1978-1979
TIP magazine:
Best player of the season at each position:
For seasons 1977-78 and 1978-79, TIP´s best players at G, D and F position were determined solely thanks to aggregate statistical evaluation of each player. There was no voting in this for these two seasons. Karel Gut´s throughout season regularly published “Our Canadian Scoring” or “Expert Scoring” decided the winners. As I´ve said in the past, rules of this aggregate statistics had been evolving, I don´t have yet all the information I need to post everything about evolution of this through time (so far I´ve gathered data up to 1970-71..), but I´ll get to that in future. Eventually last main thing I am going to post in the thread will be “normal” scoring, i. e. goals and assists of skaters (I have in some cases different versions of points from different sources..) and +/- of skaters each season.
Goaltenders:
…And here I have the main problem.
Supposedly from late 50s until 1972-73, the main determinant of CSSR goalie ranking was the classic save percentage. Between 1983-84 and 1989-90, goalie formula was: (100 - SV%)*GAA=xy; and the lower „xy“ was, the higher finish for a goalie. And formula that was applied between 1973-74 and 1982-83 is nowhere explained, or at least I didn´t find the explanation. Goalie tables for these years always posts 4 columns: games played, goals allowed, saves, and “points” derived from unknown formula. Difference here is that the higher the number of points, the higher finish in ranking.
Jiri Kralik won the 1979 TIP´s best goalie award with 263 points.
1. Jiří Králík (Jihlava): 32 games / 56 goals allowed / 846 saves / 263 points
2. Marcel Sakáč (Slovan): 42 games / 116 goals allowed / 1093 saves / 210 points
3. Miroslav Krása (Kladno): 40 games / 116 goals allowed / 1183 saves / 189 points
4. Jiří Crha (Pardubice): 37 games / 117 goals allowed / 1121 saves / 163 points
5. Jan Hrabák (Litvínov): 28 games / 78 goals allowed / 830 saves / 161 points
6. Luděk Brož (Vítkovice): 26 games / 85 goals allowed / 822 saves / 133 points
7. Miroslav Termer (Sparta): 27 games / 83 goals allowed / 805 saves / 124 points
8. Pavol Svitana (Košice): 39 games / 156 goals allowed / 1380 saves / 123 points
9. Jaroslav Radvanovský (Brno): 29 games / 105 goals allowed / 975 saves / 121 points
10. Jaromír Šindel (Vítkovice): 18 games / 51 goals allowed / 554 saves / 116 points
Defensemen:
Formula applied to skaters was: goal scored = 6-10 points, assist = 4-8 points, presence on ice when goal is scored = 2-4 points, presence on ice when goal is allowed at even strength = -2 points, presence on ice when goal is allowed at PK = -1 point, presence on ice when goal is allowed at PP = -3 to -4 points, player also receives -4 points if opposing team scores on PP during his penalty. And
“determining concrete number of points depends on the importance of a goal scored or allowed.” …Looks extremely complicated to me, as a result of this, this season´s system produced 25 out of the ‘top 30 forwards’ as a ‘minus’ players; d-men did better with 11 out of the top 15 finishing the season as ‘plus’ players.
System was not always this complicated, until 1977 points were given roughly this way: goal=5p, assist=3p, on ice when goal scored=1p, no goal during PK=1p, on ice at ES or PP when goal allowed=-1p, player whose penalty leads to a goal=-1p.
D-men and forwards tables for these years always posts 5 columns: goals, assists, ‘plus’ points, ‘minus’ points, and overall number of points derived from the formula described above.
Jozef Bukovinsky won the 1979 TIP´s best defenseman award with 202 points.
1. Jozef Bukovinský (Slovan): 11 goals / 15 assists / +198 / -126 / 202 points
2. Ľubomír Ujváry (Slovan): 3 goals / 18 assists / +154 / -89 / 155 points
3. František Kaberle (Kladno): 8 goals / 16 assists / +132 / -131 / 119 points
4. Jiří Bubla (Litvínov): 12 goals / 25 assists / +106 / -166 / 116 points
5. Jaroslav Lyčka (Vítkovice): 10 goals / 3 assists / +112 / -71 / 113 points
Forwards:
Marian Stastny won the 1979 TIP´s best forward award with 353 points. Notice the entire 1st unit of Slovan Bratislava at the top of this scoring, with only Martinec clinching in. No wonder that Slovan won their first league title this year, interrupting the Kladno dynasty..
