Marián Šťastný

Marián Šťastný ( born January 8, 1953 in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia ) is a former Czechoslovak ice hockey player who spent five seasons 1981-1986 in the National Hockey League, winning several medals at the World Ice Hockey Championships.

Career

Marián Šťastný began his career at the Slovan Bratislava CHZJD, for whom he played from 1970 in the Czechoslovak first league. He remained loyal to his club until 1980 when he graduated from 14 games for HC Dukla Jihlava. During his time in Bratislava, he was elected twice to the All- Star team in the league.

His first international title fight contested Marian 1972 at the European U18 Championships. From 1975 he regularly took part in the World Championships and won the gold medal in 1976 and 1977 as well as 1975, 1978 and 1979, the silver medal.

In 1980 he took part along with his younger brothers Peter and Anton at the Olympic Winter Games in Lake Placid. During a tournament in Austria, his brothers from the team broke away and did not return to Czechoslovakia, but moved to Canada. Although Marian returned, but was suspended due to the escape of his brothers for the entire season 1980/81. In the summer of 1981, he fled with his wife and three children also to Canada and joined the Quebec Nordiques as a free agent, where his brothers were already under contract. In 1983, he participated with his brother Peter at the NHL All-Star Game.

Marian remained until 1985 when the Nordiques, who submitted it to the Toronto Maple Leafs before the 1985/86 season. But he played only one season for the Leafs, and finished his career after one season at HC Sierre in the Swiss National League A. He first worked as coach of HC Sierre. Later he moved to the vicinity of Quebec City and worked as a youth coach. Today, he owns a golf club and a hotel in St. Nicolas on the Saint Lawrence River.

In addition to his two younger brothers are or were other members of his family hockey player: His older brother Vladimir was assistant coach of the Slovak national ice hockey team. His two nephews, Yan Stastny and Paul Stastny are active NHL players.

Awards and achievements

Statistics

* Statistics incomplete