A long way from home, Jiří Klíma 'earned' his early opportunities at Bemidji State

Nov. 12—BEMIDJI — It's just a few hours after midnight in Czechia, and Jiří Klíma's parents turn their television on.The Bemidji State men's hockey team's standout freshman forward hails from the village of Suchý Důl, with a population of around 400. Every weekend, halfway across the world, his mom, Petra Klímová, and his dad, also named Jirí, along with his grandparents, are watching the Beavers."For them, it starts at 2 in the morning," Klíma said. "It finishes at 5, then they have to wake up for work at 6. I can't imagine what they're going through. They show so much support to me. I really appreciate it."He calls them after each game — he calls them "as much as possible."Four years ago, Klíma left home for North America, pursuing a life in hockey at some of its highest levels. He was drafted by the Shawinigan Cataractes to play in the Quebec Maritimes Hockey League, and now finds himself in college at BSU.When he moved to Quebec, he understood some English, but couldn't speak it. It was the start of a challenging cultural journey that now has him driving a Division I NCAA team offensively.Along the way, Bemidji State head coach Tom Serratore and his staff identified Klíma as a valued piece to their puzzle. And with the help of good timing regarding one of hockey's largest international tournaments, the Beavers landed Klíma.Now, through his first eight games, Klíma has scored a team-leading five goals and has seven points. He's a first-line, top-power-play-unit winger who is the reigning CCHA Rookie of the Week after a three-goal, four-point road weekend against first-place Bowling Green."He's played eight games, and you can obviously see the points he has, but he's a factor on every shift," Serratore said. "He's got depth to his game, he can play physical, he's strong, he's really good on the wall, he can make plays in traffic, he can make plays on the rush, he's got a quick release and pucks find him. Why do pucks find him? Because of hockey sense and instincts, and he's got them."Like most Czech youth hockey players, Klíma idolized Jaromír Jágr growing up. However, he was the first hockey player in his family."I feel like my parents pushed me into it a little bit," Klíma said. "... I made the right choice. I have so many great years."Klíma's hockey pursuits became more serious when he was drafted by Shawinigan in the first round of the 2023 Canadian Hockey League Import Draft."I feel like I had (a) bigger chance to get into the NHL," he said. "I just always wanted to play in North America. It was one of my dreams. I was a lot of nervous, but I was really excited to go there because it was one of my dreams. I was just excited to play hockey in a great league."Klíma didn't know anyone in Shawinigan, nor did he speak French. The language barrier in and out of the rink was a steep learning curve."I came basically alone (with) nobody helping me to adjust. It was a big difference compared to Czech hockey — it was a big lifestyle difference. But I spent three years there and had so much fun. I'm very grateful for that experience."I got there, and the team was all in English, but the city and everyone else talked in French. It was very different. I learned a little bit of French, but mostly English."Little by little, Klíma felt more comfortable in Quebec. On the ice, he was an impact player immediately.In his first season, he had 32 points in 57 games. He also represented Czechia on the U18 international team, scoring three goals and two assists in nine games, along with a silver-medal finish in the Hlinka Gretzky Cup.The Cararactes made it to the conference finals in Klíma's second season, falling to Rimouski in seven games. Klíma posted a 48-point season in 80 games, setting the table to earn a spot on Czechia's 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship team the following season.Klíma, who posted a point-per-game season in his final QMJHL campaign, took a hiatus from Shawinigan to play in the WJC in Minnesota. His first stop was in Bemidji at the Sanford Center, which hosted pre-tournament camps and exhibitions for Czechia, Slovakia and Latvia.Klíma was on the Beavers' radar long before he walked through the doors."We have a good feel for everybody in a lot of the leagues — everybody," Serratore said. "We do a lot of watching and we look at players we feel would be great fits for the program. We watched Jiří early, but he also came here for World Juniors, which was another layer of this. Once we had that other layer, when we had him in our rink and he liked it, that obviously helps in the recruiting process."BSU assistant coaches Joe Wegwerth and Jackson Keane lived at the Sanford Center for nearly the entirety of the pre-tournament camps. Each team had up to two practices each day, which Wegwerth and Keane attended."It was really fun — I met the coaches here," Klíma said, thinking back to last December. "I had a meeting with them. I saw the rink and I saw the city. That's why I made this choice to come here."It wasn't because of the time I spent here. It was because of the coaches. They made me feel wanted and they showed they were excited about me. They talked to me in a great way and made me excited about Bemidji."Serratore added: "Hats off to Joe and Jackson on that one."Klíma had a good showing at the WJC in Minneapolis and St. Paul. He took a silver medal back to Quebec after posting a goal and three assists in all seven games. Czechia upset favored Canada in the semifinals, then lost to Sweden."It was probably the best tournament I've played in," Klíma said. "I'll never forget that experience. I was so proud to put that jersey on. We had so much support from our country. A lot of fans came to see us in Minnesota. I had my family there, and it was so much fun. It was an unforgettable experience. I was just proud to come back from that tournament with a medal. I was proud to be part of the team."Bemidji State players reported to campus in late August. On Sept. 15, they filmed their scoreboard videos, took their individual and team photos and shuffled around the halls of the Sanford Center during Media Day. All of them were there except Klíma.He didn't arrive to campus until Sept. 28, just five days before the Beavers' season opener against St. Cloud State."I didn't play the first game," Klíma said. "The coaches wanted to give me time to adjust and make me feel good before playing the first game. It was a little weird. I didn't know anyone — only coaches. It was a different experience. Practices are so much different than junior hockey. The teammates made me feel great right away; made me part of the team pretty quick."Klíma said he leans on his teammates quite a bit, especially the other freshmen. He gets rides from the ones who brought their cars to Bemidji. They help him translate during classes."For me, it's really important because I am from different country and I speak different language," he said. "If I need some help, I just ask them for whatever I need to know."At Tuesday's mid-week press conference, Serratore reflected on Klíma's recruiting process and the pre-tournament camps in Bemidji."You have to think outside the box," he said. "It's great when you have an in. We had an in because they were here. We needed to do a good job on the teams that were here. We watched those kids and let it play out. You watch them more, and then you meet with them. They see what we're about, they see the facility. There's just a lot of positives that happened when they were here, and that's probably the biggest thing with Jiří being here around Christmas time, even though we were talking to Jiří before that."Less than a year later, he earned the trust of the coaching staff to play in a more elevated role than the rest of the Beavers' rookies. He has goals in four of his last six games and has skated over 21 minutes in two of his last three games."His play obviously allowed us to trust him," Serratore said. "Take a look at his play over the course of his first eight games. He's impacted every game. If he didn't impact the game offensively, he impacted it in another area. Jiří's earned everything, and he deserves everything he's been given so far."Klíma added: "It means a lot to me. I really appreciate it. I really appreciate the chance the coaches give me. I'm trying to give back as much as possible. I think my offensive game has been really good, thanks to my teammates. ... I'm playing with great players. Everyone helped me to feel good on the ice."