Passion and persistence pay off in many walks of life, and Pavel Barta can attest to that. For more than 40 years, the savvy and well-connected Czech hockey writer has just kept on banging away, whether it’s typing stories at four Olympics and 25 IIHF World Championships or rocking out with his favourite hard rock and heavy metal bands.

The hockey editor with Blesk (Czech News Center) won the IIHF Media Award in Zurich, Switzerland in May during the Men’s Worlds.

From Czech outlets like Gol and Hokej to international publications like The Hockey News and Svenska Dagbladet, Barta hasn’t limited his ambitions over the years. He has also worked in TV, authored several hockey books, and served as the media relations manager of the Czech national team. 

Becoming the third winner of the IIHF Media Award puts Barta in some illustrious company. His predecessors were American broadcaster Al Michaels (2024), famed for his “Do you believe in miracles?” call during the U.S.’s “Miracle on Ice” upset over the Soviets at the 1980 Olympics, and Paul Graham (2025), the long-time TSN vice-president and executive producer who spearheaded TV coverage of the World Juniors and other IIHF tournaments.

IIHF.com chatted with Barta after the IIHF Contributors’ Award Ceremony.

In the video that accompanied your acceptance speech, there’s a clip of you playing the drums while wearing a Boston Bruins T-shirt. What’s the story with that shirt?

Oh, I bought it somewhere, maybe on my first trip to North America. I was in Montreal. Since I was a boy, I loved two NHL teams. Number one was the Philadelphia Flyers. And number two was Boston, because of Bobby Orr. There was not much information back then. Today, you get everything, but especially in Czechoslovakia during the Communist period, it was quite difficult to get anything. But there were two sports magazines, Gol and Stadion, with whom I would end up working, and there were sometimes articles about the NHL.

So in 1972, Team Canada came to Prague [after defeating the Soviets in the landmark eight-game Summit Series], and there was Phil Esposito. Orr didn’t play in the game [a 3-3 tie with the Czechoslovakian national team], but I knew about him.

And of course, as a teenage boy, I had read about the “Broad Street Bullies,” who fought everyone. I saw those famous toothless pictures of Bobby Clarke, who was of course a great player as well. Some years ago, when they played in Prague, I met both Clarke and [all-time Flyers goals leader] Bill Barber, and I was so happy to talk to them. They were very nice, especially Barber.

The day after the game, he explained to me the whole history. They had two big lines [including Barber-Clarke-Reggie Leach and Ross Lonsberry-Rick MacLeish-Gary Dornhoefer]. He said: “We’d go to Los Angeles, where they never had much attendance in those days, like 5,000 people. When the Flyers came, it was a full house!”

I actually approached Barber for an interview on an underground train. At first I thought: “Oh, it’s a bad time to ask him for anything.” But I spoke to a friend who said: “No, do it! Otherwise, you’ll be sorry for the rest of your life that you didn’t.” So I asked him and we met the next day and talked for two hours. That was my dream come true.

When you think about the hockey articles you wrote at the start of your career in the 1980s, what comes to mind?

I wrote about Czechoslovakian league games when I worked for the newspapers on my praxis as a student. Later, I got some bigger articles for Gol magazine. I think the first one was maybe about the Edmonton Oilers’ first Stanley Cup in 1984. Then there was the IIHF World Championship in Prague in 1985. I wrote about NHL stars like Mario Lemieux, John Vanbiesbrouck, and Dave Taylor.

Here’s a good story: I wasn’t a big collector of autographs when I was young, but I had a book my father got somewhere. There were pictures of maybe 10 guys from each NHL team with some short notes. And Scott Stevens came to the tournament. He was young then, playing for Washington. I saw him and there was this other guy standing next to him. I didn’t know who it was, but I recognized Stevens’ face. So I gave the book to him to sign, and the other guy took it and signed it too. And that was how I realized Pat Riggin had come to Prague to play in net for Canada. I called the newspaper and said: “Hey, Pat Riggin is here! He won the Jennings Trophy last year.”

