Mário Bližňák

Mário Bližňák
Date of birth	March 3, 1987
place of birth	Trenčín , Czechoslovakia
size	183 cm
Weight	84 kg
position	center
number	# 55
Shot hand	Left
Draft
NHL Entry Draft	2005 , 7th round, 205th position Vancouver Canucks
Career stations
until 2005	HK Spartak Dubnica
2005-2008	Vancouver Giants
2008-2011	Manitoba mosses
2011–2012	HC Sparta Prague
2012-2014	HC Slovan Bratislava
since 2014	HC Škoda Plzeň

Mário Bližňák (born March 3, 1987 in Trenčín , Czechoslovakia ) is a Slovak ice hockey player who has been under contract with HC Škoda Plzeň in the Czech extra league since December 2014 .

Career

Bližňák began his career in his home country at HK Spartak Dubnica . There he played for the first time with the professionals in the 2004/05 season . At the age of 18, the center moved to North America in autumn 2005 to join the Vancouver Giants in the Western Hockey League . A few months earlier had made him Vancouver Canucks in the NHL Entry Draft in 2005 selected in the seventh round at the 205th position. Overall, Bližňák played three years with the Giants and won the President's Cup in 2006 and the Memorial Cup with the team a year later .

From summer 2008 the Slovak played with the Manitoba Moose , the farm team of the Vancouver Canucks. With the Moose he failed in the 2008/09 season only in the final of the Calder Cup at the Hershey Bears . He had completed the regular season with the team as the team with the highest points in the league, making the franchise the Macgregor Kilpatrick Trophy for the first time in its history . During the following season, the Slovak made his debut for the Vancouver Canucks in the National Hockey League, with Bližňák standing in two games on the ice and remained pointless and punished. Also in the 2010/11 season, the striker went mainly for the Manitoba Moose on the ice, with the left shooter also made four appearances for the Vancouver Canucks during the season and scored his first goal in the NHL. In June 2011 he received a contract with HC Sparta Prague from the Czech extra league .

Between May 2012 and December 2014 Bližňák was under contract with HC Slovan Bratislava in the Continental Hockey League (KHL) and scored 31 points in 124 KHL games, including 14 goals. In December 2014 he returned to the Extraliga when he was transferred to HC Škoda Plzeň .

International

Bližňák played for Slovakia at the U18 World Junior Championship in 2005 and the U20 World Junior Championship in 2007 . In both tournaments he scored one goal in six games each.

Achievements and Awards

• 2006 President's Cup win with the Vancouver Giants
• 2007 Memorial Cup win with the Vancouver Giants

International

• 2012 silver medal at the world championship

statistics

	Seasons	Games	Gates	Assists	Points	Penalty minutes
AHL regular season	3	214	31	40	71	86
AHL playoffs	3	41	6th	4th	10	18th
Extraliga main round	1	19th	0	0	0	14th
Extraliga playoffs	-	-	-	-	-	-
KHL main round	2	96	14th	15th	29	48
KHL playoffs	1	4th	2	0	2	0

(Status: end of the 2013/14 season)

Web links

Commons : Mário Bližňák  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Mário Bližňák at eliteprospects.com (English)