Karel Gut (16 September 1927 – 6 January 2014) was 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, ...

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 ...

player and coach, who later worked in sports management. He was born in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

and later played in the Czechoslovak Extraliga. While Gut played soccer in his youth, he was better known as an, "offensive-minded hockey defenseman". Gut was inducted into the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

, and has also been inducted into the Czechoslovakian Ice Hockey Hall of Fame. He died on January 6, 2014, at the age of 86.

Playing career

Born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, Gut eventually began playing in the Czechoslovak Extraliga with Praha ATK. He later played for Tatra Smichov from 1951 to 1953. He would play the rest of his career with Spartak Praha Sokolova TJ. Gut also captained the Czechoslovakia men's national ice hockey team from 1952 to 1960. As a player, he won three bronze medals at the

Ice Hockey World Championships The Ice Hockey World Championships are an annual international men's ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). First officially held at the 1920 Summer Olympics, it is the sport's highest profile annual ...

, first in 1955 where he was voted the tournament's best defenseman, then again in

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th year ...

and in

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

. Gut also made three appearances at the

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

, and six

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

appearances.

Coaching career

In 1964 he retired from his playing career in ice hockey and became an ice hockey coach. Between 1973 and 1979 Gut was the coach for the then Czechoslovakia men's national ice hockey team who he lead on to win the gold at the

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 ...

in Poland and

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democrat ...

in Austria. In the late 1970s, after having observed

Roger Neilson Roger Paul Neilson, (June 16, 1934 – June 21, 2003) was a Canadian professional ice hockey coach, most notably in the NHL, where he served with eight teams in a checkered career. Known as Captain Video because of his technological contributi ...

of the

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...

using

ringette Ringette is a non-contact winter team sport played on ice hockey rinks using ice hockey skates, straight sticks with drag-tips, and a blue, rubber, pneumatic ring designed for use on ice surfaces. The sport is among a small number of organize ...

rings and concepts during a practice in Canada, Gut went back to

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

and introduced and modified these ideas and applied them to the training system for the national mens team's practices, which was then also applied as a training aid for Czechoslovakia's university ice hockey teams.

Management career

When Czechoslovakia was divided, Gut became chairman of the

Czech Ice Hockey Association The Czech Ice Hockey Association ( cs, Český svaz ledního hokeje, ČSLH) is the governing body of ice hockey in the Czech Republic. Structure According to the statutes, seven organs operate in the Czech Ice Hockey Association. Every two year ...

. The team went on to take the gold medal at the

1998 Winter Olympics The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 ( ja, 長野1998), was a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Japan, with some events taking place in the ...

in Japan and won four VM-Gold in 1996, 1999, 2000 and 2001.

References

External links

*
IIHF Hockey Hall of Fame bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gut, Karel 1927 births 2014 deaths Czechoslovak ice hockey coaches Czechoslovakia men's national ice hockey team coaches Ice hockey people from Prague Ice hockey players at the 1952 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 1956 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 1960 Winter Olympics IIHF Hall of Fame inductees Olympic ice hockey players of Czechoslovakia