Martin Prusek (born December 11, 1975) is a Czech

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 ...

coach and former professional ice hockey

goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as the goalie) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays in or near t ...

. During his playing career, Prusek appeared in 57 games 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 Ottawa Senators and Columbus Blue Jackets. Prusek currently serves as the goaltending coach for HC Vítkovice Steel of the Czech Extraliga.

Playing career

Martin Prusek started his professional ice hockey career in 1994 when he joined HC Vitkovice of the Czech Extraliga. After playing there for five seasons, Prusek was drafted by the Ottawa Senators in the sixth round of the 1999 NHL Entry Draft with the 164th overall pick. He made his North American debut with the Grand Rapids Griffins of the American Hockey League during the 2001–02 season. He also made his

debut that same season, appearing in one game with the Senators. Prusek appeared in 47 games with the Senators over the following two seasons, compiling a record of 28-8-4. During the 2004–05 NHL lockout, he returned to the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. Th ...

to play for Vitkovice and

HC JME 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 compe ...

. He came back to North America for the 2005–06 season, joining the Columbus Blue Jackets. After spending most of the 2005–06 season with the Blue Jackets AHL affiliate Syracuse Crunch, Prusek left North America and joined SKA Saint Petersburg in the Russian Super League. During 2007–08, he rejoined HC Vitkovice in the Czech Extraliga. In 2008-09 Prusek played in

Kontinental Hockey League The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL; russian: Континентальная хоккейная лига (КХЛ), Kontinental'naya khokkeynaya liga) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008. It comprises member clubs b ...

and after a brief contract with HC Spartak Moscow, he joined

Dinamo Riga Dinamo Riga ( lv, Rīgas Dinamo) is a professional ice hockey team based in Riga, Latvia. It is a member of the Latvian Hockey Higher League. The club is affiliated with HK Zemgale/LLU. The club was re-founded on 7 April 2008 as a successor of ...

for 2 seasons. After the 2009-10 season, Prusek once again rejoined HC Vítkovice Steel. Although he suffered from carditis and played just in 2 Extraliga games during all the 2010-11 season, he reached a silver medal. In summer 2011, he stepped into HC Vítkovice Steel pre-season players' camp, but on July 26 he announced his retirement decision and also he accepted the club's offer for the position of goaltender coach.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Awards

* Hap Holmes Memorial Award (lowest GAA in AHL): 2001–02 season (with Mathieu Chouinard and Simon Lajeunesse)

International achievements

Martin Prusek's first international team game was the game against Russia on December 17, 1995 in Moscow.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Prusek, Martin 1975 births Living people Binghamton Senators players Columbus Blue Jackets players Czech ice hockey goaltenders Dinamo Riga players Czech expatriate ice hockey players in Russia Grand Rapids Griffins players HC Spartak Moscow players HC Vítkovice players Ottawa Senators draft picks Ottawa Senators players Sportspeople from Ostrava SKA Saint Petersburg players Syracuse Crunch players Czech expatriate ice hockey players in Canada Czech expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Czech expatriate sportspeople in Latvia Expatriate ice hockey players in Latvia