Czech hockey online in English

For the past six weeks, hockey-starved NHL fans have had to depend largely on hockey from Europe to get their fix. While a few games have been on in the United States and the United Kingdom on various ESPN platforms, most have had to search for internet streams with foreign-language broadcasts. These fans should be glad to know that live text commentary will now be available for many games in the Czech Extraliga and KHL.

Left to right: Marek Židlický, Tomáš Kaberle and Tomáš Plekanec
lead Kladno against Brno Tuesday. Josef Poláček, hc-kladno.cz.

All Czech hockey fans are familiar with the site onlajny.cz, which provides online text coverage of every Czech Extraliga game, as well as in lower men's leagues and top junior leagues. In the past couple of years they have also periodically provided English commentary to international events in the Czech Republic, such last last season's U18 World Championship in Brno, Znojmo and Břeclav.

In the past year and a half, I have covered several international events for the site's English version, called eurolivescores.com. Highlights include the 2011 IIHF Inline championship game in Pardubice and the 2012 U18 Women's championship game in Zlín. Typing events from a hockey game as they happen in rapid succession in a coherent manner takes some getting used to, and at first was a bit stressful, but I've gotten used to it.

Tonight, I will cover a professional hockey game in this manner for the first time: Rytíři Kladno vs Kometa Brno. For the third time this season, Kladno will play a home game at O2 Arena in Prague, the largest venue for hockey in the country. Both previous games drew over 15,000 fans and even more are expected this time. The increased interest in watching Kladno play is, of course, due to the NHL lockout and the subsequent arrival of club owner Jaromír Jágr and several other superstars to the team.

In what will surely be a disappointment to all those who have bought tickets, Jágr will not be in the Kladno lineup tonight, sitting out his second straight game with a yet-to-be-specified lower-body injury (though he says it's not the groin, which has given him trouble in the past). However, familiar names such as Marek Židlický, Tomáš Kaberle, Jan Hlaváč and Tomáš Plekanec will be. For Kometa, non-Czechs might know the names Miloslav Hořava and Róbert Petrovický, who both played in the NHL. The game is important for the league standings, as Brno is in 2nd place with 27 points, one ahead of Kladno.

Zdeno Chára and Alexander Radulov face

each other in KHL action on Thursday.
Photo: Jan Rachota, levpraha.cz.

Tuesday's game is actually the second that Eurolivecores has done in the Extraliga; on Sunday, Bill Meltzer of hockeybuzz.com provided commentary for Liberec-Kladno.

Coming up on Thursday, I return to O2 Arena to begin KHL online coverage as Lev Praha hosts CSKA Moscow, a matchup that will feature Zdeno Chára against Pavel Datsyuk. It will be a rematch of last Thursday's meeting in Moscow, where Datsyuk's CSKA club triumped 3-0. As some readers might know, I write for Lev's English website, so I'll try my best not to be a homer. In addition to all Lev home games that I'll be on location for, myself and a team of other commentators will provide commentary of other select KHL games, either from the arena or remotely.

Tuesday's Kladno-Brno matchup begins at 18:15 CET, 12:15 ET. Thursday's Lev-CSKA battle begins at 19:00 CET, 1pm ET.

Jágr, Plekanec to debut at O2

Everyone knew that once the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the National Hockey League and its Players' Association lapsed at midnight Eastern Time on Saturday night, it wouldn't take long for players to start joining European leagues. It sure didn't take long.

Jágr in a Kladno jersey. Photo: Josef Paláček, hc-kladno.cz.

On Saturday, before the expiration of the contract, Kladno natives Jaromír Jágr and Tomáš Plekanec were practicing with their home town Extraliga club, Rytíři, the club that Jágr actually owns. The team is apparently so anxious to make a spectacle of the debut of these players that they have moved their October 7 home game against Slavia Praha up to this Wednesday, September 19, and from the small arena in Kladno to the largest hockey venue in the country: Prague's O2 Arena. The change has already been made on the schedule on Kladno's website, but not Slavia's or at hokej.cz.

With a capacity of more than 17 000, O2 Arena would seem to be the perfect stage for such a big event. It also seems that it might not be only Jágr and Plekanec, either. The club's website declared the possibility of the pair playing "with other players". A club press released announced that they would try to sign up to five locked out NHLers; Kladno natives in the league include Michael Frolík, Tomáš Kaberle, Ondřej Pavelec, Jiří Tlustý, Jakub Voráček and Marek Židlický. As this would be a Kladno home game, the website also gives information on ticket information and free transportation to O2 Arena, a mere 35 km (23 miles) away.

"This is an exceptional sporting event and we hope that it will be of great interest," said Václav Bartoš, the club's Executive Director. "We want to offer a great experience to as many fans as possible and promote Kladno hockey with our best players outside of our city. We would also like to accommodate all the Kladno fans and season-ticket holders who would like to go."

In a funny twist, the visiting team will be the building's normal tenant, Slavia Praha. Slavia's season ticket holders won't have their regular seats reserved, but it's expected that because of the magnitude of this event, most of them will buy tickets, along with their usual "fan club" group (who will likely be given their familiar end of the rink) and thousands of other hockey fans who may have no particular affiliation to either team.  Despite being the visiting team, it's expected that Slavia will dress in their home dressing room and use their normal home bench, but wear their white road sweaters, while Kladno will wear home blue.

Though Slavia has not officially declared its pursuit of NHL players, their alumni in the NHL include Roman Červenka, an off-season signing of the Calgary Flames who is a former linemate of Jágr on the Czech national team as well as Avangard Omsk of the KHL. Others include Petr Kadlec, Pavel Kolářík and Vladimír Sobotka.

The building is expected to have a different atmosphere than a Slavia home game, as they often struggle to attract a crowd large enough to create a good atmosphere. Last year, the club's dismal season meant that fewer than 4500 fans per game came out. However, Slavia also played host to the league's largest crowd of the season, 11 284 against cross-town rival Sparta on January 15. The last time Jágr played for Kladno at O2 Arena was during the 2004-05 season; a game that attracted 15 785 fans. O2 Arena has attracted four of the five largest crowds in Extraliga history.

Kladno then has a regularly scheduled home game against Vítkovice on Friday, which presumably could be the first game that Jágr et al play actually in their home town. 

Eliáš wins 2nd Zlatá hokejka decisively

With the season he had, it shouldn't have even been close and, when the voting results were released, it wasn't. Patrik Eliáš, who recorded 78 points in 82 regular-season NHL games and then helped lead the New Jersey Devils to the Stanley Cup Final, won the Zlatá hokejka, awarded annually to the best Czech hockey player in the world, by a decisive margin. He previously won the award in 2009.

