Ladislav Ščurko (born 4 April 1986) is a Slovak 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 ...

center who currently playing for HC Prešov in Slovak 1. Liga. He previously played for HC Košice until he confessed to a murder of an ice hockey referee in April 2009.

Playing career

Ščurko started his junior career by playing in 37 games with his junior team, HK VTJ Spisská Nová Ves, in Slovakia. He scored 44 points on 20 goals and 24 assists. Following that season 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 ...

in the sixth round, 170th overall, in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft. Shortly after, he was drafted seventh overall in the CHL Import Draft by the Seattle Thunderbirds. In his first year in the

Western Hockey League The Western Hockey League (WHL) is a junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitutes the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as the highest level of junior hocke ...

(WHL), he scored 42 points, which put him in fifth in the league for points scored by a rookie. He also set a Thunderbird record with a nine-game point streak from December 11, 2004 through January 12, 2005, during which he scored 12 points. He enjoyed similar success in fewer games the following season.

Murder

On April 23, 2009, Ščurko confessed to a murder of referee Marek Liptaj in January 2008 at a motorway service area near Kosice. He admitted that he killed Liptaj by stabbing him fourteen times with a knife. Liptaj's body was hastily buried in a forest. No motive was revealed, but police said the crime was not premeditated. On July 16, 2012, Ščurko was convicted of the murder; however, because psychiatric examinations found that Ščurko committed the act in a state of diminished sanity, the court sentenced him to the minimum penalty of eight years in prison.

First imprisonment

He served his first sentence from April 2009 to November 2011.

Life after the first release

Ščurko was released from jail on November 8, 2011 and played his first hockey game after the release from prison on December 3, 2011. He played for his boyhood club HK Slovan Gelnica.

Second imprisonment

Ščurko served the rest of his sentence from September 2014 to December 2015 and was finally conditionally released before Christmas in 2015.

Playing career after the second release

He signed a contract with

HC 46 Bardejov HC 46 BEMACO Bardejov was an ice hockey team in Bardejov, Slovakia. Recently they have played in the Slovak 1. Liga, the second level of Slovak ice hockey. The team was founded in 1946. Honours Domestic Slovak 1. Liga * Winners (3): 2011–12 S ...

, which plays in the second-level ice hockey league in Slovakia, only one week after the release from prison. He played his first game for HC 46 Bardejov on December 22, 2015. Since the 2017–2018 season, Ščurko has been playing in Slovak Extraliga for HC 07 Detva.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Awards and honors

Records

* Seattle Thunderbirds' franchise record for longest point streak: 9 games (12 points, from 11 December 2004 to 12 January 2005)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Scurko, Ladislav 1986 births Living people People from Gelnica Ice hockey people from the Košice Region Slovak ice hockey centres Slovak people convicted of murder Slovak prisoners and detainees Philadelphia Flyers draft picks HK Spišská Nová Ves players Seattle Thunderbirds players Tri-City Americans players HC Košice players HK Dukla Michalovce players HC 07 Detva players HC 21 Prešov players Slovak expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Sportspeople convicted of murder 21st-century Slovak sportsmen