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Ten years ago today, on August 16, 2004, internationally famous hockey player and coach Ivan Hlinka died in a traffic accident.
Ivan Hlinka (born 1950) won three World Championship titles in 1972, 1976 and 1977, Olympic silver in 1976 and bronze in 1972, and also played in the 1976 Canada Cup final. He wore the national team jersey in 256 games, including a three year spell when he was a captain of the team (1977-80), and scored 123 goals. On the club level, Hlinka played for Litvínov, Dukla Trenčín, the Vancouver Canucks and EV Zug. He played 525 games in the Czechoslovakian domestic league, socring 342 goals. In 1978 he won the annual "Golden Stick" award for the best Czechoslovakian player of the season.
As a coach, he led the national team of the Czech Republic at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano, Japan, winning the gold medal. With him behind the bench, the national team also won gold at the 1999 World Championship, bronze at the 1992 Olympics and four World Championships (1992, 1993, 1997, 1998). At the club level, Hlinka coached Litvínov, Freiburg, the Pittsburgh Penguins and Avangard Omsk. In 2002, Hlinka entered the IIHF Hockey Hall of Fame, and in 2008 the Czech Ice Hockey Association Hall of Fame.
In 2005, The Czech Ice Hockey Association has started a fundraising activity bearing Hlinka´s name, which supports and helps former hockey players and staff in difficult situations. Hlinka will be remembered on August 30, 2014 in the "Golden Game", when the Olympic team from Nagano faces a team composed of World Championship teams from 1999-2001.