1. Marián Šťastný (Slovan): 39 goals / 35 assists / +74 / -109 / 353 points
2. Vladimír Martinec (Jihlava, Pardubice): 42 goals / 20 assists / +58 / -87 / 305 points
3. Anton Šťastný (Slovan): 32 goals / 19 assists / +134 / -124 / 286 points
4. Peter Šťastný (Slovan): 32 goals / 23 assists / +106 / -119 / 279 points
5. Milan Nový (Kladno): 33 goals / 23 assists / +70 / -130 / 238 points
Save percentage of ‘top 10 goalies’ of the season:
1. Jiří Králík (Jihlava): 32 games / 56 goals allowed / 846 saves / 0.9379 %
2. Jaromír Šindel (Vítkovice): 18 games / 51 goals allowed / 554 saves / 0.9157 %
3. Jan Hrabák (Litvínov): 28 games / 78 goals allowed / 830 saves / 0.9149 %
4. Miroslav Krása (Kladno): 40 games / 116 goals allowed / 1183 saves / 0.9107 %
5. Miroslav Termer (Sparta): 27 games / 83 goals allowed / 805 saves / 0.9065 %
6. Luděk Brož (Vítkovice): 26 games / 85 goals allowed / 822 saves / 0.9063 %
7. Jiří Crha (Pardubice): 37 games / 117 goals allowed / 1121 saves / 0.9055 %
8. Marcel Sakáč (Slovan): 42 games / 116 goals allowed / 1093 saves / 0.9041 %
9. Jaroslav Radvanovský (Brno): 29 games / 105 goals allowed / 975 saves / 0.9028 %
10. Pavol Svitana (Košice): 39 games / 156 goals allowed / 1380 saves / 0.8984 %
WHC 1979 Save percentage:
Tournaments´ SV% before the 80s are hard to find. For this though, I was able to find stats of just 3 allegedly best goaltenders of the championship in
Gól magazine. Other than that, you can find at this
link stats of Czech and Slovak goalies at international tournaments too.
1. Jim Craig (USA): 5 games / 125 shots / 11 goals allowed / 0.9120 %
2. Vladislav Tretiak (USSR): 7 games / 123 shots / 12 goals allowed / 0.9024 %
3. Jorma Valtonen (Finland): 4 games / 102 shots / 11 goals allowed / 0.8922 %
4. Jiří Králík (CSSR): 6 games / 83 saves / 17 goals allowed / 0.8300 %
5. Marcel Sakáč (CSSR): 4 games / 72 saves / 15 goals allowed / 0.8276 %
Other:
1) Goalies
Miloslav Charouzd, former National Team player in the 50s and a great hockey journalist in the 70s (his reports and insights about various hockey-related stuff is one of the best things to read in
Gól, I´ll be citing him frequently..), has written interesting commentary about this year´s CSSR goalies Kralik, Sakac and its goalie situation in general. After WC 79, issue was quite obvious: contemporary goaltenders are not able to stop the Soviets just like the former Holecek-Dzurilla duo was. Czechoslovaks were still able to outplay other nations and earn the silver medal once again, but humiliating defeats from their biggest rival (1:11 and then 1:6 against USSR) were a tough pill to swallow. Generally, the goalies seemed – very uncharacteristically for CSSR – the biggest weakness of the team (just as at Olympics ´80..), and Charouzd logically asks why, when Kralik plays continually so well with Jihlava and Sakac this year was one of the main culprits of the surprising run of Slovan Bratislava to its first title? Charouzd writes:
“Our National Team goaltenders Králík with Sakáč have been quite well prepared when it comes to technical side of things. Skating abilities, agility, work with the stick and quickness of the reaction on a shot… you cannot make many significant complaints about our top goalies including Crha in this area.” But they do have one giant shortage on former Holecek – Dzurilla duo, and that is:
“desperately small set of experience from serious world competition.” The mental side of goaltending can only be gained through an actual playing those nervous, intense and exciting games against high-quality teams such as USSR, according to Charouzd. And he reminds readers that even Holecek and Dzurilla originally went through struggles at international competition too and both took some time when they gained the highest honours and shake off the pressure of their shoulders.