Eliáš, who is awaiting his U.S. Green Card, was not able to attend the event in person. "I consider the Zlatá hokeja a big award, which I appreciate, and I regret that the time couldn't be managed so that I could come to Karlovy Vary in person," he said via telephone from the Caribbean. On his season, he said, "It was unbelievable how we were able to come together in New Jersey under a new coach (Peter DeBoer). We enjoyed every moment of it."

Jaromír Jágr, a ten-time winner of the award, finished a distant second place, two points ahead of Ottawa Senators forward Milan Michálek. "(The voting result) is a nice reflection of the best season of my career," he told Martin Kézr of website sport.cz.

Other winners from Saturday night's gala were Radka Lhotská, who won as best female player for backstopping the Czech women win the IIHF Division I tournament and qualify for next year's World Championship in Ottawa, Pavel Kubeš, who won for best sledge hockey player, and Petr Mrázek for best junior hockey player.

From zlatahokejka2012.cz, here are the final voting results:


 1. PATRIK ELIÁŠ     New Jersey Devils (NHL)   594 points
 2. JAROMÍR JÁGR     Philadelphia Flyers (NHL) 409
 3. MILAN MICHÁLEK   Ottawa Senators (NHL)     407
 4. RADIM VRBATA     Phoenix Coyotes (NHL)     358
 5. PETR NEDVĚD      Bílí Tygři Liberec (ELH)  336
 6. ROMAN ČERVENKA   Avangard Omsk (KHL)       322
 7. JAKUB VORÁČEK    Philadelphia Flyers (NHL) 310
 8. MARTIN ERAT      Nashville Predators (NHL) 303
 9. TOMÁŠ PLEKANEC   Montreal Canadiens (NHL)  279
10. ONDŘEJ PAVELEC   Winnipeg Jets (NHL)       202 


11. Jakub Kovář (Č. Budějovice) 178 points, 12. Jakub Petružálek (Khabarovsk, KHL) 165, 13. Martin Straka (Plzeň) 161, 14. Tomáš Fleischmann (Florida, NHL) 160, 15. Marek Židlický (New Jersey, NHL) 149, 16. Tomáš Pöpperle (Sparta Praha) 147, 17. Aleš Hemský (Edmonton, NHL) 140, 18. Petr Koukal (Pardubice) 110, 19. David Krejčí (Boston, NHL) 99, 20. Jiří Novotný (Astana, KHL) 97, 21. Petr Ton (Sparta Praha) 91, 22. Petr Vrána (Khabarovsk, KHL) 68, 23. Tomáš Vokoun (Washington, NHL) 59, 24. Jakub Štěpánek (St. Petersburg, KHL) 57, 25. Filip Kuba (Ottawa, NHL) 50, 26. Petr Čáslava (CSKA Moscow, KHL) 46, 27. Radek Duda (Plzeň) 42, 28. Martin Hanzal (Phoenix, NHL) 35, 29. Tomáš Rolinek (Magnitogorsk, KHL) 29, 30. - 31. Jiří Hudler (Detroit, NHL), Jakub Nakládal (Ufa, KHL) both 27, 32. Petr Tenkrát (Sparta Praha) 26, 33. Zbyněk Irgl (Minsk, KHL) 22, 34. Tomáš Divíšek (Kometa Brno) 19, 35. Rostislav Klesla (Phoenix, NHL) 15, 36. Petr Sýkora (Davos, Switzerland) 13, 37. Jan Kolář I. (Pardubice) 11, 38. Petr Kumstát (K. Vary) 10, 39. - 42. Jaroslav Bednář (Lugano, Switzerland), Jiří Burger (Vítkovice), Marek Kvapil (Dynamo Moscow, KHL), Petr Mrázek (Ottawa, OHL) all 9, 43. Zbyněk Michálek (Pittsburgh, NHL) 7, 44. - 45. Miroslav Blaťák (Ufa, KHL), Jakub Klepiš (Dynamo Moscow, KHL) both 6, 46. - 48. Petr Průcha (St. Petersburg, KHL), Petr Sýkora (New Jersey, NHL), Jiří Trvaj (Kometa Brno) all 5, 49. - 52. Jan Kolář II, Robert Kousal (both Pardubice), David Květoň (Třinec), Ondřej Němec (Cherepovets, KHL) all 4, 53. - 54. Martin Havlát (San Jose, NHL), Roman Horák (Calgary, NHL) both 3, 55. - 59. Jan Chábera (Kladno), František Lukeš (Litvínov), Michal Neuvirth (Washington, NHL), Martin Růžička (Khabarovsk, KHL),Ladislav Šmíd (Edmonton, NHL) all 2, 60. - 66. Jan Buchtele (Pardubice), Petr Čajánek (Zlín), Milan Gulaš (Č. Budějovice), Petr Holík (Zlín), Viktor Hübl (Litvínov), Jakub Krejčík (Slavia Praha), Vladimír Sobotka (St. Louis, NHL) all 1.

Previous winners:

1969 - Jan Suchý
1970 - Jan Suchý
1971 - František Pospíšil
1972 - František Pospíšil
1973 - Vladimír Martinec
1974 - Jiří Holeček
1975 - Vladimír Martinec
1976 - Vladimír Martinec
1977 - Milan Nový
1978 - Ivan Hlinka
1979 - Vladimír Martinec
1980 - Peter Šťastný
1981 - Milan Nový
1982 - Milan Nový
1983 - Vincent Lukáč
1984 - Igor Liba
1985 - Jiří Králík
1986 - Vladimír Růžička
1987 - Dominik Hašek
1988 - Vladimír Růžička
1989 - Dominik Hašek
1990 - Dominik Hašek
1991 - Bedřich Ščerban
1992 - Róbert Švehla
1993 - Miloš Holaň
1994 - Roman Turek
1995 - Jaromír Jágr
1996 - Jaromír Jágr
1997 - Dominik Hašek
1998 - Dominik Hašek
1999 - Jaromír Jágr
2000 - Jaromír Jágr
2001 - Jiří Dopita
2002 - Jaromír Jágr
2003 - Milan Hejduk
2004 - Robert Lang
2005 - Jaromír Jágr
2006 - Jaromír Jágr
2007 - Jaromír Jágr
2008 - Jaromír Jágr
2009 - Patrik Eliáš
2010 - Tomáš Vokoun
2011 - Jaromír Jágr
2012 - Patrik Eliáš

Most wins:

10 - Jaromír Jágr
 5 - Dominik Hašek
 4 - Vladimír Martinec
 3 - Milan Nový

 2 - Jan Suchý

 2 - František Pospišil

 2 - Vladimír Růžička

 2 - Patrik Eliáš

Zlatá hokejka time again

It's almost time once again for the awarding of the Zlatá hokejka, the Golden Stick, to the best Czech hockey player of the past season, regardless of where in the world he played. Ten finalists have been announced, and on June 23, some of the best Czech hockey players in the world, along with other important and well-dressed people will gather at the prestigious Grand Hotel Pupp in Karlovy Vary to crown this year's winner.

