It has been a dream couple of years for the Czechia women's hockey program. It's the kind of future Tereza Sadilová dreamed of, but still can't believe has been accomplished so quickly. Sadilová became the general manager of Czechia's Women's National Team in 2022 – and since then, the program has experienced unprecedented success.

Sadilová hired Carla MacLeod to helm the senior women's team, a big swing for Czechia that has paid off and spread to the rest of the program. The senior team is now a stalwart of the top division at the IIHF Women's World Championships, qualifying for their first-ever Olympics in 2022 and winning bronze at the 2022 and 2023 tournaments. The U18 team upset Canada in the 2024 U18 World Championships and won silver – the best-ever finish for a Czechia women's team at any IIHF level.

The focus now is on sustaining that success.

From the moment she was hired in this role, Sadilová has put an emphasis not just on establishing a competitive program, but on building a lasting legacy that can endure regardless of changes in staff and personnel. She has celebrated every new step they've taken and cherished every medal, but she has always been looking ahead.

"When I took on this role, I was looking into building some kind of legacy. I didn't want to build something that would last two to three years. We've seen instant success, where it's great for a year or two but then it kind of goes away. I feel like women's sports are so fragile in that way, especially when it comes to small countries like Czechia. It's so fragile, so it's important to build from the roots up," said Sadilová.

By that she means assembling a staff – not just coaches, but down to trainers, doctors and administrators – that work together seamlessly and are open to guiding and nurturing new and young talent. The idea, Sadilová said, is to have a strong enough staff that if anyone leaves (including herself) the program does not falter or regress. Building this new-look program was about not just finding talented people, but the right people.

"Carla [MacLeod] is obviously the biggest puzzle piece of this. Even having our players around her and learning from her, I think they will be the ones taking on that role after they're done playing. That's kind of where I envisioned them to be, in the leading roles in the staff," said Sadilová.

It's somewhat rare to see a country's U18 coach serve as an assistant for the senior team, but Dušan Andrašovský sits on the bench alongside Carla MacLeod. Time has proven that Sadilová was correct in identifying him to be one of those "right people."

MacLeod has never been based in Czechia, and now spends much of the year behind the bench for PWHL Ottawa. Andrašovský helps bridge the gap between the staff and the players, in both location and language. He also helps MacLeod make decisions on which U18 players might be ready to play with the senior team. The entire top line from the silver-winning U18 squad was on the senior roster for Utica.

Andrašovský and MacLeod also each bring a different perspective to the game, and the staff as a whole has created a hybrid approach of European and North American styles of hockey. It's a difficult balance to strike, MacLeod said, but she's always learning and looking to find a perfect synergy between the styles.

With MacLeod as not only a non-Czech, but the first woman ever to lead a Czechia national team, there was pushback at her hiring and Sadilová's choice received criticism. Things are changing in Czechia, but it can be a slow process. Andrašovský and U16 coach Jan Lucák had to be willing to work under and learn from MacLeod.

"Every level needs to work together. Hiring Carla was obviously the biggest part of the puzzle, but then getting somebody strong at the U18 level who would be willing to learn from her. I needed someone who was willing to learn and I think Dušan [Andrašovský] is the right person for this. He is very much open-minded. He understands what it means to be in female sports and a female environment and I think he's grateful for the opportunity just to be around Carla. Whatever he learns from her is bringing down to the U18 level and same with Jan Lucák with the under-16s. When we have summer camps, it's all of them together. All of our staff is there," said Sadilová.

Before Sadilová's tenure, she said men took the women's job hoping it was a stepping stone to the men's team. She very much did not want the women's team to be viewed in that way and focused on creating a program that could stand on its own prestige.

And if the people who meet the necessary criteria and mesh well with the rest of their staff are women, all the better, said Sadilová.

"That's important to us. Right now we have six women on our staff at the senior level. That has been very important to me, to put women in a position of power and make sure they get the opportunities because I think they're qualified enough, they just don't get a chance. I think that's also showing our players an example of the career paths they could take after they're done playing. What these players have done for our programs is really changing things for the better and we want to keep them involved after their playing career has ended," she said.

MacLeod loves having her program's U18 and U16 coach on board and working together. She credits Sadilová for recognizing the need for a program-wide shift that put an emphasis on continuity and development from youth levels through the senior team. Aligning philosophies and goals up and down the program can only help Czechia women's hockey grow.

"It's a well informed group and I wholeheartedly trust these guys. They understand this level, they know our players... It has been really complementary when we come to select teams and prepare," MacLeod said.

Czechia is set to host the 2025 Women's World Championship in April and Sadilová is very excited for Czechia to see and experience top-level women's hockey. As the program has made steps to improve, their Federation and the country have been slower to embrace them. But Sadilová knows attitudes are changing.

The U18 team's semifinal upset over Canada was not televised in Czechia, but the win was enough to make local TV pick up the gold medal game. The broadcast set a record for women's hockey viewership in Czechia as over 600,000 watched the live broadcast on CT Sport.

Czech Ice Hockey President Alois Hadamczik once told Sadilová that he used to not think girls should play hockey – but he has become wholeheartedly supportive of the women's program. He frequently communicates with Sadilová and sees the elite talent level of Czech women's hockey players. "It's really refreshing to hear that and see those old structures shift and [have them] change their opinion without us having to say anything," Sadilová said. "We just say, watch what they can do. It speaks for itself. That's freedom for me. We're not having to prove anything."

In addition to impressing Hadamczik, a former coach who used to work with Czech ice hockey legend Jaromír Jágr, the women's team has been getting support from other public figures. Petr Pavel, the president of the Czech Republic, took to Twitter to publicly congratulate the U18 team on their silver medal – which is a small thing, but it demonstrates that more and more people in Czechia are paying attention.

"Everyone understands what it meant for the U18 [team] to beat Canada – what kind of level they're on, what kind of funding they have. I think everyone is trying to get involved at home and trying to understand what we're doing on the women's side," said Sadilová.

All of those successes, starting with qualifying for the Olympics, have made a massive difference in funding for the Czechia women's program, as well. Sadilová has been able to hire the people she needs to. She can conduct day-to-day operations without having to worry about how they're going to pay for things, from plane tickets to team jackets. That funding has transformed the program into a more professional operation.

In September, she said, the federation took a huge step forward, paying players for being on the national team for the first time.

"It's a first step. If the US and Canada are level 10, we're on level one. But I think it's important that we've started and they're giving them the respect they've earned. I'm certainly excited to build on that," said Sadilová.

One big focus at home is the Euro Hockey Tour (EHT), a tournament contested among Czechia, Finland, Switzerland, and Sweden. The EHT is huge on the men's side, she said, but Europe is only waking up now to the possibilities for the women's tournament.

The EHT needs to be looking at new contracts for bigger venues, with more promotion and support for the women's tournament, Sadilová said, giving them a platform to showcase their talent.

As a look to the future, there is a "Future Olympians" program within Czech Ice Hockey that looks to identify talented players who can be targeted for the U18 and senior teams. The program is at the U10, U15, and U19 levels, and allows the staff to check in over regular intervals to assess progress and look for strengths and weaknesses to target. Sadilová said all that contact with the players lets the staff know when players are ready and creates consistency within the program. The U16 team is essentially doing what the senior team is doing, Sadilová said.

The senior women's team did not medal at the 2024 World Championships, but MacLeod was not disappointed in how they played. She felt her players were outstanding and the team continued to show growth. Sometimes, you lose the game. But the path forward is clear.

"We're learning, but staying on the right path," said Sadilová. "It's amazing and I'm just proud of the journey we've been on."