František Musil (born December 17, 1964), more commonly known in North America as Frank Musil, 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

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) 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. In ice hockey, two o ...

player who spent several seasons in the

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

(NHL) with the

Minnesota North Stars The Minnesota North Stars were a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL) for 26 seasons, from 1967 to 1993. The North Stars played their home games at the Met Center in Bloomington, Minnesota, and the team's colors fo ...

Calgary Flames The Calgary Flames are a professional ice hockey team based in Calgary. The Flames compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference, and are the third major professional ice hockey tea ...

Ottawa Senators The Ottawa Senators (french: Sénateurs d'Ottawa), officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member ...

, and

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 ...

. Musil is currently an amateur scout for the Sabres and assistant coach for the

Czech national ice hockey team The Czech Republic men's national ice hockey team is the national ice hockey team of the Czech Republic. It is one of the most successful national ice hockey teams in the world and a member of the so-called " Big Six", the unofficial group of th ...

Playing career

Musil was selected in the second round of the

1983 NHL Entry Draft The 1983 NHL Entry Draft was the 21st NHL Entry Draft. It was held at the Montreal Forum in Montreal, Quebec, on June 8, 1983. The NHL Entry Draft is the primary means by which players arrive in the National Hockey League. The St. Louis Blues did ...

, 38th overall, by the

. He played on 1985 Gold Medal winning

IIHF Men's 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 ...

for Czechoslovakia. In addition to playing in various professional European leagues, Musil played 797 games in the

NHL 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 ...

, for Minnesota as well as the

and

. Musil's draft position fell, but not because of talent, as there was some uncertainty whether he would be able to escape

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

, then a

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...

country. Musil obtained a holiday visa and travelled to

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...

with his girlfriend. Leaving her at the resort, Musil met with Minnesota General Manager

Lou Nanne Louis Vincent Anthony Nanne (born June 2, 1941) is a Canadian-born American former National Hockey League defenceman and general manager. He played in the National Hockey League with the Minnesota North Stars between 1968 and 1978 and then served ...

and player agent

Ritch Winter Ritch Winter (born January 23, 1957 in Edmonton, Alberta) is an ice hockey sports agent. Founder and former CEO of ''The Sports Corporation'', based in Edmonton, Winter currently owns ''Raze Sports'' representing around 40 National Hockey League ...

, who had arranged for an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the " United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, ...

work visa. Winter and Nanne used the work visa to fool the border guards, who were unaware that Musil was a defecting hockey star. Thus, in the summer of 1986, Musil arrived in

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the List of U.S. states and territories by population, 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minne ...

, and began his NHL career that fall. Musil retired from hockey at the end of the 2000–01 season, and was hired by the Oilers as a scout. Musil is married to former professional

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball c ...

player

Andrea Holíková Andrea Holíková (born 15 January 1968) is a former Czechoslovak tennis player. She comes from the family of successful hockey players – she is the daughter Jaroslav Holík, the elder sister of Bobby Holík, and the niece of Jiří Holík. Ho ...

, who is the sister of former NHL player

Bobby Holík Bobby "The Geek" Holík (born January 1, 1971) is a Czech-American former professional ice hockey center who played 18 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL). Holík is the son of Jaroslav Holík, a Czechoslovak ice hockey world champion i ...

. Musil's son,

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

, is a professional hockey player who has played in the NHL for

. His son Adam was selected by

St. Louis Blues The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis. The Blues compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the ...

as the 94th pick of the

2015 NHL Entry Draft The 2015 NHL Entry Draft was the 53rd NHL Entry Draft. The draft was held on June 26–27, 2015, at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, Florida. The first three selections were Connor McDavid going to the Edmonton Oilers, Jack Eichel going to the ...

. His daughter, Dana, played

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

for the University at Buffalo Bulls.

Awards

*World Junior Championship medals- silver (1982, 1983), bronze (1984) *World Championship medals- silver (1983), gold (1985), and bronze (1992)

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Musil, Frank 1964 births Buffalo Sabres scouts Calgary Flames players Czech ice hockey defencemen Detroit Vipers players Edmonton Oilers players Edmonton Oilers scouts HC Dukla Jihlava players HC Karlovy Vary players HC Dynamo Pardubice players HC Sparta Praha players Indianapolis Ice players Living people Minnesota North Stars draft picks Minnesota North Stars players Ottawa Senators players Sportspeople from Pardubice Saschen Füchse players