Czechoslovak ice hockey player Ivan Glinka: biography, achievements, career and interesting facts

Glinka Ivan is a hockey player who brought Olympic gold to his country. It was with him that the love of hockey in the Czech Republic was clearly manifested and became visible to the whole world. And the number of fans in the state and their devotion to hockey have grown to unprecedented heights. And this is not surprising, because in the whole world hockey takes a leading position among the team games. This sport is not for the weak and truly draws the attention of the fans from a simple worker to the president himself. In addition, Glinka I. entered his name in the history of international hockey as the first European coach, the head of the NHL team.

Short biography of Ivan Glinka

Ivan is from a sports family. He was born in 1950, in January, on the 26th. His father played football and hockey well, but he was not a professional player. Little is known about his childhood. At school he studied well. The Russian language was the highest score. According to the hockey player himself, he spent all his childhood in sports and dreamed of becoming a successful football player or hockey player. Ivan intensively trained, and eventually hockey became the meaning of his life. As a result, at sixteen he began to play for Litvinov's club, and in twenty - Glinka is already the captain of the team and stands for the NHC.

As a family man, he took place and became the father of three wonderful children: two sons and a daughter.

An interesting fact is that Grandfather Glinka Ivan fought against the Reds in the composition of the Czech corps in the territory of Siberia, and he had to visit Omsk. Grandfather lived up to 80 years and died in 1978.

Later, coach I. Glinka will work in Omsk and call "Avangard" until the end of his team.

His life ended tragically in a car accident. This happened on August 16, 2004.

Glinka is a player

While still a sports hockey player, he played in the seventies attacking the national team of the Czech Republic. 1972, 1976, 1977 became significant in the career of a hockey player: Ivan Glinka became the world champion. He was able to participate in eleven such tournaments. 1976 was marked by participation in the Cup of Canada, where he became one of the best strikers. In addition, the hockey player won the gold of the Olympics in 1972 and silver in 1976.

During the seasons of 1981/83, Glinka Ivan played for the NHL in Vancouver, where he became one of the first Czech hockey players to go overseas. They were played 137 matches, in which points scored: 123 (42 + 81). In the playoffs on his account thirteen matches and thirteen (3 + 10) points. In 1983, the hero of our article and the "Canucks" performed in the final game of the Stanley Cup. Collected for the sporting season 1981/1982 sixty (23 + 37) points were the best result (at the time) in the history of "Vancouver" among the newcomers. Later this figure was exceeded by Russian hockey player Pavel Bure.

The international career of the hockey player was finished at an excellent (132 times) game in the national team.

Glinka - the coach

In 1983, the Czechoslovak ice hockey player Glinka Ivan returned to Europe, where he completed his career as a player in the Swiss club EV-Zug. And in 1985 he began his coaching career. His main achievements as a specialist, of course, are related to working in the Czech national team. As a coach, Ivan Glinka began his journey in the "Pittsburgh". Its leader was Brooks. As a result, 3 months before the end of the sports season in 1999/2000, he began to manage the "Penguins". Subsequently, the names of these two famous coaches will have an indirect tragic interweaving ...

Glinka was a very respected person both in the Czech Republic and abroad. As a coach, Glinka led the Czech team to victory in two world championships, to three prize results - at the Olympic Games. This includes the gold received in Nagano-98.

Coaching

After he became an assistant to Brooks in the "Pittsburgh", "Penguins" won 11 games out of 24, and in the playoffs entered the second round. The arrival of Glinka on 21.06.2000 as head coach of the team coincided with the return of the legend of Pittsburgh Mario Lemieux in big hockey. "Penguins" won in forty-two games for the playing season. As a result, they fought in the final of the Eastern Conference with future future champions from the "New Jersey".

But no success saved Glinka from dismissal at the beginning of the next season, as four meetings were lost at the start, and the team looked disorganized and unprepared. 55.8% of the success was shown by Glinka Ivan along with the "Penguins". His career, despite the previous high results, as the head coach of this team was interrupted by dismissal. Although, by the way, this indicator was the third achievement for Pittsburgh trainers in the history of the team.

Reasons for resignation

Among the above reasons, the main thing is the reluctance to learn the language. Such an unfriendly attitude with English imposed imprint on relations with many stars in the team. It was replaced by R. Kehoe (14.10.2001), his assistant. Glinka was very educated in the field of hockey, he had a broad outlook, extensive experience. But the language barrier became an insoluble problem for him. Among the players were North American hockey players. They did not want to learn the language of the country in which they trained. Therefore, they were forced to listen to Czech speech. Apparently, many did not like it. Although those who played under the leadership of Ivan Glinka, fully understand his demands, dispensing with no translation.

Return to Europe

After the "North American" experience was completed, the coaching biography also changed. Glinka Ivan returned to Europe, where he was appointed to the post of general manager of the Czech Olympic team - 2002. In the same year he was elected to the ice hockey Hall of Fame of the International Federation. After a while, Glinka was appointed to head coach of the Czech team to participate in the World Cup. In 2001, he was recognized as the best coach of the Czech Republic.

An interesting fact in the life of Glinka is the moment of his consent to become the coach of the Omsk "Vanguard" - one of the leading Russian hockey clubs. In the "Vanguard" also played several compatriots of the Czech coach.

The tragic death

After 1 year and 5 days after the car accident in Minnesota and the death of Brooks in it (11.08.2003), Ivan Glinka likewise passed away (August 16, 2004). He was only fifty-four years old.

This happened in the Czech Republic, not far from Karlovy Vary. The trainer's car collided with the oncoming truck. After the accident, Ivan Glinka was taken to the hospital, where after a while he left for another world. The injuries sustained in the accident were incompatible with life. It is known that before the tragedy he visited the banquet of the Czech hockey federation, met with the former striker Penguins, Jagr Yaromir, who agreed to play in the World Cup, joining the Czech national team.

The death of the coach of the national team caused a shock to all the people of the Czech Republic. The country was in undeclared mourning. The central Czech sports publication on the Internet, within 4 hours of the tragic events, has placed at least a dozen materials describing what happened, the president's address, and also highlighted some moments of life that Ivan Glinka lived-a great hockey player and a man with a capital letter! Over the headquarters of the Olympic mission of the Czechs in Athens, where the Summer Olympic Games were held at that time, the flag of the nation was lowered.

Glinka Ivan - the idol of many hockey players to this day. His contribution to the development of Czech hockey can not be overestimated - it is priceless.