Dárius Rusnák

Dárius Rusnák
Date of birth	2nd December 1959
place of birth	Ružomberok , Czechoslovakia
size	185 cm
Weight	81 kg
position	striker
Shot hand	Left
Draft
NHL Entry Draft	1987 , 11th lap, 230th position Philadelphia Flyers
Career stations
until 1976	Spartak BEZ Bratislava
1976-1987	HC Slovan Bratislava
1987-1988	HC Dukla Jihlava
1988-1989	HC Slovan Bratislava
1989-1993	KalPa Kuopio

Dárius Rusnák (born December 2, 1959 in Ružomberok , Czechoslovakia ) is a former Czechoslovak ice hockey player and coach and current official who played in the position of the striker . His son Ondrej is also a professional ice hockey player.

Career

Rusnák began his career as a child with Iskra Banská Bystrica before moving to Spartak BEZ Bratislava as a junior . At the age of 17 he moved to city rivals Slovan CHZJD Bratislava , for whom he made his debut in the top division of Czechoslovakia, the 1st division . In the following years he established himself within the team and in March 1979 belonged to the first Slovak team to win the Czechoslovak championship . In the 1980s he was one of the most important players on his team and formed the first line of attack from Slovan with the two wingers Ján Jaško and Marián Bezák .

In the season 1987/88 he went for the army sports club Dukla Jihlava on the ice before returning to Slovan Bratislava for a final season. In total, he scored 186 goals in 436 games in the highest Czechoslovak league. Rusnák spent his last four seasons with the Finnish club KalPa Kuopio , for which he scored 79 goals in 169 games in the SM-liiga .

International

In addition to his successes at club level, Rusnák was a regular for the Czechoslovak national team in the 1980s . Most of the time he played together with two other Slovaks, Vincent Lukáč and Igor Liba , in a row of attacks.

His greatest successes include the Olympic silver medal at the 1984 Winter Games in Sarajevo and the gold medal at the 1985 World Cup in Prague . He scored a total of 68 goals in 156 international matches.

Trainer career and functionary activity

Following his active career, Rusnák worked from 1993 to 1995 as an assistant coach for his ex-club HC Slovan Bratislava in the newly founded Extraliga . In the 1995/96 and 1998/99 seasons he worked as a manager for his former club Banská Bystrica in the Extraliga. Since 2006, Rusnák has been a member of the Executive Committee of the Slovak Ice Hockey Federation and in this role is responsible for the regional development of ice hockey in Slovakia. In 2009 he was inducted into the Slovak Ice Hockey Hall of Fame .

Achievements and Awards

• 1979 Czechoslovakian champion with Slovan CHZJD Bratislava
• 1981 bronze medal at the world championship
• 1982 silver medal at the world championship
• 1983 silver medal at the world championship
• 1984 silver medal at the Olympic Winter Games
• 1985 gold medal at the world championship
• 2009 admission to the Slovak ice hockey hall of fame

Web links

• Dárius Rusnák in the Slovak Hockey Hall of Fame
• Dárius Rusnák in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Dárius Rusnák at eurohockey.com
• Dárius Rusnák at eliteprospects.com (English)