Absurd Goalie Monday: Martin Prusek

For most of the AGMs, they aren't that successful and fade away after the hype. However, this week's was probably one of the more solid back-ups in recent memory, but just seemed to get shuffled out. Along with his ability to succeed back in his native country-- he decided to not play the logjam game and take it away from the NHL. This week, the profile of Martin Prusek.

Prusek began his career in his native Czech Republic with HC Vitkovice in the 1994-95 season and would play 256 games for them from the 1994-95 season until the 2000-01 season, as well as having stints with the Czech national team as a spare goal in the World Hockey Championships in 1997 through 1999, where he received two Bronze medals and a Gold.

During his time playing in his homeland, Prusek was drafted by the Ottawa Senators in the 1999 Draft and he would come over to North America for the 2001-02 season. During that season, Prusek spent most his time with the AHL's Grand Rapids Griffins, posting a 18-8-5 record in 33 games, then going 2-3 in the post-season. Prusek's first season in North America was great as he was AHL First Team All-Star, shared the Hap Holmes Award for fewest goals against with Simon Lajeunesse and Mathieu Chouinard, as well as winning the Baz Bastien Award for AHL's Outstanding Goaltender. The only game that Prusek played in Ottawa that season was a loss.

Trying to match the success in 2002-03 would mostly be done in Ottawa, as Prusek compiled a 12-2-1 record in 18 games as Patrick Lalime's back-up, while then going 1-2-1 in four games with the AHL's Binghamton Senators. Prusek's only full season in Ottawa would be in the 2003-04 season and he would put together a 16-6-3 record in 29 games.

During the 2004-05 lockout, Prusek went home to play with HC Vitkovice for 14 games before he was loaned out to HC Znojmo for eight games. In those 22 games, Prusek combined for a 2.44 GAA during that time, though no records have been put out there.

When the NHL return, Prusek returned to the NHL but with the Columbus Blue Jackets, whom he signed with in the summer of 2005. However, a logjam in Columbus' net caused Prusek to play in the AHL with the Syracuse Crunch, finishing 12-7-1 in 23 games, while when he got up to Columbus-- he put up a 3-3-0 record in nine appearances.

Seeing himself getting pushed out, Prusek opted for the Russian Super League in the 2006-07 season with SKA St. Petersburg for 22 games that season, before returning to his home club in HC Vitkovice in the 2007-08 season for 45 games. In the 2008-09 season, Prusek joined the newly renamed KHL and played for 22 games with Spartak Moscow and 20 games for Dynamo Riga, while playing the 2009 World Championships with the Czech and went 2-1-0 in three appearances. Prusek returned to Dynamo Riga in the 2009-10 for 28 games before he would move back home.

During the 2010-11 season, Prusek started to suffer some ailments in his chest and it was revealed that Prusek had carditis, which is an inflamation of the heart and the muscles around it. Prusek only played two games with HC Vitkovice that season before retiring.

Prusek immediate was offered and took the goaltending coach position for HC Vitkovice, where he is today. He also has his hand in a European equipment company called M4G Hockey.

One of the more incredible back-ups for his time, it seemed that while he could have had a spot-- Prusek went to the familiar of overseas and knew he'd actually be able to find a spot and succeed in that position. With a 19 game over .500 record in the NHL, who knew what he could have done with a solid starting chance.

Absurd Goalie Monday: Roman Turek

While this week's AGM is a recent retiree, it has been almost seven years since he last played in the NHL. Even so, he's been bumped many a time during his NHL tenure, which probably led him to this returning to his home country in the end. This week, we'll take a look at the career of Roman Turek.

For the bulk of the upbringing of Turek, he spent it in his home country of the Czech Republic, playing in the Czech Jr. league from 1987-88 until 1989-90 with Motor Ceske Budejovice Jr. team. He would also get his shots at two World Junior Championships for then Czechoslovakia, winning bronze in both the 1989 and 1990 World Juniors for Czech0slovakia. Thanks to his performances, he was selected in the 1990 Entry Draft by the Minnesota North Stars in the sixth round.

Instead of going over to North America, Turek would stay over in the Czech Republic with Motor Ceske Budejovice of the Czech League starting in 1990-91 and would play in 157 from 1990-91 until the 1994-95 season. He would have a 3.23 GAA, but sadly-- I cannot find any win-loss record for him. Turek would also participate in two World Championships and an Olympics for the Czechs, being named to the World Championship All-Star team in 1995.

Turek would move over to the German Elite League in the 1995-96 season with the Nuremberg Ice Tigers, playing 48 games with a 3.32 GAA. Turek would have a breakout performance in the 1996 World Championships, going 7-0-1 while the Czech Republic would take home gold and Turek would be named best goaltender of the tournament and a second straight All-Star team in the World Championships. Turek would play in the 1996 World Cup, but would go 0-3-0 as the Czech didn't get out of qualifying round.

