Michal Birner

Michal Birner
Date of birth	March 2, 1986
place of birth	Litoměřice , Czechoslovakia
size	183 cm
Weight	91 kg
position	Left wing
number	# 61
Shot hand	Left
Draft
NHL Entry Draft	2004 , 4th round, 116th position St. Louis Blues
Career stations
until 2004	HC Slavia Prague
2004	Barrie Colts
2004-2006	Saginaw Spirit
2006-2007	Peoria Rivermen
2007-2008	Portland Pirates
2008	Iowa chops
2008-2009	Pelicans Lahti
2009–2012	TPS Turku
2012-2014	HC Lev Prague
2014-2015	KalPa Kuopio
2015-2016	Bílí Tygři Liberec
2016	HK tractor Chelyabinsk
since 2016	Friborg-Gottéron
since 2018	Bílí Tygři Liberec

Michal Birner (born March 2, 1986 in Litoměřice , Czechoslovakia ) is a Czech ice hockey player who has been under contract with the Bílí Tygři Liberec in the Czech Extraliga since November 2018 .

Career

Michal Birner began his career as an ice hockey player in his Czech homeland in the youth division of HC Slavia Prague , for whose professional team he made his debut in the Extra League , the highest Czech division, in the 2003/04 season . In his only mission he remained unpunished and punished. He was then selected in the fourth round of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft as the 116th player of the St. Louis Blues . First, however, the winger played for two years in the Canadian Junior League Ontario Hockey League for the Barrie Colts and Saginaw Spirit . In June 2006 he finally signed a contract with the St. Louis Blues, for whose farm team Peoria Rivermen he played for a year and a half in the American Hockey League before he was transferred to the Anaheim Ducks in December 2007 . With their AHL farm team Portland Pirates , he was also able to assert himself straight away. With the team he failed in the 2007/08 season only in the Conference Final at the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins .

The 2008/09 season began Birner with Anaheim's new AHL farm team Iowa Chops , for which he only played two games before he was posted to their cooperation partner Bakersfield Condors from the ECHL . Without having played a single game for the Condors, he moved to the Pelicans Lahti from the Finnish SM-liiga in November 2008 . The Czech prepared two goals for the Pelicans in six games before being sidelined until the end of the season due to an upper arm injury. For the 2009/10 season , the former junior international was signed by TPS Turku . With the team he won the Finnish championship title straight away . He contributed to this success with 55 scorer points, including 19 goals, in a total of 73 games. In the 2011/12 season he was assistant captain at TPS.

From the end of May 2012 Birner was under contract with KHL newcomer HC Lev Prague and was loaned to TPS Turku for a few games in September 2012. In 2014 he reached the KHL play-off final with HC Lev. After this success, the club withdrew from gaming operations and Birner returned to Finland, where he was signed by KalPa Kuopio .

In April 2015 Birner was signed by the Bílí Tygři Liberec for three years and won the Czech championship with the White Tigers at the end of the 2014/15 season . However, the attacker did not fulfill his contract in Liberec, as he joined the HK tractor Chelyabinsk from the KHL in August 2016 . He was released after twelve games out of his contract and moved to Friborg-Gottéron in the Swiss National League A .

In November 2018 Birner moved back to the Bílí Tygři Liberec in the Czech Extra League.

International

For the Czech Republic , Birner took part in the 2004 U18 Junior World Championship and the 2006 U20 Junior World Championship . At the U18 World Cup in 2004, he and his team won the bronze medal.

For the men's national team, he has been used on the Euro Hockey Tour and the 2016 World Cup . He also represented his home country at the World Cup of Hockey 2016 when he was nominated for the injured Tomáš Hertl .

Achievements and Awards

• 2004 bronze medal at the U18 Junior World Championship
• 2010 Finnish champion with TPS Turku
• 2016 Czech champion with the Bílí Tygři Liberec

Career statistics

Status: end of the 2015/16 season

				Regular season						Play-offs
season	team	league		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM
2003/04	HC Sparta Prague	Extra league		1	0	0	0	0		-	-	-	-	-
2004/05	Barrie Colts	OHL		28	4th	10	14th	12		-	-	-	-	-
2004/05	Saginaw Spirit	OHL		37	7th	21st	28	29		-	-	-	-	-
2005/06	Saginaw Spirit	OHL		60	31	54	85	91		4th	1	3	4th	8th
2006/07	Peoria Rivermen	AHL		66	11	17th	28	20th		-	-	-	-	-
2007/08	Peoria Rivermen	AHL		18th	2	5	7th	4th		-	-	-	-	-
2007/08	Portland Pirates	AHL		40	7th	6th	13	14th		15th	2	1	3	6th
2008/09	Iowa chops	AHL		2	0	0	0	0		-	-	-	-	-
2008/09	Pelicans Lahti	SM-liiga		6th	0	2	2	14th		-	-	-	-	-
2009/10	TPS Turku	SM-liiga		58	15th	30th	45	38		15th	4th	6th	10	22nd
2010/11	TPS Turku	SM-liiga		48	4th	13	17th	24		-	-	-	-	-
2011/12	TPS Turku	SM-liiga		60	11	14th	25th	36		2	2	0	2	2
2012/13	HC Lev Prague	KHL		24	1	3	4th	8th		2	1	2	3	0
2013/14	HC Lev Prague	KHL		40	5	5	10	12		13	1	3	4th	8th
2014/15	KalPa	Liiga		60	15th	21st	36	32		6th	2	1	3	0
2015/16	Bílí Tygři Liberec	Extra league		51	13	26th	39	69		13	2	9	11	18th
AHL total				126	20th	28	48	38		15th	2	1	3	6th

( 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

• Michal Birner at hockeydb.com (English)
• Michal Birner at eliteprospects.com (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ hokej.cz, Michal Birner míří z Turku do pražského Lva, kondici získával iv krkonošských kopcích , May 31, 2012, accessed on March 7, 2018
2. ↑ Double reinforcements for the White Tigers - Birner and Řepík come to the Jeschken. In: hcbilitygri.cz. April 22, 2015, accessed March 28, 2019 . 
3. ↑ The Czech Birner strengthens Friborg. (No longer available online.) In: luzernerzeitung.ch. November 2, 2016, archived from the original on November 14, 2016 ; accessed on November 14, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ↑ Forward Michal Birner is back in Liberec! In: hcbilitygri.cz. November 21, 2018, accessed March 28, 2019 .