Petr Klíma (born December 23, 1964) is a
Czech
Czech may refer to:
* Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe
** Czech language
** Czechs, the people of the area
** Czech culture
** Czech cuisine
* One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus'
Places
* Czech, ...
former 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 ...
forward. He played 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 ...
for the
Detroit Red Wings,
Edmonton Oilers
The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton. The Oilers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. They play their home games at Rogers Place, which ...
,
Tampa Bay Lightning
The Tampa Bay Lightning (colloquially known as the Bolts) are a professional ice hockey team based in Tampa, Florida. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. They play th ...
,
Los Angeles Kings
The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference and was founded on June 5, 1967, after Jack Kent ...
, and the
Pittsburgh Penguins
The Pittsburgh Penguins (colloquially known as the Pens) are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference, and have playe ...
. He also played part of a season with the
IHL Cleveland Lumberjacks
The Cleveland Lumberjacks were an International Hockey League (IHL) team based in Cleveland, Ohio.
Facts
:Owner: Larry Gordon
:Logo design: "Buzz"- A beaver wearing overalls holding a homemade hockey stick framed by a circular saw blade
:Divis ...
and two seasons in the Czech league.
Early career and defection
By the time Klíma was 20 years old, officials on his
Dukla Jihlava
HC Dukla Jihlava, founded in 1956, is an ice hockey team in the Czech Republic. It won the Czechoslovak Extraliga title 12 times: six consecutive championships beginning in 1967, then in 1974, four consecutive championships beginning in 1982, an ...
team knew that the Detroit Red Wings were eager to bring the young star to the NHL. Rumors were rampant that the Wings were trying to pay off Czechoslovak authorities to get Klíma out of his native country, but despite all the hype that surrounded him, Czechoslovak hockey authorities made no real effort to clamp down and prevent Klíma from traveling in Europe. As a result, Klíma managed to defect to North America during the summer of 1985, making him the first Czech player to defect directly to a U.S.-based team rather than one of the NHL's Canadian teams which had smuggled several Czechs and Slovaks out of Europe in the past.
Klima's bold move was entirely orchestrated by the Red Wings, who knew that Klíma was eager to play in North America. After his defection was planned, Klíma ditched his Czechoslovak national teammates during a team meal at the Czechoslovak training camp in
Nußdorf am Inn
Nußdorf am Inn (officially: ''Nußdorf a. Inn'') is a municipality in the district of Rosenheim in the state of Bavaria in Germany. Nußdorf consists of 23 boroughs and is a tourist destination in the Inn Valley between the Heuberg Wendelstein m ...
,
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
, to join Wings executive vice-president
Jim Lites
James R. Lites (born 1953 in Pentwater, Michigan) is an American sports executive who currently serves as CEO and alternate governor of the Dallas Stars of the NHL. He was formerly the president of Hicks Sports Marketing Group, and as such was pr ...
and assistant coach
Nick Polano at an undisclosed location on Aug 18, 1985. Several days were then spent in the effort to bring Klíma to North America, after Lites and Polano, who had flown to Germany on Aug 15, 1985, kept Klíma under wraps in Nussdorf and other cities to avoid pursuit by Czechoslovak police. Polano stayed with Klíma as Lites and other Wings officials arranged for him to gain refugee status to enter the United States. The Wings were assisted by U.S. attorney general
Edwin Meese
Edwin Meese III (born December 2, 1931) is an American attorney, law professor, author and member of the Republican Party who served in official capacities within the Ronald Reagan's gubernatorial administration (1967–1974), the Reagan pre ...
and deputy attorney general
Lowell Jensen in expediting the political-asylum process.
It was later revealed that plans to get Klíma out of Czechoslovakia reached back as far as the
1984 World Junior Championships, held in
Sweden, when Detroit scout Alex Davidson secretly met with Klíma in December 1983. Klíma told Davidson he would not consider defecting until he had completed his military duty (so as not to be labeled a deserter) in 1985. Less than a year later, at the
1984 Canada Cup
The 1984 Labatt Canada Cup was a professional international ice hockey tournament played during the first three weeks of September 1984. The best-of-three final took place between Canada and Sweden, with Canada winning a two game sweep. Canadian ...
, Klíma began talking to the Wings about the possibility of coming to the NHL after the 1984–85 season. During that time, while in Vancouver with the Czechoslovak team, he even signed a secret multiyear contract with the Red Wings. Polano had brought the contract to Klíma without Czechoslovak officials realizing it. Klíma, who spoke no English when he finally arrived in Detroit on Sep 22, 1985, was fortunate that the Red Wings also managed to bring his girlfriend to the U.S. In honor of his successful defection, a grateful and overjoyed Klíma requested sweater number 85 and wore it throughout his NHL career as a reminder of the year in which he gained freedom. Klíma was drafted in the fifth round (88th overall) of the 1983
NHL Entry Draft
The NHL Entry Draft (french: Repêchage d'entrée dans la LNH) is an annual meeting in which every franchise of the National Hockey League (NHL) systematically select the rights to available ice hockey players who meet draft eligibility requirem ...
by the Red Wings. He played his junior hockey with the
CHZ Litvinov team.
