Luděk Čajka (3 November 1963 – 14 February 1990) was a Czechoslovak 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 ...

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the l ...

. Čajka was drafted 115th overall by the

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

in the 1987 NHL Entry Draft but never played in North America. He played in the Czechoslovak League for TJ Gottwaldov, HC Dukla Jihlava and HC Zlín (formerly Gottwaldov). He also represented Czechoslovakia in the 1987 World Ice Hockey Championships, winning a bronze medal. On 6 January 1990, Čajka suffered severe spinal injuries after colliding with Anton Bartanus of VSŽ Košice and crashing into the boards in an icing situation during Zlín's game against VSŽ Košice. The injury left Čajka paralyzed and in a coma where he died on 14 February 1990. Zlín's stadium was renamed Zimní stadion Luďka Čajky in his honour. His death led to the development of automatic, or "no-touch" icing, in which the violation is called automatically once the puck crosses the goal line.

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* 1963 births 1990 deaths Czech ice hockey defencemen Czechoslovak ice hockey defencemen HC Dukla Jihlava players Ice hockey people from the Moravian-Silesian Region Ice hockey players who died while playing New York Rangers draft picks Sportspeople from Český Těšín PSG Berani Zlín players Sport deaths in Czechoslovakia Sport deaths in Slovakia {{CzechRepublic-icehockey-defenceman-stub