IIHF Hall Of Fame Induction 2024
Jaroslav POUZAR (CZE)
Player
Born Cakovec, Czechoslovakia (Czechia), January 23, 1952
Jaroslav Pouzar was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2024 as a Player.
photo: © International Ice Hockey Federation / Andrea Cardin
A teammate of the younger Igor Liba in the late 1970s and early ’80s, Jaroslav Pouzar was the first Czech player to have his name engraved on the Stanley Cup. And he achieved this success by re-inventing his style of play for North America after having been a completely different player in Europe.
Indeed, his career is divided very clearly between his years in Czechoslovakia and his years in the NHL (and later Germany). He made his international debut at the 1976 Olympics (silver medal), and a few months later scored two goals in a critical 5-3 win over Sweden in the medal round of the Men’s World Championship en route to a gold medal, a victory as monumental for its political implications as for its sportive ones.
Pouzar completed his 1976 international hat trick by playing for the Czechs at the inaugural Canada Cup in September, scoring the 2-2 goal early in the third period of game two against Canada in the finals. This year marked the first of seven in a row Pouzar played top level international hockey for the Czechs. He helped his country win another Men’s Worlds gold in 1977 and then back-to-back silver medals in ’78 and ’79.
Indeed, his career is divided very clearly between his years in Czechoslovakia and his years in the NHL (and later Germany). He made his international debut at the 1976 Olympics (silver medal), and a few months later scored two goals in a critical 5-3 win over Sweden in the medal round of the Men’s World Championship en route to a gold medal, a victory as monumental for its political implications as for its sportive ones.
Pouzar completed his 1976 international hat trick by playing for the Czechs at the inaugural Canada Cup in September, scoring the 2-2 goal early in the third period of game two against Canada in the finals. This year marked the first of seven in a row Pouzar played top level international hockey for the Czechs. He helped his country win another Men’s Worlds gold in 1977 and then back-to-back silver medals in ’78 and ’79.
Jaroslav Pouzar had two distinct careers with one common element - winning.
photo: © IIHF / Czech Ice Hockey Association
At the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid, Pouzar was the leading goalscorer with eight, and he later played at the 1981 and ’82 Men’s Worlds as well as the second incarnation of the Canada Cup, in 1981.
And then it was like a switch flipped. The Edmonton Oilers selected him 83rd overall at the 1982 Entry Draft, and Pouzar moved to Canada and never played for national team again. The Oilers had wanted him to skate on an offensive line with Wayne Gretzky and Jari Kurri, but it quickly became clear he wasn’t cut out for that high-profile role. No matter. Coach Glen Sather instead put Pouzar on a line with Ken Linseman and Dave Lumley, and the threesome became a very effective, two-way line that could score a bit and play robust defence. A new “NHL Pouzar” was born.
He played three years with the Oilers, 1982-85, and when the Oilers beat the Islanders in the spring of 1984, Pouzar became the first Czech to hold the Stanley Cup. The team repeated a year later, after which he returned to Europe and played in Germany. Sather coaxed him back for one final championship, in 1986-87, after which Pouzar moved to Germany to finish out his career.
Part dynamic superstar at home, part history-maker in the NHL, Pouzar can easily count himself among the elite players of his generation.
And then it was like a switch flipped. The Edmonton Oilers selected him 83rd overall at the 1982 Entry Draft, and Pouzar moved to Canada and never played for national team again. The Oilers had wanted him to skate on an offensive line with Wayne Gretzky and Jari Kurri, but it quickly became clear he wasn’t cut out for that high-profile role. No matter. Coach Glen Sather instead put Pouzar on a line with Ken Linseman and Dave Lumley, and the threesome became a very effective, two-way line that could score a bit and play robust defence. A new “NHL Pouzar” was born.
He played three years with the Oilers, 1982-85, and when the Oilers beat the Islanders in the spring of 1984, Pouzar became the first Czech to hold the Stanley Cup. The team repeated a year later, after which he returned to Europe and played in Germany. Sather coaxed him back for one final championship, in 1986-87, after which Pouzar moved to Germany to finish out his career.
Part dynamic superstar at home, part history-maker in the NHL, Pouzar can easily count himself among the elite players of his generation.
