Roman Čechmánek (; born March 2, 1971) is a 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 hock ...

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 ...

. He played professionally in the United States, Czech Republic, and Germany, including 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 ...

with the

Philadelphia Flyers The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia. The Flyers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games in Wells ...

and Los Angeles Kings from 2000 to 2004. Internationally Čechmánek played for the Czech national team at multiple international tournaments, including seven World Championships. He was born in Gottwaldov,

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

Playing career

He played for HC Vsetín in the Czech Republic from 1994 to 2000. He was drafted in the sixth round as the 171st overall pick of the

2000 NHL Entry Draft The 2000 NHL Entry Draft was the 38th NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 24 and 25, 2000 at the Pengrowth Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta, following the 2000 NHL Expansion Draft on June 23 for the Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild. This ...

by the

. In his first season with the Flyers, Čechmánek surprised many by capturing the starting job from Brian Boucher and being one of the best goaltenders in the league. In his first season, he played in the NHL All-Star Game and finished second in voting for the

Vezina Trophy The Vezina Trophy is awarded annually to the National Hockey League's (NHL) goaltender who is "adjudged to be the best at this position". At the end of each season, the thirty-two NHL general managers vote to determine the winner. It is named in ...

. He had a disappointing playoffs, however, including allowing five goals in an embarrassing 8–0 loss in the final game of the Flyers' first round series against the

Buffalo Sabres The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. The Sabres compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team was established in 1970, along w ...

. The next season Čechmánek had another good year and played fairly well in the first round of the playoffs. However the Philadelphia offense failed, scoring a record low number of only two goals in five games against 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 ...

. Čechmánek was publicly annoyed at his teammates' performance. The next year he had another superior season, sharing the

William M. Jennings Trophy The William M. Jennings Trophy is an annual National Hockey League (NHL) award given to "the goaltender(s) having played a minimum of 25 games for the team with the fewest goals scored against it ... based on regular-season play." From 1946 until ...

with Flyers teammate Robert Esche, and

Martin Brodeur Martin Pierre Brodeur (; born May 6, 1972) is a Canadian-American former professional ice hockey goaltender and current team executive. He played 22 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL), 21 of them for the New Jersey Devils, with whom ...

of the

New Jersey Devils The New Jersey Devils are a professional sports, professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern ...

. Čechmánek pitched two shutouts in a second round loss to Ottawa but many blamed him for the loss due to the number of soft goals he allowed in the other four games. At the end of the season he was traded to the Los Angeles Kings for a second-round draft pick. Playing behind a mediocre Kings team, Čechmánek had a disappointing season in 2003–04. He returned to the Czech Republic to play with his old team HC Vsetín during the cancelled

2004–05 NHL season The 2004–05 NHL season was the National Hockey League's 88th season of operation. The entire 1,230-game schedule, that was set to begin in October, was officially canceled on February 16, 2005 due to an unresolved lockout that began on Septem ...

. He split the 2005–06 hockey season between HC Karlovy Vary and the

Hamburg Freezers The Hamburg Freezers were a German professional men's ice hockey club from Hamburg, Germany that played in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga. The club announced its withdrawal from the DEL and ceased operations on 24 May 2016 when Anschutz Entertainment ...

. In the beginning of 2007, Čechmánek left Linköpings HC and was replaced by

Rastislav Staňa Rastislav Staňa (born 10 January 1980) is a Slovak former professional ice hockey goaltender who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Washington Capitals. Biography Staňa was born in Košice, Czechoslovakia. As a youth, he play ...

. He then played for HC Třinec in 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 ...

for three seasons. He retired following the 2008–09 season.

International play

He was on the Czech national team at both the

1998 Winter Olympics The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 ( ja, 長野1998), was a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Japan, with some events taking place in the ...

and

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internation ...

, but did not play any games, instead serving as backup togoaltender

Dominik Hašek Dominik Hašek (, ; born January 29, 1965) is a Czech former ice hockey goaltender who mostly played for the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League (NHL). Widely regarded as one of the best goaltenders of all time, Hašek also played for t ...

. Čechmánek won a gold medal in 1998. His other appearances were in the 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2004 and 2007 World Championships.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Transactions

*Selected by the

in the sixth round (third Flyers pick, 171st overall) of the

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 ...

– 24 June 2000. *Traded by Flyers to the Los Angeles Kings for a second-round selection in 2004 entry draft – 28 May 2003. *Signed with Vsetínská Hokejová (Czech Extraliga) during NHL lockout on – 17 September 2004. *Signed as a free agent by

HC Energie Karlovy Vary HC Energie Karlovy Vary is a professional ice hockey team based in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic. They play in the highest-level national league, the Czech Extraliga. The club The history of the ice hockey in Karlovy Vary dates back to the 1932, ...

(Czech Extraliga) – 16 August 2005.

Honours

*Named Best Goaltender at the World Championships – 2000. *Named to the All-Star Team at the World Championships – 2000. *Played in National Hockey League All-Star Game – 2001. *Named to National Hockey League All-Star Second Team – 2000–01. *

(shared with

and teammate Robert Esche) – 2002–03.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cechmanek, Roman 1971 births Living people Czech ice hockey goaltenders Czechoslovak ice hockey goaltenders Hamburg Freezers players HC Dukla Jihlava players SHK Hodonín players HC Karlovy Vary players HC Oceláři Třinec players HC Olomouc players VHK Vsetín players PSG Berani Zlín players Linköping HC players Los Angeles Kings players National Hockey League All-Stars Sportspeople from Zlín Philadelphia Flyers draft picks Philadelphia Flyers players Philadelphia Phantoms players William M. Jennings Trophy winners Olympic gold medalists for the Czech Republic