František "Frank" Kaberle () (born November 8, 1973) 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' Places * Czech, ...

former

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and ski ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the latter a reference to ...

. His playing career extended over 20 seasons, most notably in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

with the

Los Angeles Kings The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference and was founded on June 5, 1967, after Jack Kent ...

, Atlanta Thrashers, and the

Carolina Hurricanes The Carolina Hurricanes (colloquially known as the Canes) are a professional ice hockey team based in Raleigh, North Carolina. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference ...

Playing career

Kaberle was drafted 76th overall in the

1999 NHL Entry Draft The 1999 NHL Entry Draft was the 37th NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 26 at the FleetCenter in Boston. According to ''Sports Illustrated'' and other sports news agencies, at the time the 1999 draft was considered one of the deepest in talen ...

by the Kings. During the 1999-2000 season, he was traded to the Atlanta Thrashers for whom he would score his first career NHL goal on April 8, 2000 against Artūrs Irbe and the Carolina Hurricanes in a 4-3 Thrashers loss. Coincidentally, after the 2004-05 lockout, Kaberle would sign with Carolina. In the 2006 Stanley Cup Finals, Kaberle scored a power play goal in the second period of Game 7 against the

Edmonton Oilers The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton. The Oilers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. They play their home games at Rogers Place, which ...

, which would turn out to be the game and Stanley Cup winning goal. It would mark Kaberle's only Stanley Cup championship. During the off-season before the 2006–07 season, Kaberle suffered a shoulder injury, and was placed on the injured reserve on September 13, 2006. He was removed from the injured reserve on February 6, 2007, and scored the game winner that same night. After four seasons with the Hurricanes, Kaberle was declared a free agent after he was bought out his final year of his contract on July 28, 2009. With his North American career at a close, he returned to his native Czech Republic and re-joined his original club, HC Kladno, for the 2009–10 season. Kaberle played two more seasons in the Czech Extraliga with

HC Pardubice HC Dynamo Pardubice is a professional ice hockey club that plays in the Czech Extraliga. Its home venue is Enteria arena located in Pardubice. The club was originally named LTC Pardubice, acquiring its current name at the start of the 2015� ...

and HC Plzeň before concluding his professional career after the 2011–12 season.

International play

František Kaberle won the Ice Hockey World Championships five times: in 1996, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2005. In 2006, he won the bronze medal at the Olympic Games in Turin. That same year, he would become the third player (first and second were Igor Larionov and Pavel Datsyuk in 2002) to win both bronze medal and Stanley Cup.

Personal life

František Kaberle married his wife Kateřina on May 30, 1998. They have two daughters named Francesca and Vanessa. His brother Tomáš Kaberle is a former NHL and Czech Extraliga player and is also a fellow Stanley Cup champion with the

Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team has been in existence since 1924, making t ...

in 2011. Both of the Kaberle brothers were named to the Czech national ice hockey team for the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second ...

, winning bronze. His father František Kaberle, Sr. used to play for the

Czechoslovak national ice hockey team The Czechoslovakia men's national ice hockey team was the national ice hockey team of Czechoslovakia, and competed from 1920 until 1992. The successor to the Bohemia national ice hockey team, which ...

as well.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kaberle, Frantisek 1973 births Atlanta Thrashers players Carolina Hurricanes players Czech ice hockey defencemen Ice hockey players at the 2006 Winter Olympics Rytíři Kladno players Living people Long Beach Ice Dogs (IHL) players Los Angeles Kings draft picks Los Angeles Kings players Lowell Lock Monsters players Modo Hockey players Olympic bronze medalists for the Czech Republic Olympic ice hockey players of the Czech Republic Sportspeople from Kladno Stanley Cup champions Olympic medalists in ice hockey HC Dynamo Pardubice players HC Plzeň players Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics