Tomáš Kůrka (born 14 December 1981) is a Czech former

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 ...

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. He played 17 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 ...

with the

Carolina Hurricanes The Carolina Hurricanes (colloquially known as the Canes) are a professional ice hockey team based in Raleigh, North Carolina. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference, ...

between 2003 and 2004. The rest of his career, which lasted from 1998 to 2020, was mainly spent 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 ...

Playing career

Kůrka was drafted by the

as their second-round pick, No. 32 overall, in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft. Kůrka spent two seasons playing junior level in the

Ontario Hockey League The Ontario Hockey League (OHL; french: Ligue de hockey de l'Ontario (LHO)) is one of the three major junior ice hockey leagues which constitute the Canadian Hockey League. The league is for players aged 16–19. There are exceptions for overag ...

with the

Plymouth Whalers The Plymouth Whalers were a major junior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey League. They played out of Compuware Arena in Plymouth, Michigan, USA, a suburb of Detroit until 2015 when they were relocated to Flint, Michigan. History The Whalers ...

before moving to the Hurricanes organization in 2001. After spending a season in 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 ...

with the

Lowell Lock Monsters The Lowell Devils were a minor ice hockey team in the American Hockey League playing in Lowell, Massachusetts, at the Tsongas Center. As their name implied, they were the top minor league affiliate of the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey L ...

, Kůrka made his NHL debut with the Hurricanes during

2002–03 NHL season The 2002–03 NHL season was the 86th regular season of the National Hockey League. The Stanley Cup winners were the New Jersey Devils, who won the best of seven series 4–3 against the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. Regular season The regular se ...

, playing 14 games, scoring 3 goals and 2 assists for 5 points. He would go on to play just 3 more games for Carolina, scoring no points. With the 2004–05 NHL season locked-out and eventually cancelled, Kůrka split the season in the AHL with the Providence Bruins and back home in the Czech Republic for

HC Litvínov HC Litvinov, called HC VERVA Litvínov for sponsorship reasons is an ice hockey team in the Czech Extraliga. Their home arena is Ivan Hlinka Stadion in Litvínov. Honours Domestic Czech Extraliga * Winners (1): 2014–15 * Runners-up (1): 19 ...

. He chose to remain in Europe, signing for

KalPa Kalevan Pallo (KalPa) is a professional ice hockey team which competes in the Finnish Liiga. They play in Kuopio, Finland at the Niiralan monttu, Olvi Areena. Team history Established in 1929 as ''Sortavalan Palloseura'' in Sortavala, the club r ...

in the Finnish

SM-liiga The SM-liiga (marketed as just Liiga from 2013 on), (Finnish for ''League'') colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. It is one of the six founding leagu ...

. He also played for

Ilves Ilves (; Finnish for " Lynx") is a Finnish professional ice hockey team based in Tampere. They play in the Liiga at the Tampere Deck Arena. The colors of Ilves, green, yellow, and black, were taken from what was then the coat of arms of the city ...

in the same league, before moving to

Södertälje SK Södertälje Sportklubb, also known as Södertälje SK and often referred to as SSK, is a Swedish professional ice hockey club playing in HockeyAllsvenskan, the second highest level of pro hockey in Sweden. Södertälje were charter members of Eli ...

in the Swedish

HockeyAllsvenskan HockeyAllsvenskan (previously Allsvenskan and SuperAllsvenskan) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league, and the second-highest league in the Sweden, Swedish ice hockey system (after the Swedish Hockey League, SHL). Since the 2009–10 ...

. Kůrka then returned to the Czech Extraliga in 2007, signing for HC České Budějovice. He joined

Slavia Prague Sportovní klub Slavia Praha – fotbal (Sports Club Slavia Prague – Football, ), commonly known as Slavia Praha or Slavia Prague, is a Czech professional football club in Prague. Founded in 1892, they are the second most successful club in ...

for a second time in 2011. On 8 November 2013, Tomas Kůrka was announced as a Cardiff Devils player, he will play his first game for the Devils on Sunday 10 November 2013 against the

Hull Stingrays Hull Stingrays were a British ice hockey club from Kingston upon Hull who was a member of the Elite Ice Hockey League from 2003 until 2015. They played their home games at Hull Arena. The Stingrays replaced previous clubs Humberside Seahawks ( ...

. He scored a Penalty Shot on his full debut.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kurka, Tomas 1981 births Cardiff Devils players Carolina Hurricanes draft picks Carolina Hurricanes players Czech ice hockey left wingers HC Dynamo Pardubice players HC Litvínov players HC Oceláři Třinec players HC Shakhtyor Soligorsk players HC Slavia Praha players HC Sparta Praha players Ilves players KalPa players Living people Lowell Lock Monsters players Motor České Budějovice players Plymouth Whalers players Providence Bruins players Rostock Piranhas players SCL Tigers players Södertälje SK players Sportspeople from Most (city) Sputnik Nizhny Tagil players