Will Patrik Eliáš win his 2nd Zlatá
hokejka? Photo: James Teterenko

For me, this is the second Zlatá hokejka campaign that I have followed closely. Last year, based on the list of ten finalists, I concluded that David Krejčí of the Boston Bruins should have been the winner. Had the vote not taken place before the Final, he still might have been, but I figured he had still done enough to win, considering he was leading the Stanley Cup playoff scoring race. Coming from a Vancouver Canucks fan, fresh off an excruciating defeat, that was a bold prediction. But I forgot to factor something in.

That something is, if Jaromír Jágr has a chance of winning, he will.

Last year, he had 50 points in 49 games with Avangard Omsk of the Kontinental Hockey League before leading them to a defeat in the Gagarin Cup quarterfinals. In the World Championship, he turned on the gas, recording 9 points in nine games, including his first-ever hat trick for the Czech national team, en route to a bronze medal. A fine season, to be sure, but was it the finest of any Czech hockey player that year? I say no, but then, I'm not Czech.

The question this year is, does Jágr have a chance of winning his unprecedented 11th award? Returning to the NHL, he recorded 54 points in 73 regular season games, then 8 points in 11 points, as the Philadelphia Flyers were eliminated in the second round. He declined an invite to play in the World Championships after his team was finished, which may take him out of the running, as so much weight seems to be given by voters to success in that tournament.

So, if not Jágr, then who? The next group of players after him to look at are those from the so-called Zlatá generace (Golden Generation), the group of players that formed the core of the team that won five World Championships and one Olympic gold medal between 1996 and 2005. Though it can be debated exactly which players belong in that class, one player in the top 10, Patrik Eliáš, is certainly a member. This past season, at age 36, Eliáš recorded 78 points in 81 games for the New Jersey Devils, which made him far and away the most productive Czech in the NHL, 16 points ahead of Krejčí and Radim Vrbata. In fact, Eliáš's season isn't even finished yet, as his Devils are currently playing in the Stanley Cup Final. Eliáš has won previously, in 2009.

Of course, New Jersey's playoff success kept Eliáš from playing in the World Championship. However, despite the Czech Republic's bronze-medal finish, the team lacked an outstanding individual performance that they got in 2011 from Jágr and Ondřej Pavelec, who is again a finalist this year. Somewhat surprisingly, goaltender Jakub Kovář did not make the cut this year. The only World Championship players in the top 10 are Martin Erat, Milan Michálek, Petr Nedvěd and Tomáš Plekanec. Plekanec registered 7 points in 10 games, while Erat arrived midway through and got 4 points in five games.

Nedvěd might be a sentimental choice, as he led the Czech Extraliga in scoring at age 40, and also recorded 13 points in 21 games internationally, his first time representing the land of his birth since 1996. I'll slide him into the #2 spot behind Eliáš, however, as no Extraliga player has won the award since Jiří Dopita in 2001.

So that settles it, Eliáš will definitely probably win.

Below are a list of the ten finalists, followed by past winners of the award:

Roman Červenka     C       Avangard Omsk (KHL)
Patrik Eliáš       C/LW    New Jersey Devils (NHL)
Martin Erat        L/RW    Nashville Predators (NHL)
Jaromír Jágr       RW      Philadelphia Flyers (NHL)
Milan Michálek     L/RW    Ottawa Senators (NHL)
Petr Nedvěd        C       Bílí Tygři Liberec (ELH)
Ondřej Pavelec     G       Winnipeg Jets (NHL)
Tomáš Plekanec     C       Montreal Canadiens (NHL)
Jakub Voráček      RW      Philadelphia Flyers (NHL)
Radim Vrbata       R/LW    Phoenix Coyotes (NHL)

Past Winners:

1969 - Jan Suchý
1970 - Jan Suchý
1971 - František Pospíšil
1972 - František Pospíšil
1973 - Vladimír Martinec
1974 - Jiří Holeček
1975 - Vladimír Martinec
1976 - Vladimír Martinec
1977 - Milan Nový
1978 - Ivan Hlinka
1979 - Vladimír Martinec
1980 - Peter Šťastný
1981 - Milan Nový
1982 - Milan Nový
1983 - Vincent Lukáč
1984 - Igor Liba
1985 - Jiří Králík
1986 - Vladimír Růžička
1987 - Dominik Hašek
1988 - Vladimír Růžička
1989 - Dominik Hašek
1990 - Dominik Hašek
1991 - Bedřich Ščerban
1992 - Róbert Švehla
1993 - Miloš Holaň
1994 - Roman Turek
1995 - Jaromír Jágr
1996 - Jaromír Jágr
1997 - Dominik Hašek
1998 - Dominik Hašek
1999 - Jaromír Jágr
2000 - Jaromír Jágr
2001 - Jiří Dopita
2002 - Jaromír Jágr
2003 - Milan Hejduk
2004 - Robert Lang
2005 - Jaromír Jágr
2006 - Jaromír Jágr
2007 - Jaromír Jágr
2008 - Jaromír Jágr
2009 - Patrik Eliáš
2010 - Tomáš Vokoun
2011 - Jaromír Jágr

Most Wins:

10 - Jaromír Jágr
5 - Dominik Hašek
4 - Vladimír Martinec
3 - Milan Nový

Brno hosts 2 international tournaments in April

April will be an exciting month for international hockey fans in Brno, and on Monday, ticket sales were opened for a pair of tournaments that will take place at Kajot Arena.

Highly-ranked Radek Faksa could possibly
be at the U18 World Championships in Brno.
Photo: OHL Images, ca.sports.yahoo.com.

The first will be the IIHF U18 World Championships, which will be co-hosted by Brno and Znojmo from April 12 to 22. Brno will host Group A, featuring the host Czechs and Canada, Denmark, Finland and the USA. Znojmo will host Group B, which includes Germany, Latvia, Russia, Sweden and Switzerland. Brno will also host the medal round, while the relegation round will be in Znojmo.

The tournament will feature some of the top players eligible for the 2012 NHL Entry Draft. The top European-based players born in 1994 or after should be available to play, while players in the Canadian Hockey League, North America's top tier of junior hockey, will only be available if their teams are out of playoff contention. Two of the most anticipated players will be Sweden's Filip Forsberg and USA's Jacob Trouba; the latter plays for the US National Development Team and not the CHL, so he will be available. The top '94-born Czech, Radek Faksa of the Kitchener Rangers, may or may not be there, but top domestic products Richard Nejezchleb, Martin Procházka, Ronald Knot, and goaltender Marek Langhamer should be.

