Montreal Canadiens at the Olympics: Richard Zednik and Vancouver 2010
The 2010 Slovakian men’s ice hockey team entered the Vancouver Winter Games with notable talent in their depth chart. With names such as Zdeno Chara, Marian Hossa, Marian Gaborik and the late Pavol Demitra (who led the squad in scoring) the team also featured former Montreal Canadiens forward Richard Zednik.
Zednik was the 249th overall draft pick in the 1994 draft and was selected by the Washington Capitals. After appearing in an astounding single game in the 1995-96 season, he went on to play in 256 games for the Caps over the next five seasons, scoring 63 goals and 116 points in that span. He was traded to Montreal during the 2000-01 season along with Jan Bulis and a first-round draft pick in exchange for Trevor Linden, Dainius Zubrus and a second-round draft pick.
In five seasons in Montreal, Zednik appeared in 322 games and totalled 98 goals and 183 points. His consecutive 50-point seasons in 2003-04 and 2004-05 garnered him a spot on Slovakia’s roster for the 2006 Turin Games. The national team finished fifth in the tournament and the forward registered only one point in six games.
Jump ahead to the 2009-10 season, and Zednik is no longer in the NHL. He compiled 379 points in 745 NHL appearances, but a year prior he had experienced a life-threatening injury wherein he had his neck cut open by a skate blade during a game between his Florida Panthers and the Buffalo Sabres.
In an interview with the Slovak podcast Boris & Brambor, Zednik opened up about the terrifying scene. He was quoted as saying “I saw Olli [Jokinen]’s skate go up to my eyes so I instinctively put my head up and I felt his skate stabbing my neck. I knew it was bad, as I was skating to the bench I was thinking if I’d ever see my daughter again.”
For the 2009-10 season, Zednik went back overseas to play in the KHL for Lokomotiv Yaroslavl. Thankfully, he only stayed with the team for that one season and was long gone when their plane crashed during the 2011-2012 season (Demitra had no such luck). He scored 18 points in 37 games, enough to gain another roster spot for Team Slovakia, this time, for the 2010 Vancouver Games.
Slovakia was slotted into Group B with Russia, the Czech Republic and Latvia. They placed third in the standings after going 1-1-0-1, beating Russia 2-1 and Latvia 6-0, but losing to the Czechs 3-1. Zednik had a goal and an assist in the match against Latvia and those would be the only two points he’d tally in the preliminary round.
In the qualification playoffs, Slovakia snuck past Norway with a 4-3 win, then upset Sweden by the same margin to make the semifinal. Zednik and company were sent to the bronze medal game, losing to the eventual gold medal winners Canada by a score of 3-2.
Finland won the bronze medal match 5-3, dispatching Slovakia home without any hardware. What Zednik did accomplish, however, was two goals and four assists, good enough for a 0.857 pace in his six matches. He wrapped up his career in the Swedish Elitserien league, totaling five points in 18 games. Unfortunately, he never won a medal at the Olympics, but contributing as well as he did a year after a near-death experience on the ice is no small feat.
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