Height 5 ft 11 in (180 cm) Playing career Role Ice hockey player Career end 1981 | Name Jiri Holecek Career start 1964 Weight 74 kg | |
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Born March 18, 1944 (age 80) Prague, Bohemia and Moravia, Nazi Germany(Occupied Czechoslovakia) ( 1944-03-18 ) Played for HC Kosice, HC Sparta Praha | ||
Interview Z1, (25. 2. 2010) host: Jiří Holeček
Jiří Holeček (born March 18, 1944) is a Czech professional ice hockey coach and former player. Holeček played in the Czechoslovak Elite League from 1964 to 1979, and on the Czechoslovak national team for many years.
After joining the military he participated in the hockey camp of Dukla Jihlava, but coming from an insignificant Slávia team at the time, he did not make it further than number three goaltender and was loaned to the HC Košice in the eastern part of the country. After starting his career on the Košice team in 1963–64, Holecek played there for 10 years until he joined Sparta Prague for the 1973/1974 season. Holecek played 488 league games and won six championships, as well as the Czechoslovak Golden Hockey Stick award for the best player in 1974.
He played 164 games for the national team, including ten World Championships (leading the team to gold in 1972, 1976, and 1977), being named the best goaltender five times. He played at the 1972 and 1976 Olympics and the 1976 Canada Cup.
Holecek finished his playing career in 1981 in Germany. In 1980s he worked as a coach of the Czechoslovak national ice hockey team goaltenders. He was inducted into the IIHF hall of fame in 1998.
Currently, he is working as goalie coach for one of the Prague junior hockey teams called HC Hvězda Praha.