With the more sought-after games being in Brno, tickets at Kajot Arena will naturally be more expensive than in Znojmo's Hostan Arena. During the group stage, day passes are available for CZK 150 seated or 100 standing. For the quarterfinals and semifinals, the price rises to 200 and 150, and for the final day of the tournament, which includes the bronze and gold-medal games, the prices are 250 seated and 150 standing. All day passes in Znojmo can be bought for CZK 100, seated or standing. For fans wishing to purchase tickets for the full tournament, the 17 games in Brno can be had for a total of CZK 1500, while all 14 games in Znojmo can be had for CZK 600.

To help people not familiar with the currency, CZK 100 equals approximately EUR 4 or USD/CAD 5.25. The tournament schedule, provided by the IIHF, can be seen here.

Just four days after the U18 championship ends, the top European national men's teams will invade Kajot Arena for the KajotBet Hockey Games, which will be the final event of the 2012 Euro Hockey Tour and the last tune-up for Europe's top four teams prior to the IIHF World Championships, which will be co-hosted by Helsinki and Stockholm this year. 

The Czechs hope to repeat last year's EHT victory in Brno. eht.cz

On Thursday, April 26, the Czech Republic hosts Sweden. Tickets for the single game in Brno are CZK 390 seated and 250 standing. The other game of the day, between Finland and Russia, will be played in Russia. Then all four teams will be in Brno for Saturday and Sunday, with the arena hosting two games each day. For these days, the prices will be 590 and 390, and will be valid for both games per day.

"After last year's success and enthusiasm of all involved, we expect that this year there will be enormous interest in tickets. We would like to see again the stands full of fans cheering on the Czech national team, who will be defending last year's first-place finish," said Jana Obermajerová, chairman of BPA, which is the marketing partner for the Czech Ice Hockey Association. "Fans from Brno and the surrounding areas are  cordially invited to these games. And because we appreciate their support, we decided, despite the increase in taxes and other costs, to keep ticket prices at the same level as last year."

Of the four legs of the Euro Hockey Tour, the last one is always the most interesting, as the club rosters include NHL players and closely resemble the way the team's will look at the upcoming Worlds. Last year, Jaromír Jágr played his first international hockey of the season in Brno and led the tournament in scoring, giving Czech hockey fans a brief peek of the show he was about to put on in Bratislava. 

Tickets for both events are now available at ticketpro.cz. Pages for the U18 World Championships are available in English and Czech, while for the KajotBet Hockey Games, there is only a Czech page. 

For those that cannot be in the Czech Republic's second city this April, Czech Hockey Report will be on location to provide coverage of both events in conjunction with official tournament outlets and Eurohockey.com.

Extraliga Opening Day

It's time for the puck to drop on another Czech Extraliga season. The first game will, in fact, be an afternoon affair between BK Mladá Boleslav and PSG Zlín, beginning at 15:10 CET. The game can be seen live on ČT4 in the Czech Republic and online at ct24.cz/sport. The rest of Sunday's slate of games all begin at 17:00 or later, and  most of them can be viewed at tv.hokej.cz.

One of the more interesting opening-day matchups will occur in the northeastern corner of the country, where Oceláři Třinec will begin defence of their first-ever national championship on home ice against Kometa Brno. They were the league's most dominant team last year, finishing first overall during the regular season and then going 12-6 in the playoffs, winning seven of their last eight games.

One of the great things about the start of a new season is the fresh start that every team gets. Everyone is optimistic that they can improve on their fortunes from a year ago. But how realistic are those expectations? For comparison's sake, here are last year's final standings:

Place	Team	GP	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	Pts
1	HC Oceláři Třinec	52	26	5	8	13	178	136	96
2	HC Bílí Tygři Liberec	52	26	5	6	15	159	139	94
3	HC Vítkovice Steel	52	26	6	2	18	162	137	92
4	PSG Zlín	52	22	7	8	15	158	134	88
5	HC Eaton Pardubice	52	24	3	10	15	146	125	88
6	HC Mountfield České Budějovice	52	23	6	4	19	158	131	85
7	HC Slavia Prague	52	21	9	3	19	140	131	84
8	HC BENZINA Litvínov	52	23	2	4	23	133	162	77
9	HC Plzeň 1929	52	27	6	3	16	153	145	77*
10	HC Energie Karlovy Vary	52	15	7	12	18	152	154	71
11	HC Kometa Brno	52	19	5	1	27	130	146	68
12	HC Sparta Prague	52	14	6	3	29	115	142	57
13	HC Vagnerplast Kladno	52	10	3	5	34	105	172	35*
14	BK Mladá Boleslav	52	14	4	5	29	123	158	33*

Since last season's conclusion, some teams have overhauled their rosters so much that trying to predict where they will finish this year would be a daunting task. Logically, most of the teams that fit into that category were the ones that missed the playoffs last season, and last year's bottom three teams: Sparta Praha, Kladno and Mladá Boleslav, bear little resemblance to the ones that finished the 2011-12 season. 

Owner Jágr, flanked by Pavel Patera and Jiří Bicek in
Kladno's new jerseys. Photo: hc-kladno.cz.

The financially-strapped Kladno club was close to selling its Extraliga license in the off-season, but were saved by native-son Jaromír Jágr, who is now the club's owner. 

The new-look Kladno team has dumped the corporate name and adopted the catchy nickname "Rytíři" (Knights). As far as player personnel, the biggest name added to their roster is former NHLer Jan Hlaváč, who has spent most of the past three seasons in the Swedish Elitseren. 

The club's new website, rytirikladno.cz, will soon open. Currently, the new site displays the club's new logo and slightly modified colour scheme of double blue and gold.

While Kladno did all fans a favour by discarding a long corporate nickname, HC Pardubice went the opposite direction and adopted what is quite possibly the most cumbersome team name in the history of organised sport. HC ČSOB Pojišťovna Pardubice should again contend for the title, which is good news for their strong and loyal fans, but bad news for writers and broadcasters who have to use the name. 

Like Kladno, PSG Zlín has made a cosmetic change. They are keeping their trademark yellow and blue colours, but adopting what they are calling a "retro-modern" design, which includes a laced neck and stitched numbers and names. The names will also be above the number, as modelled by Antonín Honejsek below.

Photos: Daniel Ostrčilík, Zlínský Deník.

Keeping with the new Zlín sweaters, the Extraliga this season is returning to the policy of having the home team wear dark colours and the road team wear light. However, Zlín wishes to continue wearing yellow at home, and were seeking an exception.

