Henryk Jerzy Gruth (born 2 September 1957) is a former Polish professional

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 h ...

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the latter a reference to ...

. One of the best Polish players, Gruth played for

GKS Katowice GKS Katowice (; GKS stands for , "Miners Sporting Club") is a Polish football club based in Katowice, Poland. The club currently plays in the I liga, after having won promotion in 2021. History In 1963 in Katowice a special organizational co ...

and

GKS Tychy GKS Tychy is a Polish professional football club, based in Tychy, Poland, that plays in the Polish I Liga. The club was founded on 20 April 1971. It played in the Ekstraklasa between 1974–1977. The biggest success of GKS Tychy was the 2nd pla ...

in Poland. He spent one season in Switzerland with the

Zürcher SC The Zürcher Schlittschuh Club Lions (ZSC Lions) are a professional ice hockey team located in Zürich, Switzerland, playing in the National League (NL). Their home arena is the 12,000-seat Swiss Life Arena. The team was founded in 1930 and play ...

, where he scored seven

goals A goal is an objective that a person or a system plans or intends to achieve. Goal may also refer to: Sport * Goal (sports), a method of scoring in many sports, or the physical structure or area where scoring occurs ** Goals, the goal frame in ...

and nineteen

assist Assist or ASSIST may refer to: Sports Several sports have a statistic known as an "assist", generally relating to action by a player leading to a score by another player on their team: *Assist (basketball), a pass by a player that facilitates a ba ...

s. He was inducted to the

IIHF Hall of Fame The IIHF Hall of Fame is a hall of fame operated by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). It was founded in 1997, and has resided at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto since 1998. Prior to 1997, the IIHF housed exhibits at the Interna ...

in 2006.

International career

Gruth was member of the

Poland men's national ice hockey team The Poland national men's ice hockey team is the national ice hockey team of Poland, and a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation. They are ranked 21st in the world in the IIHF World Rankings, but prior to the 1980s they were ranked as ...

for the 1980 Olympics, 1984 Olympics, 1988 Olympics and

1992 Olympics 1992 Olympics may refer to: *1992 Summer Olympics, which were held in Barcelona, Spain *1992 Winter Olympics ) , nations = 64 , athletes = 1,801 (1313 men, 488 women) , events = 57 in 6 sports (12 disciplines) , opening = 8 ...

, as well as for 17

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

s. He holds the record for the most selection to the Polish squad, with 248, as well as the record for the most points (109). He was inducted to the

in 2006.

Coaching career

Following his playing days, Gruth turned to coaching. In 1996-97, he was

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

of EHC Salzgitter of the

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. He had a record of 5-17-2. He was head coach of the

ZSC Lions The Zürcher Schlittschuh Club Lions (ZSC Lions) are a professional ice hockey team located in Zürich, Switzerland, playing in the National League (NL). Their home arena is the 12,000-seat Swiss Life Arena. The team was founded in 1930 and play ...

when current head coach Christian Weber was downgraded to the role of assistant of Beat Lautenschlager with the

GCK Lions Grasshopper Club Küsnacht Lions known as GCK Lions is a Swiss professional ice hockey team founded in 1932. They are currently playing in the Swiss League (SL), Switzerland's second tier ice hockey division, as the affiliate to the ZSC Lions. Th ...

of the NLB.

References

External links

Gruth's profile on eurohockey.net
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gruth, Henryk 1957 births Living people GKS Tychy (ice hockey) players Ice hockey people from Silesian Voivodeship Ice hockey players at the 1980 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 1984 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 1988 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 1992 Winter Olympics IIHF Hall of Fame inductees Olympic ice hockey players for Poland Polish ice hockey coaches Polish ice hockey defencemen Sportspeople from Ruda Śląska ZSC Lions players