Turek would make a jump to North America to playing for the Michigan K-Wings of the IHL for the 1996-97 season, but would be hampered with injuries, that would only have him see 29 games of action. He would finish with a 8-13-4 record in Michigan and would get six games of action with the Dallas Stars in a call-up, going 3-1-0 in those appearances. Turek would be the back-up to Ed Belfour in the 1997-98 season in Dallas, getting in 23 games of action with an 11-10-1 record, as well as a 1-1-0 record in Michigan while recovering from another injury. It was a crowning season for Turek in the 1998-99 season, where Turek would shine in his 26 appearances this season, going 16-3-3 and being a part of a William Jennings Trophy tandem with Belfour for lowest combined goals-against. Also Turek was long for the ride, as the Dallas Stars won the Stanley Cup that spring.

With his stock high and another young goalie up through the ranks, Turek was traded from Dallas to the St. Louis Blues for a 2nd round draft pick, only one day after the Stars won the Cup. In an effort to prove his old team wrong, Turek lit up the league with the Blues, going 42-15-9 in 67 games with seven shutouts and a 1.95 GAA; allowing him to win the Jennings Trophy again; but he would flame out in the playoffs, getting upset by the 8th seeded San Jose Sharks in the first round. Turek's time in 2000-01 season could be shortened by the emergence of Brent Johnson, as he would play 54 games, going 24-18-10 in the regular season, but Turek went 9-5 in the playoffs, help getting the Blues to the Conference Finals.

It wasn't enough for the Blues, who would actually ship Turek with a 4th round pick to the Calgary Flames for Fred Brathwaite, Daniel Tkaczuk, Sergei Varlamov, and a 9th round pick. Turek took over on a somewhat dismal Flames team as the start in the 2001-02 season and played 69 games with a 30-28-11 record, coupled with five shutouts. Turek would have a decent 2002-03 season, with a 27-29-9 record in 65 games. However, the 2003-04 season would be good for the Flames, but bad for Turek-- as he would be sidelined for 39 games with an injured MCL; which allowed the Flames to acquire Miikka Kiprusoff, making Turek the back-up when he finally did come back. Turek would only play 18 games with a 6-11-0 record and was on the bench for the Flames Stanley Cup run, as they would lose in the Finals.

During the lockout, Turek said that he would take a pay-cut to stay with the Flames, but when he returned home to play for HC Ceske Budejovice again for the 2004-05, which is where he would stay until his retirement following the 2009-10 season. Turek would play 205 games in those seasons, with a 2.34 GAA in those games and 20 shutouts.

It seemed just as the getting was good, Turek would have a bump in the road when it came to getting stellar success. While he has a Stanley Cup rings, International success, and some individual trophies, Turek will probably never been seen as a solid goaltender on the NHL scale. It seems that he'll always get lost in the generation of goaltenders better than him-- which could be construed as a shame to some, not so much to others.

Don't Czech Out Until It's Finnish-ed

The boys of the FOHS and I were talking about a pool that Marc "With a 'C'" is in when it comes to the Olympics. While he could only pick four skaters and two goalies-- it seemed that we all overlooked a couple teams at the start of it. However, looking at the rosters; it's a shock these two teams-- Czech Republic and Finland-- are being as discounted as they are.

Sure, you have being overshadowed by other powerhouses, but both Czech Republic and Finland could be the upset special, even though they are not full-fledged sleepers like Switzerland, Germany, or Belarus may be considered. You could almost put the Slovaks in there, but I think they're another Games away before you can consider them in this mid-level threat. Hell, Finland won the silver medal and the Czechs won the bronze in 2006 and there's little to no respect for them.

Let's start with the Finns, who had four of the six top tournament player (Antero Niittymaki, Kimmo Timonen, Saku Koivu, and Teemu Selanne) in 2006, while also having five of the top-10 leading scorers (Selanne, Koivu, Ville Peltonen, Olli Jokinen, and Jere Lehtinen). The big knock could be a lot of these players are back and have gotten older and lost that scoring touch they once had; yet they seem more like a full team than most units out there. There's a small younger stride, but the old-guard could be a downfall-- as well as the smaller rink. At the same time, their goaltending is superb on paper. They tandem of Niittymaki, Niklas Backstrom, and Miikka Kiprusoff could be one of the best trios rostered in the games, maybe next to the Canadians. They'll be playing a tight-checking game because they probably won't be as fast, but if they can get top-notch goaltending, they'll win a lot of 1-0, 2-1 games.

Moving onto the Czech, they have a lot of forward who were born in the early to mid 80s, while having the likes of Jaromir Jagr and Patrik Elias as the old guard. While it might not be a youth movement, the players they have; Martin Havlat, Martin Erat, Tomas Plekanec are pretty much in their prime in terms of age. You also have a younger side of Tomas Fleischmann and Milan Michalek who can score in there as well. A grab-bag of players who can actually contribute constantly. On defense, they have a solid older side with Pavel Kubina and Filip Kuba, but the guy to make some noise could be Zbynek Michalek, who is having a solid year defensively in Phoenix. The one question could be consistency in net, with Tomas Vokoun and Ondrej Pavelec as the tandem. They have the ability to hold a team into it, but if they shelled-- it could spell disaster for the Czech team.

In the end, we'll have to see what goes down when it comes to the Olympics, because if a team gets on a hot-streak at the right time, we could have another situation where it's all out of whack by the time we get to the medal rounds. When you look up and down, these two teams are going to be overlooked, even if they have a great mix in their rosters and could play more like a team and other nations. The team dynamic could the be the one intangible that these two teams use in order to get them to the medal rounds once again.