Roman Čechmánek, the Olympic and three-time World Champion Czech goaltender who was part of the golden era of post-communist Czech hockey, was announced to have died at the age of 52 today in Czechia.

The epitome of a journeyman, Čechmánek played for thirteen different clubs in four countries over the course of his 21 year pro career, starting his career with five clubs in five seasons in the Czechoslovak, then Czech, Extraliga. It was in 1993 he joined Vsetín, which would become his longest-tenured club at eight seasons, leaving for North America in 2000. A late draft pick of the Philadelphia Flyers, Čechmánek spent four years in the NHL system between the Flyers, Los Angeles Kings and Flyers’ AHL affiliate, returning to Vsetín during the 2004-05 NHL lockout. Čechmánek would split the next two seasons between the Czech, German and Swedish leagues before returning to the Extraliga, joining Třinec in 2007 for his final three pro seasons. Čechmánek would caputre six Extraliga titles (1991, 1995-99), winning top goalie honours another five times, and would capture the NHL’s Jennings Trophy in 2003.

Internationally, Čechmánek was a member of the Narodnitym since he was eighteen, playing for the Czechoslovakian World Junior team in 1991 before the country split a year later, capturing Bronze. Čechmánek debuted both for Czechia and the senior national team at the 1995 World Championship, his first of eight tournament appearances between 1995 and 2007, where he would capture Gold in 1996, 1999 and 2000, also winning a pair of Bronzes in 1997 and 1998. Part of the Czech hockey juggernaut of the late 1990’s, Čechmánek also suited up at two Olympics (1998 and 2002), capturing Gold at the former in Nagano. Čechmánek also competed at both the 1996 and 2004 World Cup of Hockey, in addition to the Euro Hockey Tour in 2000, 2004 and 2007.

Our condolences go out to the Čechmánek family, as well as the extended hockey community across the many places he played in North America and Czechia, on the unexpected and tragic loss of a player gone too soon.

Photo Credit: Český olympijský tým – IIHF – HHOF – IOC