As for who will win the championship, it would seem that the top teams from last season will probably remain so, but where exactly they finish is anyone's guess. One should keep in mind that Plzeň 1929 belongs in that group, even though they officially finished 9th last season. They were deducted 19 points mid-season, which otherwise would have landed them in a first-place tie with Třinec. 

For those who want detailed information about off-season player moves, team rosters and schedules, hokej.cz provides plenty of it, and is even manageable for readers who don't understand Czech. 

For a complete list of off-season roster moves, listed alphabetically by player, visit here: http://www.hokej.cz/index.php?lng=CZ&view=prestupy&id=539

Complete opening-day rosters of all teams, along with some interesting statistics, can be found here: http://www.hokej.cz/index.php?lng=CZ&view=clanek&id=53494

Finally, the complete Extraliga schedule, by individual rounds of matches, can be found here: http://www.hokej.cz/index.php?lng=CZ&webid=385&id=539&view=

Sunday's games, which is actually the second round, are:

Mladá Boleslav	Zlín	15:10
Slavia Praha	Karlovy Vary	17:00
Oceláři Třinec	Kometa Brno	17:00
Pardubice	Bílí Tygři Liberec	17:00
Rytíři Kladno	Sparta Praha	17:30
Litvínov	České Budějovice	17:30
Plzeň 1929	Vítkovice	17:30

Goon Verot tries out in Třinec, draws Jágr's wrath

A pair of Canadians made their first appearances at the morning practice of defending national champion Oceláři Třinec, and a few eyebrows were raised over one of them.

Defenceman Rob Davison of St. Catherine's, Ontario and left winger Darcy Verot of Radville, Saskatchewan were both on the ice. Though the league isn't overwhelmed with Canadians, their appearances are no longer novel. Bryan McGregor of Niagra Falls, Ontario is returning to the team for a third season, and Davison's presence attracted little attention. Verot, however, was a different story.

Darcy Verot (left) and Jaromír Jágr have a history. Photo: khl.ru.

Verot, 35, has made his life in hockey with his fists, starting with the Weyburn Red Wings in the Saskatchewan Junior League. He's played professionally in the now-defunct Western Professional League, the ECHL and parts of eight campaigns in the AHL. He also had a 37-game stint with the NHL's Washington Capitals in the 2003-04 season, where he recorded 0 goals, 2 assists and 135 penalty minutes.

In 2007, Verot went to Russia and joined Vityaz Chekhov. With the club over the past four seasons, the left winger has scored a mere 6 goals but has amassed an amazing total of 1,235 penalty minutes in 125 games. An average of 10 minutes per game, this would be the equivalent of getting 820 minutes in an NHL season; the record is Dave Schultz with 472 in 1974-75. Perhaps his most notorious incident in the KHL occurred on January 9, 2000 when his club hosted Avangard Omsk. The game degenerated into a bench-clearing brawl, which was allegedly triggered when Verot intentionally shot the puck at Omsk's Lasse Kukkonen.

"I doubt that Třinec really knows what kind of person he is," said former Omsk player and, briefly, Washington teammate Jaromír Jágr. "I know what this guy is capable of. Forgive me, but he's an asshole."

During the infamous brawl game, Jágr and Verot had a couple of bouts with each other, the second one coming when both players left the penalty box as both benches cleared.

The next time the teams met, Verot squared off with Omsk's Joshua Gratton after only six seconds of play, which started another brawl. Both players were questioned by police afterward.

Of course, even players who drop the gloves from time to time have been accepted in the Czech Extraliga over the past few seasons. Nobody made much of a fuss in 2009 when Doug O'Brien arrived in Plzeň and Adam Pineault in Pardubice. Both players even became popular in their respective adoptive cities for their toughness, which included squaring off against each other.

But compared to Verot, they are both choir boys. Over two seasons in Pardubice, right winger Pineault has recorded 34 points and 127 penalty minutes in 79 games. He is returning to the club for a third season. O'Brien, a defenceman, played one year in Plzeň and another for Sparta Praha, recording 15 points and 169 minutes in 94 games. Tough players, to be sure, but more than just fighters and useful to their teams while the puck is moving.

A player with Verot's reputation has never played in the Extraliga before and Jágr expressed concern over what it could mean to the league. "I'm worried that the Extraliga won't react until the moment something happens," he said. "We had a chance to deal with it before something happens." Owner of the newly-renamed Rytíři Kladno, Jágr emphasised that he has no intention of signing a goon to play for his team.

Of course, there is no guarantee that Verot or Davison will play in the league this season. Třinec spokesman Ivo Pullman stated, "The Extraliga starts on Sunday, and it will be decided before then whether or not they remain."

How did Jágr end up in Philadelphia?

by Petr Polák

Eurohockey.com

Many people were really surprised by Jaromír Jágr’s recent decision to sign with the Philadelphia Flyers. There seemed to several more likely destinations for arguably the world’s greatest hockey player over the past 20 years, but in retrospect it makes sense. Let's take a look at how Jágr's signature ended up under the Flyers’ letterhead.

Earlier this summer, Jágr was already showing signs that he wasn’t going to be rushed into making a decision when he was in negotiations with a few KHL clubs. He had several suitors, including Atlant, Kazan, and the hottest candidate was SKA St. Petersburg. The negotiations dragged on for a long time until SKA finally said, "Enough!" and withdrew the offer.

Although it was late June and Jágr still had no contract for the coming season, he stayed cool: "I have always had faith and I believe that whatever happens, it will be the best possible thing for me."

Finally, it reached a point where there were no more opportunities to stay in the KHL other than re-signing in Omsk, which wasn't Jágr's preferred choice. So he took a look across the sea. "I don't know if there will be any interest for my services in NHL, but I'll wait and we'll see," Jágr said.

The fairytale started again. Two big favourites put forth their offers: the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Detroit Red Wings. Both are prestigious organizations and most players would take real pleasure in donning the jersey of either. But these two clubs, naturally, also keep their eyes on the bottom line. They put relatively low offers on the table and, particularly in the case of the Penguins, emphasized reasons why Jágr should play there instead of releasing statements that the club really needs Jágr.

Jágr got the feeling, especially with Pittsburgh, that he wasn’t their first priority, just as he wasn’t number one with St. Petersburg. They gave him ultimatums. But Jágr's philosophy says that "If you go into anything head-first, with no patience, it'll cause you grief." And so Jágr decided to back away; he would rather become Pittsburgh's number-one enemy than just an item among their, or Detroit’s, list of stars.

So, as Jágr said earlier, he kept waiting. But in true butterfly effect, the Penguins and Red Wings didn't. Pittsburgh and Detroit withdrew their offers, just as SKA St. Petersburg did two weeks earlier, and left Jágr to meet his fate.