My future colleague with Gol and Hokej, the late Vaclav Jachim, who was collecting autographs, didn’t know me at the time. When he and some other journalists read the report, he apparently said: “That Barta guy has inside information and seems to know everyone. He must be about 50 years old!” It was just an accident. That was funny.

What are some other favourite interviews of yours?

Defenceman Drahomir Kadlec [a 1992 Olympic bronze medalist and 1992 world champion] just turned 60. He’s very funny, and he told me a lot of stories. That’s what I always enjoy, talking about their background and their situation. Lemieux, of course, was one of my biggest “trophies.” And I had some great stories with Darryl Sittler.

I talked to Sittler when it was the anniversary of his 10-point game [for Toronto versus Boston in 1976]. I’ve had his phone number since the 2016 World Cup because that was also the anniversary of the first Canada Cup in 1976, when Canada defeated Czechoslovakia in the finals. I believe I got the number from Steve Dryden or someone at the Hockey News. Anyway, I called him, and we had a good interview. And at the end, he said: “Hey, you’re from Czechia, right? Do you know if Bohumil Ebermann still has my jersey from 1976? Because I’d actually like to get it back.” You see, after the final game, the teams exchanged jerseys. So I called Ebermann about it. Initially he didn’t want to do it, but I passed along Sittler’s contact info and they connected.

Sittler invited Ebermann and his family to Toronto, and they sent me a video [with the jersey handover]. There was Marcel Dionne, him, and someone else from the team. Sittler was crying. He mentioned my name and said that I helped to make this happen. So that was great for me. And now, when I call, it’s like old friends.

What are the challenges of serving as a national team media manager?

So much depends on the atmosphere in the team and among the players, how they feel. Sometimes they refuse to talk. I think one of the worst moments was at the 2003 Worlds in Finland, my first season. The Czechs lost the bronze medal game to Slovakia with Miroslav Satan and Peter Bondra. The Slovak locker room was across the way and you could hear them celebrating. The Czech players were just silent. The Czech Minister of Sport wanted to go in the locker room, and we explained to her that it was not a good idea. I went in and said: “I need three guys for interviews.” It was horrible. It took about 10 minutes. Robert Reichel was the first one who stood up and took his jersey

My best memory as the media relations manager was Vienna 2005. It was a great team during the NHL lockout. Very good tournament with good players overall, and we won the gold medal. I was with the team amidst the celebrations. Of course, I couldn’t celebrate as much as the guys until we arrived home in Prague. I only slept a couple of times! I joined them on the stage in Prague and then I went home.

Working in that role on the inside, sometimes you lose illusions about certain people as well. You see they are different than you imagined. Some players are media-friendly, some not. Some hate it. You always have to find a way to say: “You should do it.” But then the coach says to you: “Don’t ask them about it too much.” And then the journalists are angry at you because you’re not helping them. So that can be difficult, like a battle between two sides.

Describe working with Radko Gudas on his 2025 Czech-language biography Gudy.

He’s a very nice guy. A responsible family man. People see him differently in the games. When he shouted in Joseph Woll’s face [after Florida eliminated Toronto in the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs], he explained that he wasn’t shouting at him. It was just a moment of joy from him. Or when he collided with Sidney Crosby and injured him in Milan, Crosby said it was more his own fault than Gudas’ fault.

Anyway, I know Gudas’ father Leo, who is two years younger than me and played for Sparta Prague and the national team. I saw Radko when he practiced with the team Leo was coaching once and thought it might be good to write something about him later in his career. Then he made the Stanley Cup finals in 2023. He became a popular person in Czechia. They won the World Championship in 2024 on home ice – something I thought I’d never see again in my lifetime.

So he and his father appeared in my newspaper, and the next day I said: “Now’s the time!” I’ve been in touch with Radko for a long time. We did some interviews as his NHL career took off. So I had a lot of material and just one year to do it.

Fortunately, he spent almost the entire summer in Czechia. We met about eight times. He was very open and told great background stories and funny stuff as well. I finished it around March. I think it was the right time and it’s interesting for the fans.