NHL playing career
Klíma played four full seasons with the Wings (from 1985 until 1989) before being traded during the 1989–90 season to the Oilers (along with
Joe Murphy,
Adam Graves, and
Jeff Sharples) for
Jimmy Carson
James Charles Carson (born July 20, 1968) is an American former professional hockey player. He played 10 seasons in the National Hockey League with five different teams. In 1988, he became only the second teenager in NHL history to score 50 goals ...
,
Kevin McClelland, and a fifth round draft pick in the
1991 NHL Entry Draft
The 1991 NHL Entry Draft was the 29th NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 22 at the Memorial Auditorium in Buffalo, New York. A total of 264 players were drafted. The worst team in the previous 1990–91 season, the Quebec Nordiques, was give ...
. Klima scored the game-winning goal in the longest Stanley Cup Finals game in history, in the third overtime of
Game 1 of the 1990 Finals against
Andy Moog
Donald Andrew Moog (; born February 18, 1960) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender. Moog played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Edmonton Oilers, Boston Bruins, Dallas Stars and Montreal Canadiens, and also for the C ...
of the
Boston Bruins
The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team has been in existence since 1924, making t ...
despite having not played at all in the third period, nor the first two OT periods. He played for the Oilers until 1993, winning the Stanley Cup in 1990. In 1993 Klima was acquired by the Lightning in exchange for future considerations. Klíma remained with the Lightning for three seasons, until 1996. He split the 1996–97 season between the
Lumberjacks
Lumberjacks are mostly North American workers in the logging industry who perform the initial harvesting and transport of trees for ultimate processing into forest products. The term usually refers to loggers in the era (before 1945 in the Uni ...
, Kings, Penguins, and Oilers, and was released in 1997. He played in the
DEL
Del, or nabla, is an operator used in mathematics (particularly in vector calculus) as a vector differential operator, usually represented by the nabla symbol ∇. When applied to a function defined on a one-dimensional domain, it denotes ...
in 1997–98, then attempted a comeback with the Red Wings in 1998. He retired from the NHL in 1999, and then played two seasons in years 2001–2003 in the Czech league before retiring for good. He played for Litvinov and captained those 2 years. Asked which jersey number he wanted to wear, Klíma chose the number 85 in recognition of the year of his defection and his first year in the NHL.
Klíma's disciplinary woes
Although he was one of Detroit's bigger stars in the late 1980s, Petr Klíma was also a problem for the Red Wings management. That situation came to a head during training camp on Sep 23, 1988, when Detroit suspended Klíma indefinitely, along with
Bob Probert
Robert Alan Probert (June 5, 1965 – July 5, 2010) was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward. Probert played for the National Hockey League's Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks. While a successful player by some measures, including be ...
, for breaking team rules. At the time of the suspension, the Wings said they would trade Klíma, although this never happened. The team also said it would not take Klíma back until he had his drinking under control. As a result, Klíma missed the start of the 1988–89 season before being reinstated on Oct. 13, 1988, and sent to
Adirondack (
AHL) on Oct 16, 1988. He finally made his 1988–89 NHL regular-season debut during Detroit's Nov 6, 1988, game vs. Edmonton where he posted an assist. At his first practice with the team, on Nov 5, 1988, Klíma offered a heartfelt apology to his Wings teammates for his earlier behavior, much of which was alcohol-related. During his months back, Klíma roomed with Probert, who was also trying to cope with his drinking and drug habits. Klíma managed to stay clean, but Probert's substance abuse and subsequent issues would continue for several years.
Personal life
Klíma's sons are also professional ice hockey players. His twin sons Kelly and Kevin signed one-year contracts with the
Tucson Roadrunners
The Tucson Roadrunners are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) that began play for the 2016–17 season. Based in Tucson, Arizona, and affiliated with the National Hockey League's Arizona Coyotes, the team plays i ...
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 developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the le ...
.
Career statistics
Regular season and playoffs
International
Achievements
*1989–90 –
NHL
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 ...
–
Stanley Cup (
Edmonton
Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...
)
*1985 – First Czechoslovak born player after the Stastny brothers to defect straight to an
NHL
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 ...
team (Detroit Red Wings)
References
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Klima, Petr
1964 births
Adirondack Red Wings players
Cleveland Lumberjacks players
Czech ice hockey left wingers
Czechoslovak ice hockey left wingers
Detroit Red Wings draft picks
Detroit Red Wings players
Grizzlys Wolfsburg players
Edmonton Oilers players
Krefeld Pinguine players
HC Litvínov players
HC Dukla Jihlava players
Living people
Los Angeles Kings players
Sportspeople from Chomutov
Pittsburgh Penguins players
Stanley Cup champions
Tampa Bay Lightning players
PSG Berani Zlín players
Czechoslovak defectors