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Pelletier and Houda look back at
key performers from the Canada Cup/World Cup of
Hockey
Vladimir Dzurilla
Biography
On the night of
September 9, 1976 the 17,376 faithful at the
Montreal Forum and millions of North American
TV-viewers witnessed what many believe was one of
the best hockey games ever played. The clash was
between the world champions Czechoslovakia and the
mighty Canadians loaded with their best pros.
The hero of that night turned out to be pudgy
34-year old refrigeration repair man from Bratislava
named Vladimir Dzurilla. He stopped all 29 shots
that night and unthinkably shut out Canada in a 1-0
win.
Millions of Canadians were asking themselves:
"Who the heck is that ?"
Dzurilla was unknown to North American hockey fans,
but in Europe he was a highly regarded and well
respected veteran goalie. He in fact had made his
debut on the Czechoslovakian national team 16 years
earlier in 1960 and had accomplished a lot on the
international level. In the world championship
tournaments he had won two gold medals, three silver
and four bronze medals. He had also won two Olympic
silver medals and one bronze. In 1965 he was chosen
as the best goalie of the world championships and he
was an All-Star in 1965 and 1969.
Despite his impressive resume, even he couldn't
imagine shutting out the strong Canadian team. Both
Dzurilla and Canadian netminder Rogie Vachon were
brilliant in the game. After the game Ken Dryden, a
great goalie in his own right, just shook his head.
"I've never seen goaltending like that" he
said admirably.
Dzurilla quickly captured the hearts of the Forum
crowd and a lot of people in front of their TV sets.
After the game Dzurilla was given an ovation from
the knowledgeable Forum crowd.
Vladimir Dzurilla was born on August 2,1942 in
Bratislava, Slovakia and an area named Tehelné
Pole. As a kid his mother tried to encourage him to
do do something with music but Vladimir much rather
went to soccer games with his father. Obviously
Dzurilla liked sports and when he was 13 years old
he visited the best local club in Bratislava, Slovan
Bratislava for a tryout as a hockey goalie. They
didn't even give him a chance and said "No
thanks". So Dzurilla and a friend instead went
to a smaller club named Kovosmalt Petrzalka. There
he was given a tryout and the coach who was a former
goalie immediately saw the raw talent in Dzurilla.
Dzurilla played the 1956-57 season for the Kovosmalt
team and soon Slovan Bratislava, the club that had
rejected him wanted him badly. Dzurilla went on to
play for Slovan Bratislava between 1957-73. He then
played for Zetor Brno between 1973-78. Dzurilla, or
'Maco' as he was nicknamed by his teammates still
holds the Czech league record for goalies with 571
games played during a 19 year period. He also
represented Czechoslovakia 139 games. Only Jiri
Holecek has played more games as a goalie for
Czechoslovakia (164). Dzurilla closed out his
playing career in Germany where he played for
Augsburger EV 1978-79 and SC Riessersee 1979-82.
Dzurilla never played for a North American team,
although he was drafted by Edmonton Oilers of the
WHA. It surely wasn't a coincidence, because his
older brother Ted had emigrated to Edmonton in 1969.
Montreal's GM Sam Pollock was so impressed by
Dzurilla's performance in the 1976 Canada Cup that
he put him on Montreal's negotiation list although
he was 34. Pollock said that Dzurilla showed him
enough in that one game to warrant putting his name
on the list. Dzurilla however never got permission
to play in North America.
Dzurilla was a master at cutting off the angles for
opposing shooters. He had a good basic stance and
lightning fast reflexes for a man his size. His
weakness was that he had a habit of wandering out of
the net when he was expecting a shot from outside.
Canada's assistant coach Don Cherry noticed that and
before the finals told his players about Dzurilla's
eagerness to go far out. Eventually Darryl Sittler
scored the overtime goal on one of Dzurilla's
excursions out of his net.
After his playing career was over he became a
trainer in Czechoslovakia, Switzerland and Germany.
He was also IIHF's (International Ice Hockey
Federation) official goalie instructor for young
goalies in 1995. His last hockey game came in
Stockholm in May of 1995 when the Swedish oldtimers
played against the World oldtimer All-Stars. The
ever popular Dzurilla, with the trademark smile on
his face, won the player of the game award.
Unfortunately he suffered a fatal heart attack at
his home in Düsseldorf, Germany on July 25,1995,
only days before his 53rd birthday. He was a
legendary goalie in Europe and is without a doubt
Slovakia's greatest goalie of all time. He had a
hockey career that spanned over four decades, but he
never had a better game than the night he shut out
Team Canada.
|
Legends
of Team Canada Book Oct 2004
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