Ján Kobezda suddenly passed away
Dukla Trencin headcoach suffered an heart attack at the eve of game against HC Kosice
Slovakian hockey is mourning the sudden loss of Dukla Trencin GM and headcoach Ján Kobezda. According to initial informations, he succumbed to heart attack. "We don't have many informations about what happened - said forward Jakub Gasparovic to Hokejportal.net. - This morning the pre-game training took place normally. We
received the news on the way to Košice by assistant coach Julius Pénzeš. We immediately went
back to Trencin"
Kobezda,41, played for Dubnica, Dukla Trencin and Slovan Bratislava in Slovak Extraliga, spent three seasons overseas playing for Tallahassee Tiger Sharks, Fort Wayne Komets and Missouri River Otters and had a short passage in Finland with Ilves Tampere jersey. Finished active career in Iceland with SA Akureyri before to begin coach career in same Iceland. Went back to native Slovakia to coach junior team of Dubnica, Bulldogs Trencin and Dukla, where in 2013-14 season won the gold medal. Began this season as GM of Dukla, taking on the headcoach position at the begin of January when replaced fired Josef Turek, along with Julius Penzes and Viliam Cacho.
In all stadiums of Extraliga Kobezda was remembered with a minute of silence, while the match Kosice - Trencin was rescheduled to a further date.
Eurohockey.com express the condolences to the club and to Mr. Kobezda family