Eliáš wins Zlatá hokejka

24 Jun 2012 | Derek O’Brien

The Zlatá hokejka (Golden Hockey Stick) is an annual award presented to the best Czech hockey player in the world, regardless of where he plays. On Saturday night in Karlovy Vary, veteran Patrik Eliáš won the award for the second time.

With the season he had, it shouldn't have even been close and, when the voting results were released, it wasn't. Patrik Eliáš, who recorded 78 points in 82 regular-season NHL games and then helped lead the New Jersey Devils to the Stanley Cup Final, won the Zlatá hokejka, awarded annually to the best Czech hockey player in the world, by a decisive margin. He previously won the award in 2009.

Eliáš, who is awaiting his U.S. Green Card, was not able to attend the event in person. "I consider the Zlatá hokeja a big award, which I appreciate, and I regret that the time couldn't be managed so that I could come to Karlovy Vary in person," he said via telephone from the Caribbean. On his season, he said, "It was unbelievable how we were able to come together in New Jersey under a new coach (Peter DeBoer). We enjoyed every moment of it."

Eliáš (in the red jersey) playing for the Czech national team

Jaromír Jágr, a ten-time winner of the award, finished a distant second place, two points ahead of Ottawa Senators forwardMilan Michálek. "(The voting result) is a nice reflection of the best season of my career," he told Martin Kézr of website sport.cz.

Other winners from Saturday night's gala were Radka Lhotská, who won as best female player for backstopping the Czech women win the IIHF Division I tournament and qualify for next year's World Championship in Ottawa, Pavel Kubeš, who won for best sledge hockey player, and Petr Mrázek for best junior hockey player.

From zlatahokejka2012.cz, here are the final voting results:

1. PATRIK ELIÁŠ     New Jersey Devils (NHL)   594 points
2. JAROMÍR JÁGR     Philadelphia Flyers (NHL) 409
3. MILAN MICHÁLEK   Ottawa Senators (NHL)     407
4. RADIM VRBATA     Phoenix Coyotes (NHL)    358
5. PETR NEDVĚD      Bílí Tygři Liberec (ELH) 336
6. ROMAN ČERVENKA   Avangard Omsk (KHL)       322
7. JAKUB VORÁČEK    Philadelphia Flyers (NHL) 310
8. MARTIN ERAT      Nashville Predators (NHL) 303
9. TOMÁŠ PLEKANEC   Montreal Canadiens (NHL) 279
10. ONDŘEJ PAVELEC   Winnipeg Jets (NHL)       202

11. Jakub Kovář (Č. Budějovice) 178 points, 12. Jakub Petružálek (Khabarovsk, KHL) 165, 13. Martin Straka (Plzeň) 161, 14. Tomáš Fleischmann (Florida, NHL) 160, 15. Marek Židlický (New Jersey, NHL) 149, 16. Tomáš Pöpperle (Sparta Praha) 147, 17. Aleš Hemský (Edmonton, NHL) 140, 18. Petr Koukal (Pardubice) 110, 19. David Krejčí (Boston, NHL) 99, 20. Jiří Novotný (Astana, KHL) 97, 21. Petr Ton (Sparta Praha) 91, 22. Petr Vrána (Khabarovsk, KHL) 68, 23. Tomáš Vokoun (Washington, NHL) 59, 24. Jakub Štěpánek (St. Petersburg, KHL) 57, 25. Filip Kuba (Ottawa, NHL) 50, 26. Petr Čáslava (CSKA Moscow, KHL) 46, 27. Radek Duda (Plzeň) 42, 28. Martin Hanzal (Phoenix, NHL) 35, 29. Tomáš Rolinek (Magnitogorsk, KHL) 29, 30. - 31. Jiří Hudler (Detroit, NHL), Jakub Nakládal (Ufa, KHL) both 27, 32. Petr Tenkrát (Sparta Praha) 26, 33. Zbyněk Irgl (Minsk, KHL) 22, 34. Tomáš Divíšek (Kometa Brno) 19, 35. Rostislav Klesla (Phoenix, NHL) 15, 36. Petr Sýkora (Davos, Switzerland) 13, 37. Jan Kolář I. (Pardubice) 11, 38. Petr Kumstát (K. Vary) 10, 39. - 42. Jaroslav Bednář (Lugano, Switzerland), Jiří Burger (Vítkovice), Marek Kvapil (Dynamo Moscow, KHL), Petr Mrázek (Ottawa, OHL) all 9, 43. Zbyněk Michálek (Pittsburgh, NHL) 7, 44. - 45. Miroslav Blaťák (Ufa, KHL), Jakub Klepiš (Dynamo Moscow, KHL) both 6, 46. - 48. Petr Průcha (St. Petersburg, KHL), Petr Sýkora (New Jersey, NHL), Jiří Trvaj (Kometa Brno) all 5, 49. - 52. Jan Kolář II, Robert Kousal (both Pardubice), David Květoň (Třinec), Ondřej Němec (Cherepovets, KHL) all 4, 53. - 54. Martin Havlát (San Jose, NHL), Roman Horák (Calgary, NHL) both 3, 55. - 59. Jan Chábera (Kladno), František Lukeš (Litvínov), Michal Neuvirth (Washington, NHL), Martin Růžička (Khabarovsk, KHL),Ladislav Šmíd (Edmonton, NHL) all 2, 60. - 66. Jan Buchtele (Pardubice), Petr Čajánek (Zlín), Milan Gulaš (Č. Budějovice), Petr Holík (Zlín), Viktor Hübl (Litvínov), Jakub Krejčík (Slavia Praha), Vladimír Sobotka (St. Louis, NHL) all 1.

Previous winners:

1969 - Jan Suchý
1970 - Jan Suchý
1971 - František Pospíšil
1972 - František Pospíšil
1973 - Vladimír Martinec
1974 - Jiří Holeček
1975 - Vladimír Martinec
1976 - Vladimír Martinec
1977 - Milan Nový
1978 - Ivan Hlinka
1979 - Vladimír Martinec
1980 - Peter Šťastný
1981 - Milan Nový
1982 - Milan Nový
1983 - Vincent Lukáč
1984 - Igor Liba
1985 - Jiří Králík
1986 - Vladimír Růžička
1987 - Dominik Hašek
1988 - Vladimír Růžička
1989 - Dominik Hašek
1990 - Dominik Hašek
1991 - Bedřich Ščerban
1992 - Róbert Švehla
1993 - Miloš Holaň
1994 - Roman Turek
1995 - Jaromír Jágr
1996 - Jaromír Jágr
1997 - Dominik Hašek
1998 - Dominik Hašek
1999 - Jaromír Jágr
2000 - Jaromír Jágr
2001 - Jiří Dopita
2002 - Jaromír Jágr
2003 - Milan Hejduk
2004 - Robert Lang
2005 - Jaromír Jágr
2006 - Jaromír Jágr
2007 - Jaromír Jágr
2008 - Jaromír Jágr
2009 - Patrik Eliáš
2010 - Tomáš Vokoun
2011 - Jaromír Jágr
2012 - Patrik Eliáš

Most wins:

10 - Jaromír Jágr
5 - Dominik Hašek
4 - Vladimír Martinec
3 - Milan Nový

2 - Jan Suchý

2 - František Pospišil

2 - Vladimír Růžička

2 - Patrik Eliáš