Jágr's destiny was fulfilled a short time later. The Flyers announced that Jágr signed a one-year deal for $3.3 million.

Yes, you can be pretty sure that it could have worked perfectly: Jágr on a line with Yevgeni Malkin and/or Sidney Crosby in Pittsburgh . . . Jágr with Pavel Datsyuk and/or Henrik Zetterberg in Detroit . . . But on the other hand, the next headlines sound like the cliches:

"Jaromír Jágr came back to Pittsburgh to end the career with the team he started (to win his third Stanley Cup)." This sounds more like a B-class Hollywood scenario than a real-life chapter.

"Jaromír Jágr took his place for the end of his career on the roster of the Detroit Red Wings (to win his third Stanley Cup)." Do you remember the others? Todd Bertuzzi, Chris Chelios, Sergei Fyodorov, Viacheslav Fetisov, Dominik Hašek, Brett Hull, Uwe Krupp, Igor Larionov, Mike Modano, Brian Rafalski  . . . You can call it "evergreen", but Jágr? I would call it "cliche". Yes, the Red Wings are a famous team where young players are mixed with veterans in a great cocktail of amazing hockey, but Jágr is a special person.

A person who prefers to play over 20 minutes per game, all the power plays and all the important situations; on a club that will be proud to have him on the roster. On a team where he will be the leader. The Philadelphia Flyers are that team.

Jágr signs with Philadelphia

July 1 is the first day of free agency in the National Hockey League, and it's opened with a flurry of action.

In somewhat of a surprise, Jaromír Jágr has signed to play with the Philadelphia Flyers. The deal is for one year and is worth USD 3.3 million.

Jágr has spent the past three seasons playing for the KHL's Avangard Omsk and, while his return to the NHL was highly anticipated, signing with Philadelphia was not. The Pittsburgh Penguins, Detroit, Red Wings, and Montreal Canadiens were speculated to be his most likely destinations. Media outlets in the Czech Republic had been reporting since Tuesday that a deal with Pittsburgh was imminent.

Jágr has long said that he intends to finish his career in his hometown of Kladno, where he will take over the role of club president from his father, Jaromír Jágr Sr. Whether that will happen after this one-year deal is completed remains to be seen.

Other Czechs who have landed on new NHL teams this day are Jan Hejda, formerly of Columbus, who has signed with the Colorado Avalanche and Radek Dvořák, formerly of Atlanta, who has signed with the Dallas Stars.

Jágr wins his 10th Golden Stick

 The golden boy of Czech hockey has a bit more gold today. For the tenth time in his illustrious career, Jaromír Jágr has been awarded the Golden Hockey Stick, emblematic of the best Czech hockey player in the world.

For Jágr, this is his tenth win, which gives him twice the number of Golden Sticks as Dominik Hašek, the award's next most frequent winner. Hašek finished 12th in voting this year. This was the second time that Jágr won the award without playing in the National Hockey League. His sixth win, back in 2004-05, happened during the NHL lockout, and he split the season between Rabat Kladno and Avangard Omsk, which is where he now plays. The last time a non-NHL player beat out NHL competition was in 2000-01, when Jiří Dopita of HC Vsetín took home the hardware.

Jágr topped the second round of voting with 1,005 points, beating out Tomáš Plekanec of the Montreal Canadiens by 201 votes. Jágr's linemate in Omsk and in the World Championships, Roman Červenka, finished third with 743. The national team's top goaltender and left winger at the Worlds, Ondřej Pavelec and Patrik Eliáš, finished fourth and fifth.

Of the top ten, three players did not play for the Czech national team this spring. They were Martin Straka in sixth, David Krejčí in seventh, and Tomáš Vokoun in eighth. Krejčí's chances were doubtlessly hurt by the fact that the vote took place before the start of the Stanley Cup Finals. In addition to capturing the Cup, he lead all players in playoff scoring.

A pair of players from the Minnesota Wild, Martin Havlát and Marek Židlický, who was injured for a significant portion of the season, rounded out the top ten.

1. JAROMÍR JÁGR Avangard Omsk, KHL	1005
2. TOMÁŠ PLEKANEC Montreal Canadiens (NHL)	804
3. ROMAN ČERVENKA Avangard Omsk (KHL)	743
4. ONDŘEJ PAVELEC Atlanta Thrashers (NHL)	662
5. PATRIK ELIÁŠ New Jersey Devils (NHL)	352
6. MARTIN STRAKA HC Plzeň 1929	328
7. DAVID KREJČÍ Boston Bruins (NHL)	304
8. TOMÁŠ VOKOUN Florida Panthers (NHL)	297
9. MARTIN HAVLÁT Minnesota Wild (NHL)	267
10. MAREK ŽIDLICKÝ Minnesota Wild (NHL)	224

In total, 58 players received votes:

11. Tomáš Vlasák (Plzeň) 212 points, 12. Dominik Hašek (Spartak Moscow, KHL) 181, 13. Karel Rachůnek (Yaroslavl, KHL) 178, 14. Martin Růžička (Třinec) 170, 15. Milan Hejduk (Colorado, NHL), 129, 16. Jakub Štěpánek (St. Petersburg, KHL) 124, 17. Zbyněk Michálek (Pittsburgh, NHL) 108, 18. Tomáš Rolinek (Magnitogorsk, KHL) 83, 19. Milan Michálek (Ottawa, NHL) 76, 20. Tomáš Kaberle (Boston, NHL) 74, 21. Miroslav Blaťák (Ufa, KHL), 45, 22. Jakub Voráček (Columbus, NHL) 42, 23. Petr Sýkora (Davos, Switzerland) 36, 24. - 25. Michal Neuvirth (Washington, NHL) and Alexandr Salák (Färjestad, Sweden) 29, 26. Lukáš Krajíček (Třinec) 26, 27. Aleš Hemský (Edmonton, NHL) 24, 28. Petr Nedvěd (Liberec) 18, 29. Michael Frolík (Chicago, NHL) 16, 30. - 31. Jakub Kovář (České Budějovice) and Roman Málek (Vítkovice) 15, 32. Jiří Burger (Vítkovice) 14, 33. Radim Vrbata (Phoenix, NHL) 12, 34. Lukáš Kašpar (Astana, KHL) 11, 35. - 36. Roman Hamrlík (Montréal, NHL) and Jan Marek (Atlant/Yaroslavl, KHL) 10, 37. Milan Gulaš (České Budějovice) 9, 38. - 40. Petr Čajánek (St. Petersburg, KHL), Petr Hubáček (Kometa Brno) and Jiří Hudler (Detroit, NHL) 8, 41. Josef Vašíček (Yaroslavl, KHL) 7, 42. - 43. Miroslav Kopřiva (Slavia Praha) and František Ptáček (České Budějovice) 6, 44. - 45. Tomáš Duba (Zlín/Třinec) and Marek Malík (Vítkovice) 5, 46. - 48. Petr Leška (Zlín), Radek Martínek (New York Islanders, NHL) and Petr Průcha (St. Petersburg, KHL) 4, 49. - 50. Viktor Hübl (Litvínov) and Viktor Ujčík (Vítkovice) 3, 51. - 54. Jaroslav Bednář (Davos, Switzerland), Radek Bonk (Třinec), Petr Čáslava (CSKA Moscow, KHL) and Martin Růžička (Pardubice) 2, 55. - 58. Radek Duda (Chomutov/Plzeň), Jan Kovář (Plzeň), František Lukeš (Litvínov) and Ondřej Němec (Cherepovets) 1.

