
Many people have already suggested Andrei Gusov to me. Gusov is a excellent coach and has done miracles with the Poland U18 team, earning them their first-ever promotion to D1A. With the rebuilding of talent in Polish hockey, I would rather Gusov keep working with junior players.
Is the New Generation A Bust?
For a long time, Polish hockey was underrated as top players stayed in Poland and rarely went abroad. I truly believe if they had gone to foreign leagues in their prime, players like Damian Kapica, Grzegorz Pasiut, Krystian Dziubiński, Krzysztof Zapała, or Marcin Kolusz would have found success. I mean, Kolusz earned a Liiga and Tipos Extraliga contract at 37 years old after Finnish coaches arrived in Poland.
For this new generation, many of the talent have also stayed in the domestic league, despite its uncertain future. Only two Poles on the squad this year played abroad, but Patryk Krezolek has already signed in the Czech second league for 2026. The tournament was disappointing, but there were some positive performances from younger players. Bizacki had some downs, but was a great top-four defenseman and posted three points, tied for the team lead in scoring. 25-year-old import Kamil Sadlocha has three assists. Dominik Pas looks like a star all around.
Admittedly, many of the 25-and-under talents have been given minimal ice time. Only Pas and Zygmunt are 25 or younger and played more than an average of 14 minutes a game. If the match against Great Britain is only for pride or a bronze medal, I hope Poland gives these young players a bit more leeway. That includes goaltender Maciej Miarka, who hasn’t once even seen backup duties.
Poland has to embrace the rebuild. There are things to be optimistic about for next year with the young core. Kamil Walega will hopefully be back. The white and red missed him. In the next group, already playing in foreign leagues, you have Adam Kiedewicz (24, DEL2), Adrian Gromadzki (20, Maxa Liga), and Jakub Lewandowski (23, NCAA). Back home in Poland, Sebastian Brynkus (24, Cracovia) and Szymon Kielbicki (22, Jastrzebie) both had strong years and will compete for a national team spot once again. Bartosz Florczak (22, Sanok) was expected to be on this team but missed with an injury.
There is an excellent generation of 2010 players coming, and Poland U18 just won gold at the D1B U18 World Championship. Until they’re ready, Polish hockey has to survive and improve its development for U23 players. Ukraine is at war, and its players went abroad. They finished fifth at the D1B World Championship in 2019; now, just four tournaments later, they are on the verge of earning back-to-back promotions and reaching the Elite. These things can be done, but Polish hockey needs people who are going to put in the work to make it happen.
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