Martin Růžička (15 December 1985) is a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

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 ...

player. Růžička is currently playing for

HC Oceláři Třinec HC Oceláři Třinec (''Třinec Steelers'') is a Czech ice hockey team from Třinec who play in the Czech Extraliga, the top tier of Czech ice hockey. Their home arena is the Werk Arena. The team's main sponsors are the local Třinec Iron and S ...

. Růžička has played professionally for

HC Sparta Praha Hockey Club Sparta Praha, commonly known as HC Sparta Prague, is a Prague-based Czech professional ice hockey team playing in the Czech Extraliga. The club has won four Czech championships (most recently in 2007) and four Czechoslovak champio ...

HC Znojemští Orli Orli Znojmo (in English Znojmo Eagles) is a Czech-based ice hockey team that currently plays in the 2nd Czech Republic Hockey League. The club Orli Znojmo is based in Znojmo and their home arena is Nevoga Arena. From 1999 to 2009, the club comp ...

HC Olomouc HC Olomouc is a professional ice hockey team in the Czech Extraliga, from the city of Olomouc. They won the Extraliga championship in the 1993/1994 season. In 1997, the club sold the Extraliga license to HC Karlovy Vary, and was thus relegated ...

and

Amur Khabarovsk Hockey Club Amur (), commonly referred to as the Amur Khabarovsk, is a professional ice hockey club based in Khabarovsk, Russia. It is a member of the Chernyshev Division in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). Located in the Russian Far East, th ...

. Růžička participated at the

2010 IIHF World Championship The 2010 IIHF World Championship was the 74th IIHF World Championship, an annual international ice hockey tournament. It took place between 7 and 23 May 2010 in Germany. The games were played in the Lanxess Arena in Cologne, SAP Arena in Mannh ...

as a member of the

Czech Republic men's national ice hockey team The Czech Republic men's national ice hockey team is the national ice hockey team of the Czech Republic. Since 2021, the team has been officially known in English as Czechia. It is one of the most successful national ice hockey teams in history ...

Playing career

Ruzicka was born in Beroun, and played his youth hockey with HC Berounsti Medvedi. Ruzicka began his

junior hockey Junior ice hockey is amateur-level ice hockey for 16 to 20 year-old players. National Junior teams compete annually for the IIHF World Junior Championship. The United States men's national junior ice hockey team are the defending champions from t ...

career with the HC Sparta Praha Under 18 squad in 2000–01. In 2001, he moved to HC Kladno, first for the under-18 squad, then moved up to the under-20 squad, playing two seasons for Kladno. Kladno won the junior title in 2003. Růžička then moved to North America to play major junior hockey for the

Everett Silvertips The Everett Silvertips are an American major junior ice hockey team based in Everett, Washington. The team plays in the U.S. Division of the Western Conference of the Western Hockey League (WHL), and hosts games at Angel of the Winds Arena. Th ...

in 2003–04. Růžička scored only 4 goals and 12 assists for Everett and was released after the season to re-enter the 2004 CHL European Import Draft. Růžička played for the

Lethbridge Hurricanes The Lethbridge Hurricanes are a Canadian junior ice hockey team based in Lethbridge, Alberta. The Hurricanes play in the Central Division of the Western Hockey League's Eastern Conference, and play their home games at the VisitLethbridge.com Are ...

in 2004–05, scoring 5 goals and 5 assists in 57 games. Ruzicka's goal was to play in the NHL but he was not drafted by the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

(NHL) and he returned to the Czech Republic in 2005. From 2005 until 2011, Ruzicka played for several teams in Czech leagues. He had his best season in the Czech Extraliga league with Trinec in 2010–11, scoring 24 goals and 26 assists for 50 points in 51 games. He broke the Extraliga playoff scoring record, scoring 30 points (15 goals, 15 assists) in 15 games. The previous record of 26 points in 13 games was set by Zigmund Palffy in 1992. The season led to the attention of

of the KHL, which has signed him for the 2011–12 season.

International play

Ruzicka played in the 2005 World Junior Championships for the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

. He has also played in the 2010 World Championship for the

. Ruzicka has also played in various 'friendly' games for the Czech Republic.

Awards

* ''Eurohockey'' Player of the Month, March 2011 * ''Eurohockey'' Player of the Month, October 2012

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ruzicka, Martin 1985 births Amur Khabarovsk players Czech ice hockey centres Everett Silvertips players Lethbridge Hurricanes players Living people HC Oceláři Třinec players HC Olomouc players Orli Znojmo players Sportspeople from Beroun HC Sparta Praha players Traktor Chelyabinsk players Ice hockey players at the 2018 Winter Olympics Olympic ice hockey players for the Czech Republic Ice hockey people from the Central Bohemian Region Czech expatriate ice hockey players in Canada Czech expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Czech expatriate ice hockey players in Russia 21st-century Czech sportsmen