Ernest "Nestl" Aljančič (5 December 1916 – 19 November 2006) was a

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

player and official. Aljančič was one of ice-hockey pioneers in

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

. As a member of SK Ilrija he participated in the first Yugoslavian ice-hockey game against

Kamnik Kamnik (; german: Stein''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, pp. 26–27. or ''Stein in Oberkrain'') is a town in northern Slovenia. It is t ...

team. He continued to play after the Second World War in the renamed HK Ljubljana team. He also played for the Yugoslavia national ice hockey team in the first international match against

Austria national ice hockey team The Austrian men's national hockey team is the national ice hockey team for Austria. The team is controlled by Österreichischer Eishockeyverband. As of 2022 the Austrian team is ranked 18th in the IIHF World Rankings. Austria has not won ...

, where Aljančič scored first Yugoslav international goal. As a part of the Yugoslavia national team he participated in the

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United ...

and

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

World Ice Hockey Championships The Ice Hockey World Championships are an annual international men's ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). First officially held at the 1920 Summer Olympics, it is the sport's highest profile annual ...

, scoring two goals. In 1957, after a 25-year ice-hockey career, Aljančič retired. He later worked as an official trying to popularise the sport in Slovenia, helped to build Hala Tivoli ice-hockey rink and organize the

1966 World Ice Hockey Championships The 1966 Ice Hockey World Championships was the 33rd edition of the Ice Hockey World Championships. The tournament was held in Hala Tivoli, Ljubljana, SR Slovenia, SFR Yugoslavia from 3 to 14 March 1966. For the fourth straight year, the Soviet ...

in it. As the first Slovenian, he was inducted into to the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2002. In 2007, he was inducted to the Slovenian Hockey Hall of Fame. His two sons, Ernest Aljančič and Jani Aljančič, have also played ice-hockey for Olimpija and Yugoslavia national ice hockey team. Ernest was also the president of the

Ice Hockey Federation of Slovenia The Ice Hockey Federation of Slovenia ( sl, Hokejska zveza Slovenije, HZS) is the governing body of ice hockey in Slovenia. Slovenia was one of ten nations to join the International Ice Hockey Federation on May 6, 1992, the largest number of nati ...

for 15 years.

References

1916 births 2006 deaths HDD Olimpija Ljubljana players IIHF Hall of Fame inductees Slovenian ice hockey coaches Slovenian ice hockey players Slovenian sports executives and administrators Ice hockey people from Ljubljana Yugoslav ice hockey players {{Slovenia-icehockey-bio-stub