Past Winners:

1969 - Jan Suchý (D), HC Dukla Jihlava
1970 - Jan Suchý (D), HC Dukla Jihlava
1971 - František Pospíšil (D), Poldi Kladno
1972 - František Pospíšil (D), Poldi Kladno
1973 - Vladimír Martinec (RW), HC Pardubice
1974 - Jiří Holeček (G), HC Sparta Praha
1975 - Vladimír Martinec (RW), HC Pardubice
1976 - Vladimír Martinec (RW), HC Pardubice
1977 - Milan Nový (C), Poldi SONP Kladno
1978 - Ivan Hlinka (C), CHZ Litvínov
1979 - Vladimír Martinec (RW), HC Dukla Jihlava
1980 - Peter Šťastný (C), HC Slovan Bratislava
1981 - Milan Nový (C), Poldi SONP Kladno
1982 - Milan Nový (C), Poldi SONP Kladno
1983 - Vincent Lukáč (RW), VSŽ Košice
1984 - Igor Liba (LW), HC Dukla Jihlava
1985 - Jiří Králík (G), HC Gottwaldov
1986 - Vladimír Růžička (C), CHZ Litvínov
1987 - Dominik Hašek (G), Tesla Pardubice
1988 - Vladimír Růžička (C), Dukla Trenčín
1989 - Dominik Hašek (G), Tesla Pardubice
1990 - Dominik Hašek (G), Tesla Pardubice
1991 - Bedřich Ščerban (D), HC Dukla Jihlava
1992 - Róbert Švehla (D), HC Dukla Trenčín
1993 - Miloš Holaň (D), TJ Vítkovice
1994 - Roman Turek (G), HC České Budějovice
1995 - Jaromír Jágr (RW), Poldi Kladno/Bolzano/Schalker Haïe/Pittsburgh Penguins
1996 - Jaromír Jágr (RW), Pittsburgh Penguins
1997 - Dominik Hašek (G), Buffalo Sabres
1998 - Dominik Hašek (G), Buffalo Sabres
1999 - Jaromír Jágr (RW), Pittsburgh Penguins
2000 - Jaromír Jágr (RW), Pittsburgh Penguins
2001 - Jiří Dopita (C), HC Vsetín
2002 - Jaromír Jágr (RW), Washington Capitals
2003 - Milan Hejduk (RW), Colorado Avalanche
2004 - Robert Lang (C), Washington Capitals/Detroit Red Wings
2005 - Jaromír Jágr (RW), HC Rabat Kladno/Avangard Omsk
2006 - Jaromír Jágr (RW), New York Rangers
2007 - Jaromír Jágr (RW), New York Rangers
2008 - Jaromír Jágr (RW), New York Rangers
2009 - Patrik Eliáš (LW), New Jersey Devils
2010 - Tomáš Vokoun (G), Florida Panthers

Most wins:

10 - Jaromír Jágr
5 - Dominik Hašek
4 - Vladimír Martinec
3 - Milan Nový

2 - Jan Suchý

2 - František Pospíšil

2 - Vladimír Růžička

Who will win the Golden Stick?

The Golden Hockey Stick (or Zlatá hokejka) is an annual award presented to the Czech hockey player who had the best season. The player can play anywhere in the world, and contributions to both his club team and the Czech national team can be taken into account. The 2011 winner will be announced on Saturday night at a special ceremony at the Grand Hotel Pupp in Karlovy Vary, beginning at 21:00 Central European Time. It will be televised on ČT1 and webcast at ceskatelevize.cz. More information can be found at zlatahokejka2011.cz.

Following last month's World Championships, a group of panelists voted on who they felt were the ten best Czech hockey players over the past season. Each panelist ranked them one to ten, with the top-ranked player getting 10 points, and the tenth-ranked player getting 1 point. The panel included all 14 Extraliga head coaches, plus coaches from the Czech national men's senior and U20 teams, retired Czech hockey players, and members of the media.

Once the top ten finalists were determined, a second round of voting was conducted, where the panel again ranked the ten remaining players. The result of that second-round vote will be revealed on Saturday.

Here are the ten finalists, listed alphabetically:

ČERVENKA, ROMAN	Avangard Omsk (KHL)
ELIÁŠ, PATRIK	New Jersey Devils (NHL)
HAVLÁT, MARTIN	Minnesota Wild (NHL)
JÁGR, JAROMÍR	Avangard Omsk (KHL)
KREJČÍ, DAVID	Boston Bruins (NHL)
PAVELEC, ONDŘEJ	Atlanta Thrashers (NHL)
PLEKANEC, TOMÁŠ	Montreal Canadiens (NHL)
STRAKA, MARTIN	HC Plzeň 1929
VOKOUN, TOMÁŠ	Florida Panthers (NHL)
ŽIDLICKÝ, MAREK	Minnesota Wild (NHL)

Of the ten finalists, seven played in the NHL, while two played in the KHL and one, Martin Straka, played at home in the Czech Extraliga. Straka, who has never won the award, would be a sentimental pick, as held the titles of President, General Manager, and team captain and had to deal with a ton of front-office headaches and still finished second in league scoring. He would be the first domestic player to win the award since Jiří Dopita in 2001.

The two KHL players, Roman Červenka and Jaromír Jágr, were linemates in Omsk. Jágr, who with nine Golden Sticks has won the award more than any other player in history, surely made his way up the voting with his performance in the World Championship, where he registered 9 points in nine games.

Jágr is one of three finalists who have won the award before. The others are the past two winners: Tomáš Vokoun and Patrik Eliáš. Like Jágr, Eliáš's presence in the Top Ten is likely aided by his World Championship performance, where he also recorded 9 points in nine games. Vokoun, on the other, hand, won the award last season based on his performance at the Worlds, but his refusal to play this season will likely prevent him from repeating. The other goaltender on the list, Ondřej Pavelec, was spectacular in goal in the Worlds, but may not have had enough of a spectacular regular season to top the voting.

