Eduard Novák

Eduard Novák ( born November 27, 1946 in Buštěhrad, Czechoslovakia, † 21 October 2010) was a Czech professional ice hockey player who played for many years for Poldi Kladno SONP and the Czechoslovak national team on the right wing. After end of his career he worked as a hockey coach and ran a shop for sporting goods.

Career as a player

Eduard Novák graduated during his time in the top division of Czechoslovakia 560 league games in 16 seasons, scoring 306 goals. He began his career with Poldi Kladno and later played one season for Dukla Kosice (1965 /66), Dukla Pisek (1966 /67) TJ Gottwaldov (1980 /81). He won five Czechoslovak league titles with Kladno ( 1975-78 and 1980). After these successes Novák received permission to move to the West. His first stop abroad was the EC Klagenfurt (1981 /82), later moving to the Japanese club Furukawa Denko ( 1982-84 ), and finally to Duisburg SC in the season 1984/85.

In addition to his career at club level Eduard Novák also had great success in international championships. With the Czechoslovak Mr. selection, he won two medals at the Winter Olympics and five medals at World Championships. His first appointment to the national team, he received the Hockey World Cup 1971 ( silver medal ) and took off this time regularly participates in the World Cup. A year later he was appointed to the squad for the 1972 Winter Olympics and won the Bronzemedaille.1976 was followed by another at the Olympics, where he won the silver medal with the Czechoslovak selection. In the national team, he scored 48 goals in 113 international matches for Czechoslovakia.

Career as a coach

Since the end of his career, Novak worked as a coach. In the 1986/87 season he coached his hometown club Poldi Kladno. At the beginning of the season 1988/89 he took over the TJ Gottwaldov and managed this club for two years. Later he returned to Kladno before he stood at the end of the 1992/93 season at the band of the HC Škoda Plzeň. During the 1993/94 season, he took over as coach at EV Duisburg and thus returned to his last player station. His involvement with the foxes ended during the following season, but he returned in the course of the season 1997/98. After his first engagement in Duisburg Novák coached briefly also Schalke sharks. He also took care of his sporting goods store which he ran together with František Kaberle senior. In the season 1996/97 he was again head coach of HC Zlín. In December 1997, he resigned and took over in the summer of 1999 the second division HC Kralupy nad Vltavou. But even there he was not employed long, but returned in December 1999 back to Kladno and coached the team of HC Kladno until the end of 2000/ 01. Since then he ran together with František Kaberle senior a hockey school in Marianske Lazne. On 21 October 2010 Novák died in his sleep at the consequences of a heart attack. On 28 October 2010, he was buried in Kladno.

Awards and achievements

• Czechoslovak league titles 1975-78 and 1980
• Gold medal at the World Championships in 1976 and 1977
• Silver medal at the World Championships in 1971, 1975
• Bronze medal at the World Championships 1973