Ivan Hlinka

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Czech RepublicCzech Republic  Ivan Hlinka Ice hockey player
IIHF Hall of Fame , 2002
Date of birth January 26, 1950
place of birth Most , Czechoslovakia
date of death August 16, 2004
Place of death Karlovy Vary , Czech Republic
size 188 cm
Weight 100 kg
position center
number # 21
Shot hand Left
Career stations
1966-1981 HC Litvínov
1981-1983 Vancouver Canucks
1983-1985 EV train
1985-1987 HC Litvínov

Ivan Hlinka (born January 26, 1950 in Most , † August 16, 2004 in Karlovy Vary ) was a Czech ice hockey player and coach.

Hlinka, who was nicknamed Chef , completed 256 international matches for Czechoslovakia as a player and scored 132 goals. He took part in eleven world championships and two Olympic ice hockey tournaments .

Career as a player

Ivan Hlinka started playing ice hockey at the age of six in the youth team of CHZ Litvínov . At the age of 16 he was appointed a player in their league team. At the age of 20, Hlinka became team captain and was appointed to the Czechoslovak national ice hockey team. During his sporting career, he studied at the business school in Prague and was enrolled as a team coach at the sports faculty. As a player, he was three times ice hockey world champion with the Czechoslovak team: 1972 in Prague , 1976 in Katowice and 1977 in Vienna . Hlinka played at eleven  world championships (1970-1981) and at the Canada Cup 1976 for Czechoslovakia. There are also two participations in the Olympic Games . He won the bronze medal in Sapporo in 1972 and the silver medal in Innsbruck in 1976 .

From 1977 to 1980 Hlinka was the captain of the Czechoslovak national team and in 1978 won the Zlatá hokejka ( German  Golden Ice Hockey Stick ) award . That year he was also elected center for the All-Star Team at the 1978 Ice Hockey World Championship .

In the Czechoslovak ice hockey league, Hlinka played a total of 15 seasons and completed 525 games in which he scored 342 goals. In 1981 he went to the North American NHL for two years , where he was engaged with the Vancouver Canucks until 1983 . He ended his playing career in 1985 after a two-year engagement with the Swiss club EV Zug .

Career as a coach

After the end of his playing career, Hlinka became a coach at CHZ Litvinov in 1985 and stayed in this position with two interruptions until 1998. From July to November 1989 he was a coach at the German first division club EHC Freiburg .

In 1991 he was the first coach of the national team , initially for the Czechoslovakia team and then for the Czech Republic from 1993 . Under his leadership, the team achieved third place at the 1992 Winter Olympics and the Ice Hockey World Championship. After two unsuccessful years he resigned in 1994 after seventh place (and thus the worst result of a Czechoslovak or Czech national team at world championships) and made a commitment in Italy . In 1997 he took over the national team again, which took third place under his leadership at the World Cup in Germany. In 1998 the phase of Hlinka's career , which many referred to as the golden era , began: The gold medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, was followed by winning the 1999 World Cup .

In 2000, Hlinka was signed by the Pittsburgh Penguins and was the first ever European coach in the NHL . After a few unsuccessful games in a row, the commitment was released in early 2001 and Hlinka returned to the Czech Republic. He became general manager of the Czech national team in 2001. After the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City , he coached the Russian team HK Avangard Omsk for one season .

In 2002 he was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame as a player . In the same year Hlinka received honorary citizenship of his home parish Louka u Litvínova .

Ivan Hlinka's grave

In May 2004, Hlinka was reappointed national coach and should lead the team to a better result at the World Cup of Hockey after the poor performance during the World Cup in their own country . In August 2004 he was recognized for his life's work when Hlinka was awarded the title Czech Ice Hockey Legend at the award ceremony for the Golden Ice Hockey Stick. On his return from this event, his car collided head-on with an oncoming truck near Karlovy Vary through no fault of his own. Hlinka was initially conscious, but his condition worsened and he later succumbed to his injuries on August 16, 2004. There was criticism of the treating doctors. The investigation found that Hlinka was not buckled up, but found that even the seat belt could not have saved his life.

In his honor, the ice stadium of HC Litvínov was renamed Zimní stadium Ivana Hlinky after his death .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.loukaulitvinova.cz/cestne-obcanstvi/
personal data
SURNAME Hlinka, Ivan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Czech ice hockey player and coach
DATE OF BIRTH January 26, 1950
PLACE OF BIRTH Must
DATE OF DEATH August 16, 2004
Place of death Karlovy Vary