“That´s why especially Králík did not sufficiently employ his real goaltending abilities.” Every player gains a sense of his own value on the basis of his results on a week-by-week games more or less on a domestic level. Charouzd states that our (=Czechoslovak) goalies have established an inflated self-esteem through games with the usual adversaries in the League.
“Králík plays for the team with the best organized defense in the League which is essentially a certain disadvantage for him. Holeček, whether he played for Košice or Sparta, just as Dzurilla in Bratislava or Brno, were in fact conversely forced by their teammates to constantly solve complicated situations and they themselves decided the outcome. Králík, despite his undeniable goaltending qualities, is in Dukla merely a supplementary part of excellent defense, of course the result gets usually decided by shooting potency of Jihlava´s forwards and rarely by his performance in goal. Naturally then, that a necessary conflict has to emerge with him at the World Championship in a game with equal or even better rival. Namely league awards have been achieved by Králík relatively easier than in a tournament environment. That´s why he lost confidence in tough deciding game against USSR and failed to deliver even standard performance, just as Sakáč.” Not sharing duties of organizing defense from a goal, just like Králík´s and Sakáč´s predecessors did, i.e. forming a compact G + 2D unit, was also the reason why Czechoslovaks let in so many goals at the championship. In this sense, Tretiak gets praise on how calmly and effectively can direct his players in a defensive zone. North American goalies did not focus on this part but they would impress with quick passing the puck for a counter-attack when they retrieved the puck from opponent´s previous attack.
Final WHC ´79 report in the magazine (so no Charouzd´s commentary) writes the same things. Goalie in the League develops different habits than in the Championship so success on one level does not necessarily have to translate to the next level.
“Neither of them has yet faced the pressure of four offensive lines against which there is not a slightest moment to rest, they´ve had little experience to counter flashy plays of individuals (Balderis, Makarov, Golikovs), they´ve been surprised by large shooting activity by Canadians in the second match.” To be fair to goalies, article also mentions poor or just average performance of most CSSR defensemen and the way coaches handled the goalies is problematized too – specifically the fact that they called in and took the third goalie (Jiri Crha) during the tournament after first few games had already been played which further contributed to lack of Kralik´s and Sakac´s self-confidence.
2) Dukla Jihlava
It has been already stated above… I´ve seen countless mentions about “team-oriented defensive style of hockey” that the ‘army team’ Dukla Jihlava has been producing each season. Just an example from 78-79 league season overview:
“So the second place is a pleasant surprise… More serious issue is that constantly lesser quality players get drafted; such players that would become an immediate asset. Dukla is renowned by its polished defensive game (average GAA 1.9 this season) and so even young players in this conception are able to perfectly fulfill entrusted tasks. To thoroughly defend, to skate with opponent over whole rink. Although they mostly lack something by which they would expanded coach´s orders: to create chances and score goals.” Jihlava was a team coached between 1957-1982 by Jaroslav Pitner and was used almost as a “laboratory” for tactics “employable” in the National team, such as LW-lock system, and for scouting, training and raising young talented players potentially suited for international competition. Due to its character, it was usually the youngest domestic team, and the roster was substantially changing every season, much in contrast with the rest of the league teams. Perhaps best example to demonstrate defensive efficiency of Dukla is to look at period when they were NOT a dynasty – 1975-1980 period of Kladno winning 5 titles: during these 6 seasons, Jihlava allowed 600 goals in 252 games, 2.38 GAA; Kladno allowed 652 goals in 252 games, 2.59 GAA. Jihlava maintained the League´s best defense for a period of roughly 20 years (1965-1985) regardless of them winning the title or not. Kralik´s numbers should be taken with this fact in mind, although he was obviously one of the main reasons why Jihlava continued to be defensively successful. Don´t get me wrong, Kralik would still have been posting great numbers in any team, just a liiittle bit less great.
