Martin Prusek (born December 11, 1975) is a Czech

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 ...

coach and former professional ice hockey

goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as the goalie) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays in or near t ...

. During his playing career, Prusek appeared in 57 games in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL) with the

Ottawa Senators The Ottawa Senators (french: Sénateurs d'Ottawa), officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a membe ...

and

Columbus Blue Jackets The Columbus Blue Jackets (often simply referred to as the Jackets) are a professional ice hockey team based in Columbus, Ohio. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference, ...

. Prusek currently serves as the goaltending coach for HC Vítkovice Steel of the

Czech Extraliga The Czech Extraliga ( cs, Extraliga ledního hokeje, ELH) is the highest-level ice hockey league in the Czech Republic. It was created by the 1993 split of the Czechoslovak First Ice Hockey League following the breakup of Czechoslovakia. The leag ...

Playing career

Martin Prusek started his professional ice hockey career in 1994 when he joined HC Vitkovice of the Czech Extraliga. After playing there for five seasons, Prusek was drafted by the

in the sixth round of the

1999 NHL Entry Draft The 1999 NHL Entry Draft was the 37th NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 26 at the FleetCenter in Boston. According to ''Sports Illustrated'' and other sports news agencies, at the time the 1999 draft was considered one of the deepest in tale ...

with the 164th overall pick. He made his North American debut with the

Grand Rapids Griffins The Grand Rapids Griffins are a professional ice hockey, hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and play home games at Van Andel Arena. They are the AHL affiliate to the Detroit Red Wings of the National H ...

of the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary Minor league#Ice hockey, developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 AHL se ...

during the 2001–02 season. He also made his

debut that same season, appearing in one game with the Senators. Prusek appeared in 47 games with the Senators over the following two seasons, compiling a record of 28-8-4. During the

2004–05 NHL lockout The 2004–05 NHL lockout was a labor lockout that resulted in the cancellation of the National Hockey League (NHL) season, which would have been its 88th season of play. The main dispute was the league's desire to implement a salary cap to ...

, he returned to the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

to play for Vitkovice and HC JME Znojemští Orli. He came back to North America for the 2005–06 season, joining the

. After spending most of the 2005–06 season with the Blue Jackets AHL affiliate

Syracuse Crunch The Syracuse Crunch are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL). They play in Syracuse, New York, at the Upstate Medical University Arena. They are the primary development affiliate of the National Hockey League's Tampa ...

, Prusek left North America and joined SKA Saint Petersburg in the

Russian Super League Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

. During 2007–08, he rejoined HC Vitkovice in the Czech Extraliga. In 2008-09 Prusek played in

Kontinental Hockey League The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL; russian: Континентальная хоккейная лига (КХЛ), Kontinental'naya khokkeynaya liga) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008. It comprises member clubs ba ...

and after a brief contract with

HC Spartak Moscow HC Spartak Moscow (russian: ХК Спартак Москва, en, Spartak Moskva) is a professional ice hockey team based in Moscow, Russia. They played in the Tarasov Division of the Kontinental Hockey League during the 2013–14 KHL season, 20 ...

, he joined

Dinamo Riga Dinamo Riga ( lv, Rīgas Dinamo) is a professional ice hockey team based in Riga, Latvia. It is a member of the Latvian Hockey Higher League. The club is affiliated with HK Zemgale/LLU. The club was re-founded on 7 April 2008 as a successor of ...

for 2 seasons. After the 2009-10 season, Prusek once again rejoined HC Vítkovice Steel. Although he suffered from carditis and played just in 2 Extraliga games during all the 2010-11 season, he reached a silver medal. In summer 2011, he stepped into HC Vítkovice Steel pre-season players' camp, but on July 26 he announced his retirement decision and also he accepted the club's offer for the position of goaltender coach.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Awards

* Hap Holmes Memorial Award (lowest GAA in AHL): 2001–02 season (with

Mathieu Chouinard Mathieu Chouinard (born April 11, 1980) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender who played one game in the National Hockey League, with the Los Angeles Kings during the 2003–04 season. The rest of his career, which lasted from ...

and

Simon Lajeunesse Simon Lajeunesse (born January 22, 1981) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender. He was drafted in the second round (48th overall) of the 1999 NHL Entry Draft by the Ottawa Senators and played a single National Hockey League (NHL) ...

)

International achievements

Martin Prusek's first international team game was the game against Russia on December 17, 1995 in Moscow.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Prusek, Martin 1975 births Living people Binghamton Senators players Columbus Blue Jackets players Czech ice hockey goaltenders Dinamo Riga players Czech expatriate ice hockey players in Russia Grand Rapids Griffins players HC Spartak Moscow players HC Vítkovice players Ottawa Senators draft picks Ottawa Senators players Sportspeople from Ostrava SKA Saint Petersburg players Syracuse Crunch players Czech expatriate ice hockey players in Canada Czech expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Czech expatriate sportspeople in Latvia Expatriate ice hockey players in Latvia