Chem-el-ar. That’s the way pronunciations seemingly make sense if you’re an American, even if it’s incorrect.
Hem-el-ash. Em-el-ash.
Ell-ash. Il-ash.
All of those pronunciations seem to have been used over the last few weeks for Jaroslav Chmelar (answer: the correct pronunciation is him-ELL-ahsh), a 6-foot-4 rookie at Providence who was one of the best players at the recent World Junior Championship as he helped captured the silver medal for Czechia.
For Providence coach Nate Leaman, he’s happy to make sure he knows exactly how Chmelar wants his name pronounced. But more than anything, he’s happy to have Chmelar in the program.
“I had his family over for Thanksgiving,” said Leaman. “I asked them, and they said ‘CHIM-lar.’
“I said, ‘Why does everyone say ‘him-ELL-ahsh?’ They said, ‘Nah, ‘CHIM-lar.’ You have to ask the kid himself and see what he tells you.”
Regardless of how you pronounce his name, Chmelar is poised to become one of the best forwards in Hockey East this season, having already scored 10 points (six goals, four assists) in 18 games as a rookie.
The oversized forward has one of those frames that makes him miserable to defend net front, as many teams learned during the recent World Junior Championship.
“Czechia had a really good team,” said Leaman. “I had not seen Jaroslav play until the World Junior tournament this past summer (the tournament was postponed from December to August because of COVID). In his first game, I called both of our assistants and said, ‘This kid’s a player.’”
So began the recruiting of Chmelar, who had played much of his junior career in Finland and, as a Czech player, had mastered the English language.
“We got a call that he was interested in coming over and playing college hockey,” said Leaman of how a very non-traditional process to acquire Chmelar began. “We all started watching video on him and we all liked him. He fit exactly what we needed.
“It was easy for us to make the decision to recruit him. His English was really good. Some schools it’s super easy to get him in. [Providence] is not one of those schools. Our Europeans have to be good students. I think Jara had above a 3.0 the first semester.”
With plenty still to learn, Chmelar has already impacted this Friars lineup that enters this weekend in fifth place in Hockey East and just below the NCAA bubble in the PairWise. Hoping that Chmelar can return from World Juniors and use his experience at that tournament for a second time is something Leaman understand could be a difference maker for the Friars down the stretch.
“He’s really good at being hard and heavy around the nets,” said Leaman. “He’s hard and heavy around the walls. He can skate on rushes, and he can score.
“I saw Riley Duran take a step [after the World Junior] tournament and I expect Jara to do the same. He had a really good start to the year with us but at the end [of the first semester], that first term for freshman, it’s hard. It’s coming down to exams and the intensity of the season can catch up with you. He had hit a minor wall there.”
Once Czechia won the silver medal in the team’s heart-breaking loss to Canada in the final, Leaman knew that the team intended to return all of its players home. And despite the fact that the Friars could have used Chmelar last weekend against New Hampshire and Army, Leaman understood that allowing his dynamic rookie to return to his homeland was critical as well to the player’s mental wellbeing. Thus, he told him to go home to Czechia with his team instead of boarding a flight from Halifax back to Providence.
“The reason we sent him home for four days is because he hasn’t seen his family in six or seven months, and that’s important,” Leaman said. “His family came over for Thanksgiving, but I think it’s different to be home. And I think it was important to give him four-to-five days without hockey. He went from the August World Juniors to campus to playing with us to World Juniors again. This kid needs a bit of a break.”
Leaman knows already that there is plenty of room for improvement for the silver medalist. He indicates that his ability to work on the rush can continue to improve as can his penalty killing given his frame and long reach. That all will come this season and is a reason that the Friars and its fanbase should feel highly enthusiastic about this young player, a 2021 fifth-round pick of the New York Rangers.
And make one thing clear: by the time Chmelar matriculates to the professional level, everyone in the hockey world should be able to pronounce his name.