Eliáš, along with Martin Havlát and David Krejčí, would seem to be the three favourites to win. The trio finished tied with 62 points to lead all Czech players in the NHL. While Eliáš and Havlát starred in the World Championship, Krejčí won the Stanley Cup as a member of the Boston Bruins and led all playoff scorers with 23 points in 25 games.

In total, 58 players received votes:

11. Tomáš Vlasák (Plzeň) 212 points, 12. Dominik Hašek (Spartak Moscow, KHL) 181, 13. Karel Rachůnek (Yaroslavl, KHL) 178, 14. Martin Růžička (Třinec) 170, 15. Milan Hejduk (Colorado, NHL), 129, 16. Jakub Štěpánek (St. Petersburg, KHL) 124, 17. Zbyněk Michálek (Pittsburgh, NHL) 108, 18. Tomáš Rolinek (Magnitogorsk, KHL) 83, 19. Milan Michálek (Ottawa, NHL) 76, 20. Tomáš Kaberle (Boston, NHL) 74, 21. Miroslav Blaťák (Ufa, KHL), 45, 22. Jakub Voráček (Columbus, NHL) 42, 23. Petr Sýkora (Davos, Switzerland) 36, 24. - 25. Michal Neuvirth (Washington, NHL) and Alexandr Salák (Färjestad, Sweden) 29, 26. Lukáš Krajíček (Třinec) 26, 27. Aleš Hemský (Edmonton, NHL) 24, 28. Petr Nedvěd (Liberec) 18, 29. Michael Frolík (Chicago, NHL) 16, 30. - 31. Jakub Kovář (České Budějovice) and Roman Málek (Vítkovice) 15, 32. Jiří Burger (Vítkovice) 14, 33. Radim Vrbata (Phoenix, NHL) 12, 34. Lukáš Kašpar (Astana, KHL) 11, 35. - 36. Roman Hamrlík (Montréal, NHL) and Jan Marek (Atlant/Yaroslavl, KHL) 10, 37. Milan Gulaš (České Budějovice) 9, 38. - 40. Petr Čajánek (St. Petersburg, KHL), Petr Hubáček (Kometa Brno) and Jiří Hudler (Detroit, NHL) 8, 41. Josef Vašíček (Yaroslavl, KHL) 7, 42. - 43. Miroslav Kopřiva (Slavia Praha) and František Ptáček (České Budějovice) 6, 44. - 45. Tomáš Duba (Zlín/Třinec) and Marek Malík (Vítkovice) 5, 46. - 48. Petr Leška (Zlín), Radek Martínek (New York Islanders, NHL) and Petr Průcha (St. Petersburg, KHL) 4, 49. - 50. Viktor Hübl (Litvínov) and Viktor Ujčík (Vítkovice) 3, 51. - 54. Jaroslav Bednář (Davos, Switzerland), Radek Bonk (Třinec), Petr Čáslava (CSKA Moscow, KHL) and Martin Růžička (Pardubice) 2, 55. - 58. Radek Duda (Chomutov/Plzeň), Jan Kovář (Plzeň), František Lukeš (Litvínov) and Ondřej Němec (Cherepovets) 1.

First awarded in 1969, the Golden Stick began essentially as an MVP award for the Czechoslovak First League, and continued to be until the administrative breakup of Czechoslovakia in 1993. At that time, due to the fact that most of the best Czech hockey players were now playing abroad, the award was changed to its present format, where all Czechs are eligible for the award, regardless of where in the world they play.

Past Winners:

1969 - Jan Suchý (D), HC Dukla Jihlava
1970 - Jan Suchý (D), HC Dukla Jihlava
1971 - František Pospíšil (D), Poldi Kladno
1972 - František Pospíšil (D), Poldi Kladno
1973 - Vladimír Martinec (RW), HC Pardubice
1974 - Jiří Holeček (G), HC Sparta Praha
1975 - Vladimír Martinec (RW), HC Pardubice
1976 - Vladimír Martinec (RW), HC Pardubice
1977 - Milan Nový (C), Poldi SONP Kladno
1978 - Ivan Hlinka (C), CHZ Litvínov
1979 - Vladimír Martinec (RW), HC Dukla Jihlava
1980 - Peter Šťastný (C), HC Slovan Bratislava
1981 - Milan Nový (C), Poldi SONP Kladno
1982 - Milan Nový (C), Poldi SONP Kladno
1983 - Vincent Lukáč (RW), VSŽ Košice
1984 - Igor Liba (LW), HC Dukla Jihlava
1985 - Jiří Králík (G), HC Gottwaldov
1986 - Vladimír Růžička (C), CHZ Litvínov
1987 - Dominik Hašek (G), Tesla Pardubice
1988 - Vladimír Růžička (C), Dukla Trenčín
1989 - Dominik Hašek (G), Tesla Pardubice
1990 - Dominik Hašek (G), Tesla Pardubice
1991 - Bedřich Ščerban (D), HC Dukla Jihlava
1992 - Róbert Švehla (D), HC Dukla Trenčín
1993 - Miloš Holaň (D), TJ Vítkovice
1994 - Roman Turek (G), HC České Budějovice
1995 - Jaromír Jágr (RW), Poldi Kladno/Bolzano/Schalker Haïe/Pittsburgh Penguins
1996 - Jaromír Jágr (RW), Pittsburgh Penguins
1997 - Dominik Hašek (G), Buffalo Sabres
1998 - Dominik Hašek (G), Buffalo Sabres
1999 - Jaromír Jágr (RW), Pittsburgh Penguins
2000 - Jaromír Jágr (RW), Pittsburgh Penguins
2001 - Jiří Dopita (C), HC Vsetín
2002 - Jaromír Jágr (RW), Washington Capitals
2003 - Milan Hejduk (RW), Colorado Avalanche
2004 - Robert Lang (C), Washington Capitals/Detroit Red Wings
2005 - Jaromír Jágr (RW), HC Rabat Kladno/Avangard Omsk
2006 - Jaromír Jágr (RW), New York Rangers
2007 - Jaromír Jágr (RW), New York Rangers
2008 - Jaromír Jágr (RW), New York Rangers
2009 - Patrik Eliáš (LW), New Jersey Devils
2010 - Tomáš Vokoun (G), Florida Panthers

Most wins:

9 - Jaromír Jágr
5 - Dominik Hašek
4 - Vladimír Martinec
3 - Milan Nový

2 - Jan Suchý

2 - František Pospíšil

2 - Vladimír Růžička