Bernd Brückler (born August 26, 1981) is an Austrian former professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as goalie or netminder) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their own team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays ...

who played in the

Austrian Hockey League The ICE Hockey League (International Central European Hockey League, ICEHL), known as the win2day ICE Hockey League for sponsorship reasons, is a Central European hockey league that also serves as the top-tier ice hockey league in Austria. It c ...

(EBEL), the Finnish

Liiga The Liiga, colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. The league comprises 16 teams from all around Finland with relegation and promotion between the Mesti ...

, and the

Kontinental Hockey League The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL; ) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008. It comprises member clubs based in Russia (20), Belarus (1), Kazakhstan (1), and China (1) for a total of 23 clubs. It was considered in ...

(KHL).

Playing career

Brückler started his hockey career with

Graz EC EC Graz was an Austrian ice hockey team from Graz, Styria, playing in the Austrian Hockey League and Alpenliga in the 1990s. History The EC Graz (also called "the elephants") emerged in 1990 when the UEC Graz and ATSE Graz were merged. ATSE Graz ...

in the Austrian league, and has represented the

Tri-City Storm The Tri-City Storm is a Tier I junior ice hockey team based in Kearney, Nebraska, that plays in the Western Conference of the United States Hockey League (USHL). Its name refers to the three central Nebraskan cities of Kearney, Hastings, and ...

and the

University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...

in North America. He was drafted by 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 (NHL), Eastern Conference. The team play ...

as their fifth-round pick in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft, 150th overall. After short stints with several minor league teams, Brückler finished the 2005–06 season by taking the

Espoo Espoo (, ; ) is a city in Finland. It is located to the west of the capital, Helsinki, in southern Uusimaa. The population is approximately . It is the most populous Municipalities of Finland, municipality in Finland. Espoo is part of the Helsi ...

Blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

of the Finnish

SM-liiga The Liiga, colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. The league comprises 16 teams from all around Finland with relegation and promotion between the Mest ...

into the playoffs. He posted a fantastic save percentage in his nine regular season games, registering three shutouts. On 23 April 2009, Brückler left Finland and signed with Kontinental Hockey League club Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod. On 6 May 2011, Brückler signed a one-year contract with the KHL's Sibir Novosibirsk. In December 2013, Brückler and Finnish hockey writer

Risto Pakarinen Risto () is a masculine given name, found in Finnish, Estonian and South Slavic. In South Slavic, it is a hypocorism derived from '' Hristofor'' or ''Hristivoje''. It may refer to: Estonia * Risto Järv (born 1971), folklorist * Risto Joost ( ...

wrote a book "This is Russia: Life in the KHL – Doctors, bazas and millions of air miles", about Brückler's time in the KHL. On September 8, 2015, Brückler was signed as a free agent from Champions EC Red Bull Salzburg, to EC KAC as an injury replacement on a one-year contract.

Awards and honors

References

External links

* 1981 births Austrian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Austrian ice hockey goaltenders Charlotte Checkers (1993–2010) players Espoo Blues players Expatriate ice hockey players in Russia Graz 99ers players Hartford Wolf Pack players HC Sibir Novosibirsk players EC KAC players Living people Philadelphia Flyers draft picks EC Red Bull Salzburg players Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod players Toledo Storm players Wisconsin Badgers men's ice hockey players AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans {{Austria-icehockey-bio-stub