David Volek

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CzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakia  David Volek Ice hockey player
Date of birth June 18, 1966
place of birth Prague , Czechoslovakia
size 183 cm
Weight 84 kg
position Left wing
Shot hand Left
Draft
NHL Entry Draft 1984 , 10th lap, 208th position
New York Islanders
Career stations
1982-1984 TJ Slavia PS Karlovy Vary
1984-1988 TJ Sparta ČKD Prague
1988-1995 New York Islanders
1995-1996 HC Sparta Prague
HC Slavia Becherovka Karlovy Vary

David Volek (* 18th June 1966 in Prague , Czechoslovakia ) is a former Czech hockey player - coach - and scout , who during his playing career from 1982 to 1996 among other 411 games for the New York Islanders in the National Hockey League on has contested the position of the left winger . Volek, who was appointed to the NHL All-Rookie Team in 1989 , participated as a long-time member of the Czechoslovak national team in the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada, and two world championships . His father Pavel worked as an ice hockey coach in Switzerland and Germany.

Career

Volek first spent his junior years in the youth department of TJ Sparta ČKD Prague from his hometown. He then worked for TJ Slavia PS Karlovy Vary between 1982 and 1984 . Even before the striker had completed his first game with the professionals, he was selected in the 1984 NHL Entry Draft in the tenth round in 208th place by the New York Islanders from the National Hockey League . The Islanders were aware of the attacker's talent, but saw the chances of being signed due to the Iron Curtain and Volek's father Pavel , who was a coach in the Czechoslovak Ice Hockey Federation, as very low and therefore waited until the tenth round. In the 1984/85 season , the 18-year-old returned to his regular club in Prague. There he was active for the following four years and secured, among other things, the runner-up title in the 1987/88 season . He was also the league's top scorer last year.

After several national team colleagues had moved to North America and thus to the National Hockey League in the course of the four years, the New York Islanders also intensified their efforts to serve the attacker. Since Volek's father had left the association and had meanwhile accepted a job in western-oriented Germany at EV Landshut , and Volek himself had been confronted with unjustified doping allegations at home, he and his future wife took advantage of a visit to his father in Landshut , to first immigrate to Canada with the help of a North American player agent. In the Fogle, the Czechoslovak signed a contract with the Islanders and was with the beginning of the 1988/89 season finally in the squad of the team. In his rookie season in the league, he reached 59 impressive points in 77 appearances. This gave the wing attacker the election to the NHL All-Rookie Team . In the following two years, Volek initially fulfilled the expectations placed in him. Although his points yield dropped significantly with 39 points, but this recovered in the game year 1991/92 when he set up a career record with 60 points. In the course of the 1992/93 season , Volek could no longer withstand the pressure placed on him and in the meantime asked for a transfer to another team. His offensive yield fell from 60 to 21 points. Nevertheless, he caused one of the playoff surprises of the early 1990s with his overtime goal in the seventh game of the second round against the reigning Stanley Cup winner and favorite Pittsburgh Penguins in the 1993 Stanley Cup playoffs . In the 1993/94 season , the attacker completed only 32 games for New York, as he sustained a serious injury to the intervertebral disc in early January 1994 , which he missed for the rest of the season and the entire following, which was shortened due to the lockout let.

With the injury also ended Volek's NHL career, since he returned to his Czech homeland in the summer of 1995. During the season he played a few more games in the first and second leagues for his youth clubs from Prague and Karlovy Vary, but ended his active career at the age of 30 after the season.

Volek then returned to the United States . There he was hired by the Buffalo Sabers from the NHL as a scout . He worked there for a total of nine years until summer 2005. Then he returned to the Czech Republic , where he was briefly assistant coach of HC Sparta Prague . At the beginning of the 2007/08 season he was in charge of the U20 team of Sparta for two years before becoming head coach of the second division club HC Berounští Medvědi for the 2009/10 season . This engagement ended after a few months, as he returned to the professional team of Sparta Prague. The post at Sparta should be his last coaching position. Volek returned to North America again to work as a scout there again. He initially worked in this position for the Calgary Flames between 2011 and 2016 , and then for two years until the summer of 2018 for the Vancouver Canucks .

