Peter Šťastný

Peter Šťastný
Hockey Hall of Fame, 1998
Born (1956-09-18) 18 September 1956
Bratislava, Czechoslovakia
Height 6 ft 2 in (188 cm)
Weight 195 lb (88 kg; 13 st 13 lb)
Position Center
Shot Left
Played for Quebec Nordiques
New Jersey Devils
St. Louis Blues
Slovan Bratislava (Cze-1/SlEx)
National team  Czechoslovakia 
 Canada &
 Slovakia
NHL Draft Undrafted
Playing career 1975–1995
Peter Šťastný
Member of the European parliament
for Slovakia
Assumed office
20 July 2004
Personal details
Born (1956-09-18) 18 September 1956
Bratislava, Czechoslovakia
Political party Slovak Democratic and Christian Union - Democratic Party, (EPP-ED)
Spouse(s) Darina Šťastná

Peter Šťastný (born 18 September 1956), also known colloquially as "Peter the Great" and "Stosh", is a retired Slovak professional ice hockey player who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1980 to 1995. Stastny is the second highest scorer of the 80's after Wayne Gretzky. During his time with the Quebec Nordiques, Stastny became a Canadian citizen. Since 2004, he has also served as a Member of the European Parliament for Slovakia. During his NHL career, he played with the Quebec Nordiques, New Jersey Devils, and St. Louis Blues.

He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1998 and ranks 34th all time in NHL points (and second overall for Slovaks). He is the father of current St. Louis Blues forward Paul Stastny.

NHL career

Peter Šťastný was a prolific scorer in the NHL in the 1980s. He started his career in the NHL with the Quebec Nordiques in 1980 and was traded in 1990 to the New Jersey Devils. As a star member of a team playing in a francophone city, Stastny endeared himself to the Quebec fans by learning to speak French, and later learned to speak English. He retired as a member of the St. Louis Blues in 1995.

When the startling news broke in 1980 that Czechoslovakia player of the year, Peter Šťastný, and his brother Anton, had defected to Canada to play with the Quebec Nordiques, it represented a watershed moment in professional hockey as one of the first major stars of Eastern bloc hockey to join the NHL. The following year, his brother Marián joined them to become the third trio of brothers to play on the same professional hockey team (the first being the Bentley brothers of the Chicago Blackhawks in the 1940s and the second being the Plager brothers of the St. Louis Blues in the 1970s).

The trickle of Czechoslovak and Soviet hockey players rapidly became a flood following his footsteps. According to Peter, his defection "was the best decision I ever made. It has given my family the choices and options that people behind the Iron Curtain could only dream of. Then, to play pro hockey with my two brothers was like icing on the cake."

On the ice, Peter proved to be both consistent and productive. He scored 450 goals and added 789 assists for a total of 1239 points in the regular season. After retiring as a player, he captained the Slovak national team in various international tournaments and still enjoys huge popularity among Slovaks.

NHL milestones and records

Personal life

In addition to his brothers (and teammates) Marián and Anton,[2] Peter also has an older brother, Vladimír, who was an assistant coach of the Slovak national ice hockey team. He is the only coach with all three medals in Slovak ice hockey history. Peter also has brother Bohumil and sister Eva.

Peter is the father of Yan Stastny, who made his NHL debut in 2005–06 with the Edmonton Oilers and is currently playing in Nuremberg, Germany, and Paul Stastny, who began his career with the Colorado Avalanche (the same franchise as the Quebec Nordiques, Peter's first NHL team) in 2006–07 and now plays for the St. Louis Blues, for whom Peter also played. Paul wears the same number (#26) that Peter did. Born in Quebec City but raised in St. Louis, Yan played for Team USA in the 2005 and 2006 IIHF World Championships. Paul would represent Team USA in the 2010 Winter Olympics and 2014 Winter Olympics. The family is thus the first hockey family known to have represented four different countries in international play (Czechoslovakia, Canada, Slovakia, USA). Paul broke the record for a scoring streak in a rookie season in the NHL and was a finalist for the 2006–2007 Calder Trophy—the NHL honour for "Rookie of the Year" won by his father in 1980–81.

Career in politics

Photo of Peter Šťastný's 2009 campaign for election to the European Parliament

Šťastný has always been known for his resentment of the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia. He joined the party SDKÚ-DS of the former Prime-minister Mikuláš Dzurinda to pursue a career in the European Parliament since he is fluent in both English and French. He was elected as leader of the 2004 European Parliament candidate list for the SDKU.

In the June 2009 election he was re-elected as the second of his party's MEPs.[3] His campaign slogan was "With Courage and Determination for a Strong Slovakia" (Slovak: S odvahou a nasadením pre silné Slovensko).

