Václav Nedomanský

Václav Nedomanský
Born	March 14, 1944 (1944-03-14) (age 67) Hodonín, TCH
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight	210 lb (95 kg; 15 st 0 lb)
Position	Centre
Shot	Left
Played for	Toronto Toros Birmingham Bulls Detroit Red Wings St. Louis Blues New York Rangers
National team	Czechoslovakia
Playing career	1962–1983

Václav Nedomanský (born March 14, 1944 in Hodonín, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic), is a former hockey forward. He is best known as the first hockey player to defect to North America to play.^[1]

Playing in Czechoslovakia

Olympic medal record
Men's ice hockey
Silver	1968 Grenoble	Team
Bronze	1972 Sapporo	Team

Nedomanský played for HC 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, and was named top forward at the 1974 world championships [1]. He is manager of the Slovak national team in North America.

Career after defection

Nedomanský defected in 1974 to Toronto via Switzerland.^[2] 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 with the Toronto Toros 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'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 and the New York Rangers in 1982–83.

Nedomanský coached in Germany during the 1987–88 season.

He was born in Hodonin, in eastern Moravia in the present-day Czech Republic, but very close to the Slovak border. Today, he claims to feel more Slovak than Czech, having played in Bratislava.

Notes

1. ^ NHL.com, NHL - International timeline
2. ^ George Gross, "Czech Hockey Star Defects to Canada", front page of The Toronto Sun July 18, 1974 (Vol. 3, No. 182). See also pp. 3 and 32-33.

External links

• Václav Nedomanský's career stats at The Internet Hockey Database
• A to Z Encyclopedia of Ice Hockey

Persondata
Name	Nedomansky, Vaclav
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	March 14, 1944
Place of birth	Hodonín, TCH
Date of death
Place of death