Henryk Jerzy Gruth (born 2 September 1957) is a former Polish 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 ...

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

. One of the best Polish players, Gruth played for

GKS Katowice GKS Katowice (; GKS stands for , ) is a Polish professional football club based in Katowice. They currently compete in the Ekstraklasa in the 2024–25 season after gaining promotion from the I liga in 2024. History In 1963 in Katowice a spe ...

and

GKS Tychy GKS Tychy is a Polish professional football club, based in Tychy, that competes in the Polish I liga. The club was founded in 1971. It played in the Ekstraklasa between 1974–1977 and 1995–1997. Their biggest success was a second-place finish ...

in Poland. He spent one season in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

with the

Zürcher SC The Zürcher Schlittschuh Club Lions are a professional ice hockey team located in Zürich, Switzerland, playing in the National League (NL). Their home arena is the 12,000-seat Swiss Life Arena. The team was founded in 1930 and played at the D ...

, where he scored seven goals and nineteen assists. He was inducted to the

IIHF Hall of Fame The IIHF Hall of Fame is a hall of fame operated by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). It was founded in 1997, and has resided at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto since 1998. Prior to 1997, the IIHF housed exhibits at the Interna ...

in 2006.

International career

Gruth was member of the Poland men's national ice hockey team for the 1980 Olympics, 1984 Olympics,

1988 Olympics 1988 Olympics refers to both: *The 1988 Winter Olympics, which were held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada *The 1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 () ...

and 1992 Olympics, as well as for 17

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

s. He holds the record for the most selection to the Polish squad, with 248, as well as the record for the most points (109). He was inducted to the

in 2006.

Coaching career

Following his playing days, Gruth turned to coaching. In 1996-97, he was

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

of EHC Salzgitter of the 2. Bundesliga in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. He had a record of 5-17-2. He was head coach of the

ZSC Lions The Zürcher Schlittschuh Club Lions are a professional ice hockey team located in Zürich, Switzerland, playing in the National League (NL). Their home arena is the 12,000-seat Swiss Life Arena. The team was founded in 1930 and played at the ...

when current head coach Christian Weber was downgraded to the role of assistant of Beat Lautenschlager with the GCK Lions of the NLB.

References

External links

Gruth's profile on eurohockey.net
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gruth, Henryk 1957 births Living people GKS Tychy (ice hockey) players Ice hockey people from Silesian Voivodeship Ice hockey players at the 1980 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 1984 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 1988 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 1992 Winter Olympics IIHF Hall of Fame inductees Olympic ice hockey players for Poland Polish ice hockey coaches Polish ice hockey defencemen Sportspeople from Ruda Śląska ZSC Lions players