Retired forward Václav Nedomanský has become the second Czech to be
inducted into ice hockey’s Hall of Fame in Toronto. The other Czech to
have received this accolade was goaltender Dominik Hašek, back in 2014.
Nedomanský, now 75 and living in California, was a member of the
Czechoslovak world championship winning team in 1972 and scored 163 goals
in 220 games for the national side.
He later fled from communist Czechoslovakia and arrived in Toronto via
Switzerland. It was not until Nedomanský was 33 that he began his career
in the NHL, with stops at the Detroit Red Wings, the New York Rangers and
St. Louis Blues.
After his active career, Nedomanský initially worked as a coach, in
Schwenningen and Innsbruck. After the fall of the Iron Curtain, he worked
as a scout in Europe for the Los Angeles Kings.