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Player of the Month

The European Hockey.Net European Player of the Month is awarded to the player with the most oustanding performance over the course of the month

Nominations are collected at the end of each month, then a vote by the site's admin team decides the winner.

January 2007 - Martin Prochazka

For nearly 20 years Czech winger Martin Prochazka has terrorised opposition defences. Now 35-years old and nearing the end of an impressive career, the forward isn't showing any signs of rust as he captured the European Hockey.Net Player of the Month award for January.

Martin Prochazka
Photo: © Marek Netolicka, hc-vsetin.cz

Skating for mid-table HC Kladno, Prochazka netted two hattricks in January and finished with nine goals and three assists from 10 games. Whereas these numbers are impressive, so are his season totals. After his return from Russia to Kladno in 2004 he saw his 38-point season followed up by a margina, Prochazka unworthy, 24 point season. But never write off the old warrior. The Czech legendary winger exploded for 51 points to silence the critics that claimed he was past his prime.

Although the award heads to the Prochazka home, the honours should go to someone else as well feels Michal Berg of eSports.cz, a Czech online hockey network. "Pavel Patera deserves just as much credit as Prochazka. None of them achieved anything notable without each other in their career," emphasizing the bloodlines both players have established on the ice over the years. "Sure, Prochazka is great player, but I assume 80% of his goals were achieved because of Pavel Patera assisting and vice versa."

When comparing the resume's of both players the conclusion is easy to draw. Whilst Prochazka entered the scene a couple of seasons before Patera, the pair soon gelled together forming a threatening force in the Czech Extraliga. The 1994-95 season was perhaps their best season. In total the pair combined for a whopping 157 points. It was the same year the pair took off together on the national team. A journey that led to many successes. More on that later.

After a single season together in Stockholm, Sweden, Prochazka twice had unsuccessful adventures in the NHL (Toronto Maple Leafs and Atlanta Thrashers) without Patera on his side. The next time he went abroad, he made sure his friend went with him. There was marginal success in Russia with top team Avangard Omsk, but at the start of the 03-04 season the divorce of the tandem turned ugly for Prochazka. His move to Khimik Voskresenk looked good financially but on the sportive end went totally wrong. A large number off off ice problems and three scoreless games later, he returned to Kladno, where he was re-united with Patera the next season. As if nothing had happened the pair continued to put up points on the board and become fan favourites again.

Prochazka's productive outburst this season has more reasons that Patera alone knows Michal Berg, "There are several reasons. For starters, the new rules at the start of the season saw referees to be more strict and this caused a lot of power plays. Kladno was the best team with the man advantage and Prochazka played a major role on the power play."

Secondly the team around him changed, so that opposition couldn't just focus on shutting down Kladno's first line. "He found new motivation in Kladno as several young players developed nicely (Jaroslav Kalla,Vitezslav Bilek, Martin Sevc, Martin Frolik) lowering the pressure on him. Nevertheless he had a lot of ice time,and that brings points to the table. The puzzle was perfect when old fellow Radek Belohlav, who was loaned to Kladno from Ceské Budejovice returned to the team to complete the power play unit they had in the glory days of HC Vsetin in the mid nineties."

The solid play of the "P2-duo" had Czech fans raving on a national team return for the upcoming World Championships in Russia. It would be a spectacular late career return after they last dressed up for a World Championships back in 2002. "National team coach Alois Hadamczik wanted to select them during the season for the European Hockey Tour but they preferred to take a rest, mainly because of the huge amount of ice time they play. Instead Hadamczcik was told to wait for the World Championships. Both players agreed to start in pre-championship camp, which started late March. However as Kladno was eliminated early from the post-season the pair hadn't been in action for nearly three weeks and cancelled their participation in camp. Added to that Prochakza suffered a knee injury and wasn't recovered in time. Patera decided not to accept the invite as well then." But don't be mistaken the two forwards are no longer interested in playing in the national colours.

"Patera has stated their biggest motivation for the national team was to have their children see their father return with a medal around their neck," Berg says.

His most memorable goal with the national team was the start of great things to come. In 1996 he scored the game winning goal 19 seconds before the end giving his country a 3-2 lead when he put the puck behind Curtis Joseph. It was te first gold medal for Prochazka in his second World Championships. Many would follow.

Back in the golden era of Czech hockey (1996-2001), when they won four World Championships and one Olympics, their children were too young to really grasp the moment. This year would have been an excellent opportunity not to rely on old tv shots solely. The two were the corner stones of the Czech team along with Robert Reichel, Jiri Dopita and Roman Cechmanek.

The chemistry between the two can be seen both as a strength as well as a weakness. Berg agrees, "They haven't had a lot of success without each other. Nowadays it is not a that big issue anymore as both players won't move anywhere else. Prochazka probably will play for two more years and then quit the game as I don't see him skating around in lower leagues. He would be demotivated playing against semi-professionals. It is likely Patera will quit at the same time as Prochaka."

Speaking of the end of their careers, one name can't be left unnoticed. Another famous Kladno winger is rumoured to return to Kladno in what should become an ultimate good-bye show in Czech hockey.

"I see it highly likely that Patera and Prochazka will be joined by Jaromir Jagr in their final season in Kladno."

Asked how Martin Prochazka should be remember in 20 years Berg is clear, "Prochazka will be remembered as a cornerstone of golden generation, hockey twin and guy with most dangerous backhand deke over the world."

Need I say more?

Interesting sidenote: For a long time there was a rumour going around in the Czech hockey scene involving Martin Prochazka. Anyone playing alongside him and Patera on the Czech national team will be cursed by bad luck. Otakar Vejvoda was forced to quit hockey due to a peculiar syndrome, Vladimir Vujtek suffered from long problems whilst Milan Hejduk suited up with the pair during the 1998 World Championships only to see him be stretchered off the ice with a broken jaw.

Related links

Martin Prochazka's profile