Václav Nedomanský (born 14 March 1944) 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

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. Nedomanský is best known as the first Czech hockey player to

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to play. He was inducted into the

Hockey Hall of Fame , logo = Hockey Hall of Fame Logo.svg , logo_upright = 0.5 , image = Hockey Hall of Fame, Toronto.jpg , caption = The Hall's present location on Yonge Street since 1992 , map_type = , former_name = , established = 1943 , location = 30 Y ...

in 2019. He is also a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame (1997), Slovak Hockey Hall of Fame (2002), Czech Ice Hockey Hall of Fame (2008) and was named into the IIHF All-Time Czech Team (2020).

Playing in Czechoslovakia

Nedomanský played for Slovan Bratislava of the Czechoslovak Extraliga for twelve seasons. In 1968, he was a member of the Czechoslovak national ice hockey team which won silver medals at the Winter Olympics in Grenoble and bronze medals in 1972 at the Winter Olympics in Sapporo. He also played for Czechoslovakia in nine

IIHF World Championships The Ice Hockey World Championships are an annual international men's ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). First officially held at the 1920 Summer Olympics, it is the sport's highest profile annual ...

, and was named top forward at the 1974 World Championships.

Career after defection

Nedomanský defected in 1974 to Toronto via Switzerland.George Gross, "Czech Hockey Star Defects to Canada", front page of ''The Toronto Sun'' 18 July 1974 (Vol. 3, No. 182). See also pp. 3 and 32-33. He was not able to return to his home country until after the fall of the Iron Curtain. He played just over three seasons in the

World Hockey Association The World Hockey Association (french: Association mondiale de hockey) was a professional ice hockey major league that operated in North America from 1972 to 1979. It was the first major league to compete with the National Hockey League (NHL) ...

with the

Toronto Toros The Toronto Toros were an ice hockey team based in Toronto that played in the World Hockey Association from 1973 to 1976. History The franchise was awarded to Doug Michel in 1971 for $25,000 to play in the WHA's inaugural 1972–73 season. Har ...

and the Birmingham Bulls, peaking with 56 goals and 98 points for Toronto in 1975–76. He also won the Paul Deneau Trophy for sportsmanship in 1975–76. He then signed as a free agent with 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 ...

's Detroit Red Wings in 1977. Nedomanský played five seasons for Detroit, posting highs of 38 goals and 74 points. He retired after one final season with the

St. Louis Blues The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis. The Blues compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the s ...

and the

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the Borough (New York City), New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference ...

in 1982–83. Nedomanský coached in Germany and Austria from 1987 to 1991. He was born in Hodonin, in eastern

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in the present-day

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Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

*
''Cold War Conversations - Czechoslovak hockey star defects to Canada (132)''
An interview with Václav's son Vashi Nedomanský, who talks about his father's defection from Czechoslovakia to Canada. {{DEFAULTSORT:Nedomansky, Vaclav 1944 births Birmingham Bulls players Czech expatriates in Slovakia Czech expatriates in the United Kingdom Czech expatriates in the United States Czech ice hockey centres Czechoslovak defectors Czechoslovak emigrants to Canada Detroit Red Wings players SHK Hodonín players HC Slovan Bratislava players Hockey Hall of Fame inductees Ice hockey players at the 1968 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 1972 Winter Olympics IIHF Hall of Fame inductees Living people Los Angeles Kings scouts Medalists at the 1968 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1972 Winter Olympics Nashville Predators scouts New York Rangers players Olympic bronze medalists for Czechoslovakia Olympic ice hockey players of Czechoslovakia Olympic medalists in ice hockey Olympic silver medalists for Czechoslovakia People from Hodonín Phoenix Roadrunners (IHL) players St. Louis Blues players Toronto Toros players Vegas Golden Knights scouts Recipients of Medal of Merit (Czech Republic) Sportspeople from the South Moravian Region