David Pastrnak, the Boston Bruins star, joined Team Czechia for the 2024 IIHF World Championship, and his arrival in his home country was marked by a curious incident. When Pastrnak made his debut in the tournament, he gave a sideline interview, during which it was revealed that he was barefoot. This unusual choice caught people’s attention, but the 27-year-old had a charming reason for going shoeless.
I take off my skates after every period because I have terribly small skates and it hurts a lot, which is why I don’t really want to do interviews,” Pastrnak wrote on Facebook on Wednesday via machine translation. “My feet are crammed in there, so I take the skates off after every period to give my feet some relief.”
An understandable reason. As to why the Bruins star doesn’t just purchase larger skates, he did not elaborate. It’s possibly a superstitious thing on Pastrnak’s part. If you’ve scored over 100 points in two straight seasons and are among the top goal-scorers in the league, why change anything? Smaller skates might also be the preferred way Pastrnak wants to play.
Whatever the reason, it’s worked out for him, and he’ll hope to lead Team Czechia to gold when it begins its medal campaign against the United States in the quarterfinals Thursday.
