Tomas Rolinek leaves the ice after captaining the Czech Republic to gold at the 2010 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship.
photo: Matthew Manor / HHOF-IIHF Images
Tomas Rolinek, captain of the Czech Republic’s 2010 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship gold medal team, announced his retirement on Wednesday morning at age 40, following a 20-year professional career.
“It’s not a spur-of-the-moment decision; it’s something that’s been building inside me for a long time in the run-up to the season,” said Rolinek, who underwent hip surgery in the off-season but was planning to play one more season for Dynamo Pardubice, the club he has been largely associated with since his teens.
Rolinek wasn’t quite ready to play yet as the season started and Pardubice played four Extraliga games in September before the team was quarantined due to a coronavirus outbreak. Soon the whole Extraliga season was paused due to government restrictions. The teams have now been given the green light to return to the ice, but Rolinek decided it was time to finish.
“After a successful operation, after which I was in good health, I thought I was coming back. But due to COVID, all the measures and the subsequent lack of on-ice training, I realized that I could not be 100 per cent ready for the season,” he explained.
While not a huge or overly physical player, Rolinek had a nose for the net and was versatile, able to play a solid two-way game at any forward position. He played in seven World Championships and was captain of the Czech team three times.
In the 2010 final, Rolinek scored the game-winning goal. With the Czechs leading 1-0 late in the second period, Karel Rachunek carried the puck into the Russian zone and went wide. Rolinek drove straight to the net and Rachunek’s pass hit him in the skate and went into the goal behind goalie Semyon Varlamov. The play went to video replay but the goal stood, and the Czechs held eventually held on to win 2-1 and claim that country’s most recent gold medal.
That 2010 tournament in Germany was one of seven World Championships that Rolinek played in. In addition to that gold medal, he also won a silver in 2006 and a bronze in 2011. Rolinek also played in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
At the club level, Rolinek played the majority of his career in the Czech Extraliga but also spent six-and-a-half seasons in the KHL, mostly with Metallurg Magnitogorsk but also 23 games with Salavat Yulayev Ufa. At home, he had stints with Litvinov and Sparta Prague, but the Zdar nad Sazavou native will be mostly remembered for his many years in Pardubice, the team he led to the 2005 title and scored another championship-winning goal.
The last goal of his career – and the only one he scored in 17 Extraliga games in the 2019/20 season – came in the last minute of his last game into an empty net that guaranteed Pardubice would avoid relegation.
“The last thing he did for Dynamo was rescue us (from relegation), and he was one of the keys to that,” club owner Petr Dedek said at the press conference to announce Rolinek’s retirement. “Our team is losing a legendary hockey player who has had a lot of success.”
“For me today, one of the great personalities of not only Pardubice, but also Czech hockey is leaving the hockey scene. From my position, I want to thank Tomas for what he has done for Dynamo during his rich career,” said Dusan Salficky, Pardubice’s sports director and a former teammate of Rolinek.
“Every farewell is, of course, difficult and sad, but I believe that our paths will not diverge forever and our organization is ready to continue working with Tomas in a position that will be beneficial for both parties.”
“It’s not a spur-of-the-moment decision; it’s something that’s been building inside me for a long time in the run-up to the season,” said Rolinek, who underwent hip surgery in the off-season but was planning to play one more season for Dynamo Pardubice, the club he has been largely associated with since his teens.
Rolinek wasn’t quite ready to play yet as the season started and Pardubice played four Extraliga games in September before the team was quarantined due to a coronavirus outbreak. Soon the whole Extraliga season was paused due to government restrictions. The teams have now been given the green light to return to the ice, but Rolinek decided it was time to finish.
“After a successful operation, after which I was in good health, I thought I was coming back. But due to COVID, all the measures and the subsequent lack of on-ice training, I realized that I could not be 100 per cent ready for the season,” he explained.
While not a huge or overly physical player, Rolinek had a nose for the net and was versatile, able to play a solid two-way game at any forward position. He played in seven World Championships and was captain of the Czech team three times.
In the 2010 final, Rolinek scored the game-winning goal. With the Czechs leading 1-0 late in the second period, Karel Rachunek carried the puck into the Russian zone and went wide. Rolinek drove straight to the net and Rachunek’s pass hit him in the skate and went into the goal behind goalie Semyon Varlamov. The play went to video replay but the goal stood, and the Czechs held eventually held on to win 2-1 and claim that country’s most recent gold medal.
That 2010 tournament in Germany was one of seven World Championships that Rolinek played in. In addition to that gold medal, he also won a silver in 2006 and a bronze in 2011. Rolinek also played in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
At the club level, Rolinek played the majority of his career in the Czech Extraliga but also spent six-and-a-half seasons in the KHL, mostly with Metallurg Magnitogorsk but also 23 games with Salavat Yulayev Ufa. At home, he had stints with Litvinov and Sparta Prague, but the Zdar nad Sazavou native will be mostly remembered for his many years in Pardubice, the team he led to the 2005 title and scored another championship-winning goal.
The last goal of his career – and the only one he scored in 17 Extraliga games in the 2019/20 season – came in the last minute of his last game into an empty net that guaranteed Pardubice would avoid relegation.
“The last thing he did for Dynamo was rescue us (from relegation), and he was one of the keys to that,” club owner Petr Dedek said at the press conference to announce Rolinek’s retirement. “Our team is losing a legendary hockey player who has had a lot of success.”
“For me today, one of the great personalities of not only Pardubice, but also Czech hockey is leaving the hockey scene. From my position, I want to thank Tomas for what he has done for Dynamo during his rich career,” said Dusan Salficky, Pardubice’s sports director and a former teammate of Rolinek.
“Every farewell is, of course, difficult and sad, but I believe that our paths will not diverge forever and our organization is ready to continue working with Tomas in a position that will be beneficial for both parties.”