Czech hockey coach Vladimír Růžička Source: Profimedia
BRATISLAVA – Czech Vladimír Růžička became the new coach of HC Slovan Bratislava hockey players. For the 60-year-old coach, who last led Ústí nad Labem in the second highest Czech competition, this will be his first experience in the Slovak extra league.
He agreed on a contract with the club until the end of the current season. He will coach Friday’s match on the ice of Nitra, which is led by his compatriot and former teammate from the national team, Antonín Stavjaňa.
Růžička replaced Ján Pardavý on the bench, who finished his job on Monday. The leadership of “Whites” reacted to Slovan’s bad start to the new Tipos extraliga season, the team lost three out of four duels and conceded 21 goals. Rudolf Jendek and Richard Kapuš remain in the position of assistants, while Peter Kosa continues to be the goalkeeping coach.
In the first round, Bratislava lost to Michalovce 2:8, two days later they triumphed in Humenno 8:3. But then they lost at home to Zvolen 2:5 and in Spišská Nová Ves 1:5. They are 10th in the table with three points.
The team’s management also dismissed sports director Oto Haščák from his post. Slovan hired him in June last year. Before that, he worked as the general manager of the Slovak national team. He also worked as a European scout in the NHL clubs Boston Bruins, Los Angeles Kings and the longest for the New York Rangers. In his place, Rostislav Dočekal, who is also the youth sports manager and team manager of Blue Wing Slovan, will work temporarily.
Hall of Famer
After his playing career, Růžička threw himself into coaching and worked at Slavia Prague for 15 long years. In addition to the extra-league A-team, he also trained youth teams, and was also in charge of the sports department. In the highest Czech competition, he led the team to titles in 2003 and 2008. He achieved his greatest success as a coach of the Czech national team.
He started as an assistant to Josef Augusta, who also led Bratislava Slovan at the end of his coaching career (2005/06). Růžička moved to the position of chief helmsman before the 2004/2005 season. He started it by participating in the World Cup, where the team crashed in the semi-finals. In the season in which the NHL was not played, several pro league stars appeared at the World Cup in Vienna, and Růžička led his team to gold medals.
He subsequently quit the national team and returned to it in 2009. He ended the two-year period with another world champion title, which the Czechs won at the 2010 WC in Germany. For the third time, and for the last time, he became the coach of the national team in February 2014 and left it for good after the World Cup.
In 2015, he signed an unprecedented 10-year contract with the then extra-league club from Chomutov. In the end, it was not fulfilled, as the indebted club was relegated from the extra league in 2019. Růžička subsequently led the Hradec Králové team for two years, later replacing Vladimír Országh as head coach of Litvínov. During the 2022/2023 season, the club management dismissed him from his position.
A member of the Czech Hockey Hall of Fame, he was the captain of the iconic Czech national team that won the Olympic gold medal at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano.
Author: © Facebook list/HC SLOVAN Bratislava Source: TASR
2023-09-28 13:18:45
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