Jan Havel

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Jan "Gusta" Havel (born November 10, 1942 in Kolín , Reich Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia ) is a former Czechoslovak ice hockey player . For many years he was one of the best strikers in the first division of Czechoslovakia and also excelled in international championships.

Career

Jan Havel, who is known in the Czech Republic by his nickname "Gusta", played for many years in the first division, the top division of the Czechoslovak ice hockey league: at the beginning of his military service he played for Dukla Litoměřice in the 1961/62 season. For the following season he was then delegated to the top club in the army, Dukla Jihlava , and came up with eight goals and twelve assists in 32 games for the club. He later played a total of 12 seasons with HC Sparta Prague and between 1975 and 1979 with city rivals HC Slavia Prague . In the 1967/68 season he was the league's top scorer with 39 goals and was also able to contribute 15 templates. In his career he scored a total of 282 goals in the first ice hockey league of the ČSSR.

Jan Havel had great successes in international championships. With the Czechoslovak men's selection , he won two medals at the Olympic Winter Games and six medals at world championships . He received his first appointment to the national team for the ice hockey world championship in 1967 (4th place). A year later he was appointed to the squad for the 1968 Winter Olympics and won the silver medal, which was also classified as the runner-up world title. At the ice hockey world championship in 1969 , which was supposed to take place in Czechoslovakia, but was held in Sweden due to the Prague Spring , there was a scandal: After the victory of the Czechoslovaks over the Soviet Union , the players refused to shake hands with the players of the USSR -Selection. In addition, Havel and five other players had pasted the communist star on their jerseys. Due to this behavior, Havel was not paid the tournament bonus and he was not allowed to leave the ČSSR for a year. He was also excluded from the national team and was not allowed to participate in the 1970 Ice Hockey World Championship .

He was only allowed to play for the ČSSR again in 1971 and was appointed to the squad for the Olympic Winter Games in Sapporo in 1972 , where the Czechoslovak selection won the bronze medal. However, Havel missed the 1972 World Cup in his own country due to an injury. In the national jersey he scored 34 goals in 63 international matches for Czechoslovakia.

Today Jan Havel runs a pub not far from Wenceslas Square in Prague, which is called “U Havla” and is furnished with mementos from the 1969 World Cup. For the centenary of HC Sparta Prague, Havel was elected to the club's all-star team , which also includes Jiří Holeček , Karel Gut , Jiří Hrdina and Vladimír Zábrodský .

Achievements and Awards

  • Top scorer of the 1967/68 season
  • Olympic silver medal 1968
  • Silver medal at the World Championships in 1968, 1971
  • Bronze medal at the 1969 World Championships
  • Olympic bronze medal 1972
  • Admission to the Czech Ice Hockey Hall of Fame 2014

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ hcsparta.cz, All Star tým - Jan Havel
  2. ↑ hc-slavia.cz, Jan Havel
  3. ↑ radio.cz, Sparta Prague ice hockey club celebrated its 100th birthday
  4. ↑ a b nzzfolio.ch, ice cream with style
  5. ↑ hokej.snt.cz, Winter Olympics 1972 ( Memento of the original from June 7, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / hokej.snt.cz
  6. ↑ radio.cz, Czech ice hockey
  7. ↑ hcsparta.cz, All Star tým
personal data
SURNAME Havel, Jan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Havel, Gusta (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Czechoslovak ice hockey player
DATE OF BIRTH November 10, 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH Kolín