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Jiří Dopita
Jiridopita
Position Centre
Shoots Left
Nickname(s) Dopey
Height
Weight
6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
227 lb (103 kg)
Team
F. Teams
retired
2. NHL
TJ DS Olomouc
HC Tábor
1. NHL
ASD Dukla Jihlava
HC Olomouc
Eishockey-Bundesliga
Eisbären Berlin
DEL
Eisbären Berlin
Tipsport Extraliga
HC Olomouc
HC Vsetín
HC Pardubice
HC Znojemští Orli
HC Kometa Brno
NHL
Philadelphia Flyers
Edmonton Oilers
2. Liga
HC Olomouc
Chance Liga
HC Olomouc
Teams Czech national ice hockey team
Olympics 1998
World Championships 1996, 2000, 2001
Born (1968-12-02)December 2, 1968,
Sumperk, CZE
NHL Draft 133rd overall, 1992
123rd overall, 1998
Boston Bruins
New York Islanders
Pro Career 1986 – 2013

Jiří Dopita (born December 2, 1968 in Šumperk, Czechoslovakia) is retired Czech professional ice hockey player who has played in the Czech Elite League most of his career. He briefly played in the National Hockey League. Dopita has primarily played centre throughout his career.

Playing career[]

Early in his career, Dopita attracted little notice as a professional prospect. At age 23, Dopita was selected in the sixth round of the 1992 NHL Entry Draft by the Boston Bruins, but never came to North America while the Bruins owned his rights. However, starting in 1993, Dopita joined the German Bundesliga with the Berlin Polar Bears, averaging over a point per game in the Bundeliga and with Berlin's later entry in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga.

Starting in the 1995–96 season, Dopita returned to his native Czech Republic and played with Vsetín HC of the Czech Extraliga. Dopita continued his scoring pace in the Czech Republic, averaging over a point per game every year in six seasons with Vsetín, compiling 315 career points, and being selected again in the NHL draft, this time in 1998 by the New York Islanders. However, once again, Dopita would not play with the Islanders.

By the late 1990s, some considered Dopita the best player outside the NHL. He was a member of the gold medal-winning Czech team at the 1998 Winter Olympics, and was named Czech player of the year in 2001, the first non-NHLer to win the award since Roman Turek in 1994. When his NHL rights were moved to the Philadelphia Flyers, the Flyers made a concerted effort to bring Dopita to the NHL. The Flyers had convinced Dopita's former Vsetin HC teammate Roman Cechmanek to come to North America prior to the previous season and the 32-year old Dopita agreed to join him in Philadelphia for the 2001–02 NHL season.

However, Dopita's time in the NHL was to be disappointing. He recorded respectable totals getting limited ice time with Philadelphia, but a knee injury limited him to 52 games. After the season, his rights were traded to the Edmonton Oilers, where he was expected to be a top-two centre. However, Dopita had a terrible season, recording only six points in 21 games.

After only two years in the NHL, Dopita returned to the Czech Republic, this time with Pardubice HC. In his second year with Pardubice, at age 36, Dopita recorded less than a point per game in European competition for the first time since his time with Olomouc HC. For 2005–06, Dopita joined HC JME Znojemští Orli and has remained with the team for 2006–07 season too.

On 5 May 2006 Dopita became the majority shareholder of Olomouc HC.

Awards & Achievements[]

  • Olympic gold medal winner for the Czech Republic in the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano
  • IIHF World Champion: 1996, 2000, 2001
  • Golden Hockey Stick: 2001 (the highest trophy an ice hockey player can get in the Czech Republic)
  • Czech Extraliga - Champion: 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2005
  • Czech Extraliga - Regular Season MVP: 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000
  • Czech Extraliga - Play-Off MVP: 1994, 1996, 2001
  • Czech Extraliga - Leading Goal Scorer: 1997, 2000
  • German DEL - Leading Point Scorer: 1995

Records[]

Career statistics[]

    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1989–90 Dukla Jihlava HC CSSR Extraliga 5 1 2 3 0 -- -- -- -- --
1990–91 Olomouc HC CSSR Extraliga 42 11 13 24 26 -- -- -- -- --
1991–92 Olomouc HC CSSR Extraliga 38 22 19 41 28 3 1 4 5 0
1992–93 Olomouc HC CSSR Extraliga 28 12 17 29 0 -- -- -- -- --
1992–93 Berlin Polar Bears Bundesliga 11 7 8 15 49 -- -- -- -- --
1993–94 Berlin Polar Bears Bundesliga 42 23 21 44 52 -- -- -- -- --
1993–94 Olomouc HC Czech Extraliga -- -- -- -- -- 12 4 7 11 0
1994–95 Berlin Polar Bears DEL 42 28 40 68 55 -- -- -- -- --
1995–96 Vsetín HC Czech Extraliga 38 19 20 39 20 13 9 11 20 10
1996–97 Vsetín HC Czech Extraliga 52 30 31 61 55 10 7 4 11 22
1997–98 Vsetín HC Czech Extraliga 50 21 34 55 64 10 12 6 18 4
1998–99 Vsetín HC Czech Extraliga 50 19 32 51 43 12 1 6 7 0
1999–00 Vsetín HC Czech Extraliga 49 30 29 59 83 9 0 4 4 6
2000–01 Vsetín HC Czech Extraliga 46 19 31 50 53 14 8 13 21 18
2001–02 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 52 11 16 27 8 -- -- -- -- --
2002–03 Edmonton Oilers NHL 21 1 5 6 11 -- -- -- -- --
2003–04 Pardubice HC Czech Extraliga 47 20 28 48 44 7 1 9 10 4
2004–05 Pardubice HC Czech Extraliga 44 4 23 27 12 16 2 3 5 18
2005–06 HC JME Znojemští Orli Czech Extraliga 43 9 14 23 26 11 4 4 8 4
2006–07 HC JME Znojemští Orli Czech Extraliga 48 14 14 28 62 10 2 2 4 26
2007–08 HC Znojemští Orli Czech Extraliga 42 14 16 30 18 3 0 1 1 2
NHL Totals 73 12 21 33 19 0 0 0 0 0
CZE Totals 622 245 323 568 534 130 51 74 125 114
Career Totals 790 315 413 728 709 130 51 74 125 114

International play[]

Medal record
Men's Ice hockey
Olympic Games
Gold 1998 Nagano Ice Hockey
World Championships
Gold 1996 Vienna Ice hockey
Gold 2000 Russia Ice hockey
Gold 2001 Germany Ice hockey
Bronze 1997 Helsinki Ice hockey
Bronze 1998 Zürich Ice hockey

External links[]

Awards
Preceded by
Jaromir Jagr
Golden Hockey Stick
2001
Succeeded by
Jaromir Jagr
This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Jiří Dopita. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Ice Hockey Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 3.0 (Unported) (CC-BY-SA).


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