Vincent Lukáč

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CzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakia  Vincent Lukáč Ice hockey player
Vincent Lukáč
Date of birth February 14, 1954
place of birth Košice , Czechoslovakia
position Left wing
Draft
NHL Entry Draft 1982 , 10th lap, 202nd position
Québec Nordiques
Career stations
1967-1985 TJ VSŽ Košice
1985-1987 SB Rosenheim
1987-1988 Viennese EV
1988-1989 Fife Flyers
1989-1990 Streatham Redskins

Vincent Lukáč (born February 14, 1954 in Košice , Czechoslovakia ) is a former Czechoslovak ice hockey player who played for the TJ VSŽ Košice in the 1st division of Czechoslovakia for 14 years and took part in four world championships and two Olympic Winter Games with the Czechoslovak national team . Since the end of his playing career, he has been working as an ice hockey coach .

Career as a player

Vincent Lukáč began his career in 1967 in the offspring of the TJ VSŽ Košice . In 1971, at the age of 17, he made his debut in the first division, the top division of the Czechoslovakia. In the following years he developed into one of the dominant attacking players of the ČSSR, who was very quick and excellent racket handling. Together with his brothers Imrich and Josef , he formed one of the league's most dangerous attack lines at the end of the 1970s. In 1981 he moved within the league to ASD Dukla Jihlava , with whom he won the Czechoslovak championship in 1982 . After this success with Dukla, he went back to his hometown club. In 1980 (40 goals) and 1982 (49 goals) he won the league's top scorer's crown, and in 1983 he was also honored with the highest award in Czechoslovak ice hockey, the Zlatá hokejka ( Golden Bat ).

He scored a total of 393 goals in 513 games in the Czechoslovak league, making him one of the most successful goal scorers in the history of ČSSR ice hockey.

During the NHL Entry Draft 1982 he was selected in the tenth round in a total of 202nd place by the Québec Nordiques , but never played in the National Hockey League . It was not until 1985 that Lukáč received permission to move to other Western European countries. He then joined SB Rosenheim . Further stations in his career were the Vienna EV (1987/88), the Fife Flyers from Kirkcaldy , Scotland (1988/89), the Streatham Redskins from London (1989/90) and the Glen Rothers Glasgow .

International

In addition to his club-level successes, Lukáč was a regular for the Czechoslovak national team in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Usually he played with two other Slovaks, Dárius Rusnák and Igor Liba . He participated in four world championships between 1977 and 1985, where he won three medals. He won the gold medal at his first world championship in 1977 . He also took part in the 1984 Canada Cup and the 1980 and 1984 Winter Olympics, where he won the silver medal in 1984. He played a total of 146 games in the national jersey, in which he scored 70 goals.

Career as a coach

Since the end of his playing career, Lukáč has been working as an ice hockey coach. In the season 1994/95 he looked after the HC Košice as an assistant coach. In the following season he took over the post of head coach in Košice and won the Slovak championship with the club . At the same time he was coach of the Slovak national team , with which he competed in the 1996 World Cup of Hockey , the 1997 Olympic qualification and the 1997 Ice Hockey World Championship .

In 2000 he was the head coach of the South African national team . In the 2002/03 season he supervised the MsHK Žilina as head coach. In 2004 he was honored with the admission into the Slovak Hockey Hall of Fame , he is also bearer of the Order of the Cross of the President First Class, which he received from the then President of Slovakia , Rudolf Schuster .

Achievements and Awards

  • Czechoslovak champion 1982
  • At Olympic Winter Games:
    • 1980 5th place
    • 1984 won the silver medal
  • At world championships:
    • 1977 and 1985 gold medal won
    • 1982 and 1983 won the silver medal
 
  • Top scorer of the ČSSR in 1980 and 1982
  • 1983 Zlatá hokejka won
  • 2004 Admission to the Slovak Hockey Hall of Fame
  • 2004 bearer of the President's Order of the Cross

Career in politics

Vincent Lukáč was elected to the National Council of the Slovak Republic in the 2010 parliamentary elections in Slovakia after being nominated as a candidate by the Slovak National Party . In an interview he says that Ján Slota speaks what not only he, but also the majority of the people in parliament think, and that the SNS is certainly not as characterless and vulgar as it is portrayed by the media. He declares that he has not joined any party in his life. In the interview he describes Ján Slota as a straightforward, good, sensitive and friendly man ( Je to dobrý, citlivý chlap, kamarátsky, priateľský. ). Both know each other from the time when Lukáč worked as a coach in Sillein and Slota was president of MsHK Žilina.

Others

Vincent Lukáč is the father-in-law of Slovak ice hockey player Jiří Bicek , who played for the New Jersey Devils in the NHL.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. azhockey.com, Profile Vincent Lukac
  2. hockeyslovakia.sk, Vincent Lukáč
  3. accessmylibrary.com, Former Slovak hockey star Lukac receives presidential award
  4. Vincent Lukáč on the website of the National Council
  5. ^ A b Vincent Lukáč na kandidátke SNS: Slota je priamy chlap , SME