He is a signatory of the Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism.[4]

Široký controversy

Šťastný has called for Juraj Široký to step-down as the President of Slovak Ice Hockey Federation, stating poor performance, pursuing own financial interests over the welfare of Slovak Hockey as well as moral incredibility after it was revealed that Mr Široký was former ŠtB officer and he still has not sufficiently explained his friendship and involvement with Viktor Kožený and his fraudulent financial manoeuvres regarding so-called Harvard Funds. These grievances were penned in a letter to René Fasel in a letter describing Široký as a threat to democracy and integrity of the game in March 2008, as a result of Široký's actions in the 1980s (during which time Peter and two of his brothers had defected to Canada). Three months later, with Široký having not resigned from HC Slovan Bratislava, for whom Šťastný had played prior to his defection to Canada, or the Slovak Ice Hockey Federation, Šťastný resigned from the Slovak Hockey Hall of Fame as a result, and had all references to him pulled from Samsung Arena, the home arena of Slovan at the time.[5]

Awards

Career statistics

    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1974–75 HC Slovan Bratislava Jr. CS-Jr. — — — — — — — — — —
1975–76 HC Slovan Bratislava CS 32 19 9 28 — — — — — —
1976–77 HC Slovan Bratislava CS 44 25 27 52 — — — — — —
1977–78 HC Slovan Bratislava CS 42 29 24 53 28 — — — — —
1978–79 HC Slovan Bratislava CS 39 32 23 55 21 — — — — —
1979–80 HC Slovan Bratislava CS 41 26 26 52 58 — — — — —
1980–81 Quebec Nordiques NHL 77 39 70 109 37 5 2 8 10 7
1981–82 Quebec Nordiques NHL 80 46 93 139 91 12 7 11 18 10
1982–83 Quebec Nordiques NHL 75 47 77 124 78 4 3 2 5 10
1983–84 Quebec Nordiques NHL 80 46 73 119 73 9 2 7 9 31
1984–85 Quebec Nordiques NHL 75 32 68 100 95 18 4 19 23 24
1985–86 Quebec Nordiques NHL 76 41 81 122 60 3 0 1 1 2
1986–87 Quebec Nordiques NHL 64 24 53 77 43 13 6 9 15 12
1987–88 Quebec Nordiques NHL 76 46 65 111 69 — — — — —
1988–89 Quebec Nordiques NHL 72 35 50 85 117 — — — — —
1989–90 Quebec Nordiques NHL 62 24 38 62 24 — — — — —
1989–90 New Jersey Devils NHL 12 5 6 11 16 6 3 2 5 4
1990–91 New Jersey Devils NHL 77 18 42 60 53 7 3 4 7 2
1991–92 New Jersey Devils NHL 66 24 38 62 42 7 3 7 10 19
1992–93 New Jersey Devils NHL 62 17 23 40 22 5 0 2 2 2
1993–94 St. Louis Blues NHL 17 5 11 16 4 4 0 0 0 2
1993–94 HC Slovan Bratislava SVK 4 0 4 4 0 — — — — —
1994–95 St. Louis Blues NHL 6 1 1 2 0 — — — — —
NHL totals 977 450 789 1239 824 93 33 72 105 125
CS/SVK totals 202 131 113 244 107 — — — — —

International play
Medal record
Representing Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia
Men's ice hockey
World Championships
1976 Poland
1977 Austria
1978 Czechoslovakia
1979 Soviet Union
Canada Cup
1976 Canada Cup
Representing Canada Canada
Men's ice hockey
Canada Cup
1984 Canada Cup

Šťastný was the first player in ice hockey history to represent three different countries in three different international tournaments.[6]

International statistics

Year Team Event   GP G A Pts PIM
1975 Czechoslovakia WJC — 4 0 4 —
1975 Czechoslovakia EJC 5 3 1 4 4
1976 Czechoslovakia WJC 4 1 1 2 0
1976 Czechoslovakia WC 9 8 4 12 0
1976 Czechoslovakia CC 7 0 4 4 2
1977 Czechoslovakia WC 10 3 5 8 0
1978 Czechoslovakia WC 10 5 6 11 7
1979 Czechoslovakia WC 8 2 3 5 6
1980 Czechoslovakia OLY 6 7 7 14 6
1984 Canada CC 8 1 2 3 0
1994 Slovakia OLY 8 5 4 9 9
1995 Slovakia WC-B 6 8 8 16 0
Junior totals — 8 2 10 —
Senior totals 66 31 35 66 30

See also

References

  1. ↑ MaGuire, Liam. "Twitter universe in action on the weekend – courtesy of Sam Gagner and the Super bowl".
  2. ↑
  3. ↑ "Results of the 2009 election, SDKU candidates", Slovak Statistical Office 7 June 2009
  4. ↑ "Prague Declaration: Selected signatories". Institute for Information on the Crimes of Communism. Retrieved 2011-05-10.
  5. ↑ Stastny open letter against Siroky, accessed 8 March 2010
  6. ↑ Hockey's Book of Firsts, p.46, James Duplacey, JG Press, ISBN 978-1-57215-037-9

Bibliography

External links

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