Miroslav Dvořák (ice hockey)

In 1967 Dvořák started his ice hockey career playing for the HC České Budějovice junior team and from 1970 became a member of senior team. In the same year Dvořák was named the best defender of the World Junior Championships held in Sweden. During his military service he moved to the army team Dukla Jihlava where he spent two seasons. He also played for Czechoslovak national ice hockey team and won eight medals overall in the Ice Hockey World Championships in years 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1982 and 1983 and represented Czechoslovakia on 1976 and 1981 Canada Cups and on 1980 Winter Olympics as well.^[1] He was drafted by Philadelphia Flyers in the 3rd round in 1982 and played three seasons in North America, playing in the National Hockey League for Philadelphia. He had to wait until his thirties to play NHL, as playing overseas under the age of 30 was strictly prohibited because of sports rules during communism era in Czechoslovakia. He left professional ice hockey after the 88–89 season and went back to Czechoslovakia to play for HC České Budějovice.

Dvořák died in the Czech Republic after a long battle with throat cancer at the age of 56 on 12 June 2008. His family played composer Antonín Dvořák's "New World Symphony" at the funeral.^[2]

• Biographical information and career statistics from NHL.com, or Eliteprospects.com, or Eurohockey.com, or Hockey-Reference.com, or The Internet Hockey Database