3) Slovan Bratislava.
This season´s winner. Worth to put in here description of them and how they managed to win:
“Many times they strived for title, last years were quite thin for them though. In previous season they were even the last for 10 rounds. Yet no one worried about their destiny, on the contrary: some would bet on their bright future. But that the Champion would crystallize from this young collective already this season, that is a little shock. Smart conceptual work (5 junior league titles in a row and regular scouting of talents over the whole Slovakia) has brought the first fruit. (…) Bratislava with its game defies the tradition of the Czechoslovak hockey school, they do not come from a secured defense, they build almost everything on a complex offense. Pressure, against which an opponent is facing especially in Bratislava, is big and relentless. Team has 2 strong units and one completely unparalleled. Opponent skates on the ice against P. Šťastný´ unit with one thought: not let them score too much. Only rarely someone achieves that. No one has the courage and strength to outplay the offensive game of this unit composed from physically, technically and tactically matured hockey players. Particularly multiple champion bitterly realized that this year: Kladno did not gain a single point against Slovan… Marián Šťastný is currently the leading individual in the League, creating with his teammates the strongest unit of the competition – but they´re not alone. There were other players regularly appearing among the best players in the Canadian scoring: Sakáč playing in his life form (although he was paying the price for total attacking of his team in the Canadian scoring to his detriment), defensemen Ujváry and Černý, forwards Miklošovič, Jaško, Bezák. And naturally the whole unit which was nominated into the National team.”
4) Jiri Bubla.
While Bubla became the most productive d-man in the League for 4th time in a row now, he would still slowed down a bit this year as you can see by his -60, he would also miss his buddy Hlinka in Litvínov because he got drafted and played for Trenčín for half of the season. Bubla´s strong 3rd place finish in Golden stick voting (same as in previous season) came this time more on the merit of his WHC ´79 performance, which was most likely his very best showing at that level. In the final report of that Championship is mentioned how he was anchor of the team again and that he won his All-star nod and Directoriate´s best d-man award in spite of playing “half of the final group” (so I assume the last 3 games out of 8 overall) under injections and on his own will because of some unspecified injury.
5) Jan Starsi, Vincent Lukac.
After WHC ´79, there was an interesting interview with Jan Starsi, assistant coach to Karel Gut at the National Team between 1974-1979 (Gut left a year later). Given that Starsi officially finished this tenure, interview was conducted in a balanced appraising mode. I picked just a three questions and answers that caught my attention the most:
Journalist: Which rookie during your tenure fit into the team the most quickly?
Starší:
“Definitely Peter Šťastný in a year 1976, one of the most striking talents of our hockey. Already then, three years ago, he managed to increase the level of Nový´s line and to score goals.”
Journalist: 43 players have played during your tenure. Which of them have you perceived as a world class players?
Starší:
“Goaltenders Holeček and Dzurilla, defensemen Pospíšil, Bubla and forwards Jiří Holík, Martinec, Hlinka, Ebermann, from younger generation Marián and Peter Šťastný.”
Journalist: Any player whom you gave a chance and left you disappointed?
Starší:
“It was an honor for everyone whom we gave an opportunity to fight for a national jersey and their biggest goal was to play for Team Czechoslovakia. Of course not everybody has fully succeeded. For example I expected more from very talented Vincent Lukáč.”
The last sentence was a bit revealing to me. Anybody who closely followed the scoring of CSSR league of 70s and 80s had to notice excellent numbers that Lukac was producing. His domestic scoring finishes are no worse than Martinec´s for example.. Yet, Lukac´s international record looks nothing like a Czechoslovak hockey star of late 70s/early 80s. To add to information that at late 70s he was somewhat of an underachiever internationally, Lukac tended not to provide anything more than scoring and was reputed as quite one-dimensional winger, as his this season´s +/- indicates: of all ‘top 30’ forwards and ‘top 15’ defensemen, Lukac´s
-119 was by far the worst record.
... great photo's.