International

For his native Czechoslovakia, Volek was active in both the junior and senior level at numerous tournaments. With the Czechoslovak U20 national team , the striker completed the 1986 World Junior Championship in Canada , which the team finished in fifth place. In previous years he had won a bronze and a silver medal with the U18 national team at the U18 Junior European Championships in Norway in 1983 and in Germany in 1984 . In total, he completed 17 games for the national teams of Czechoslovakia in major international tournaments and scored 22 times.

Volek made his debut in the jersey of the Czechoslovak national team at the turn of the year 1986/87 when he took part in the Calgary Cup , which was considered the dress rehearsal for the ice hockey tournament of the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary , Canada . He scored as many goals in four games and won the invitation tournament after beating the USSR in the final . With his performance there, the striker also received a place in the squad for the 1987 World Cup in the Austrian capital Vienna , which the Czechoslovaks completed by winning the bronze medal. They also received the silver medal for the European Championship, which was also valued . Volek contributed three goals in ten missions to win medals. A few weeks later he took part with the team in the 1987 Canada Cup .

However, the high point of his international career was the participation in the Olympic Winter Games in 1988. However, he only reached sixth place with the Czechoslovak Olympic selection. With the same placement he completed his second participation in the World Cup in 1991 in Finland .

Achievements and Awards

International

Career statistics

Regular season Play-offs
season team league Sp T V Pt SM Sp T V Pt SM
1982/83 TJ Slavia PS Karlovy Vary U20 league
1983/84 TJ Slavia PS Karlovy Vary U20 league
1984/85 TJ Sparta ČKD Prague 1st league (TCH) 32 5 5 10 14th
1985/86 TJ Sparta ČKD Prague 1st league (TCH) 35 10 7th 17th 16 Playoffs not recorded separately
1986/87 TJ Sparta ČKD Prague 1st league (TCH) 33 22nd 21st 43 [1]38 6th 5 4th 9
1987/88 TJ Sparta ČKD Prague 1st league (TCH) 30th 18th 12 30th [1]58 12 11 6th 17th
1988/89 New York Islanders NHL 77 25th 34 59 24 - - - - -
1989/90 New York Islanders NHL 80 17th 22nd 39 41 5 1 4th 5 0
1990/91 New York Islanders NHL 77 22nd 34 56 57 - - - - -
1991/92 New York Islanders NHL 74 18th 42 60 35 - - - - -
1992/93 New York Islanders NHL 56 8th 13 21st 34 10 4th 1 5 2
1993/94 New York Islanders NHL 32 5 9 14th 10 - - - - -
1994/95 New York Islanders NHL not played because of a disc injury
1995/96 HC Sparta Prague Extra league 5 3 2 5 16 - - - - -
1995/96 HC Slavia Becherovka Karlovy Vary 1st League (CZE) 16 7th 4th 11 - - - - - -
1st league (Czechoslovakia) overall 130 55 45 100 126 18th 16 10 26th
NHL overall 396 95 154 249 201 15th 5 5 10 2

International

Represented Czechoslovakia at:

year team event result Sp T V Pt SM
1983 Czechoslovakia U18 European Championship 3rd place, bronze 5 3 2 5 8th
1984 Czechoslovakia U18 European Championship 2nd place, silver 5 5 5 10 2
1986 Czechoslovakia June World Cup 5th place 7th 4th 3 7th 6th
1987 Czechoslovakia WM 3rd place, bronze 10 3 1 4th 2
1987 Czechoslovakia Canada Cup 4th Place 6th 2 2 4th 2
1988 Czechoslovakia Olympia 6th place 7th 1 2 3 2
1991 Czechoslovakia WM 6th place 10 3 2 5 8th
Juniors overall 17th 12 10 22nd 16
Men overall 33 9 7th 16 14th

( Legend for player statistics: Sp or GP = games played; T or G = goals scored; V or A = assists scored ; Pkt or Pts = scorer points scored ; SM or PIM = penalty minutes received ; +/− = plus / minus balance; PP = overpaid goals scored ; SH = underpaid goals scored ; GW = winning goals scored; 1  play-downs / relegation )

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ a b c For the 1985/86 season the statistics of the main round and playoffs are not available separately. The same applies to the penalty minutes of the two following years.
personal data
SURNAME Volek, David
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Czech ice hockey player
DATE OF BIRTH June 18, 1966
PLACE OF BIRTH Prague , Czechoslovakia