Ľubomír Vaic

Ľubomír Vaic (born 6 March 1977) is a Slovak former professional ice hockey player who spent most of his career in the Slovak Extraliga. After several years in Slovakia Vaic joined the Vancouver Canucks in 1997-98 and played 9 games for them over two seasons. He returned to Europe in 2000 and continued to play in various leagues before retiring in 2017. Internationally Vaic played for the Slovakian national team at several tournaments at both the junior and senior level and won a bronze medal at the 2003 World Championship.

Biography As a youth, Vaic played in the 1991 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a minor ice hockey team from Poprad.

Drafted by the Canucks 227th overall in the 1996 NHL entry draft, Vaic came to North America a year later. He scored 27 points in 50 games for the Syracuse Crunch, Vancouver's AHL affiliate. He also earned a 5-game call-up to the Canucks, where he scored his only NHL goal, and added an assist.

Vaic returned to Slovakia for another year before returning to the Canucks organization for the 1999–2000 season. However, he would find himself in much the same situation, scoring 42 points in 63 games for Syracuse, and being held pointless in 4 NHL games in Vancouver. Following the season he returned to Europe, signing with Eisbären Berlin.

Vaic became something of a nomad, appearing with five clubs in five different major European leagues over the next five seasons. He was, however, a consistent offensive performer, and helped Metallurg Magnitogorsk to the Russian league championship in 2003–04. He would finally find a long-term home in the Czech Extraliga, after signing with HC Bílí Tygři Liberec in 2004. In 2005–06, he finished 2nd in scoring in the Extraliga and helped Liberec to the league championship. At the end of the 2006–07 season he joined HC Sparta Prague.

Vaic has appeared in 9 NHL games, recording a goal and an assist for two points. He has also represented Slovakia at three World Championships, winning a silver medal in 2000 and a bronze medal in 2003.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs Regular seasonPlayoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1993–94 ŠKP Poprad SVK 28 10 6 16 10 — — — — — 1994–95 ŠKP Poprad SVK 20 5 4 9 2 — — — — — 1995–96 Košice SVK 49 7 26 33 16 — — — — — 1995–96 VTJ Spišská Nová Ves SVK-2 2 0 2 2 4 — — — — — 1996–97 Košice SVK 43 15 12 27 28 — — — — — 1997–98 Vancouver Canucks NHL 5 1 1 2 2 — — — — — 1997–98 Syracuse Crunch AHL 50 12 15 27 22 3 0 0 0 4 1998–99 Košice SVK 46 22 25 47 50 — — — — — 1999–00 Vancouver Canucks NHL 4 0 0 0 0 — — — — — 1999–00 Syracuse Crunch AHL 63 13 29 42 42 4 0 3 3 8 2000–01 Eisbären Berlin DEL 26 1 6 7 70 — — — — — 2001–02 Vsetín CZE 34 10 18 28 28 — — — — — 2001–02 SaiPa FIN 22 7 4 11 30 — — — — — 2002–03 SaiPa FIN 56 16 23 39 28 — — — — — 2003–04 Metallurg Magnitogorsk RUS 49 12 14 26 24 12 2 3 5 16 2004–05 Bílí Tygři Liberec CZE 51 13 14 27 62 12 4 5 9 12 2005–06 Bílí Tygři Liberec CZE 52 20 32 52 101 5 0 4 4 6 2006–07 Bílí Tygři Liberec CZE 45 9 9 18 48 7 1 1 2 6 2007–08 Sparta Prague CZE 52 10 9 19 69 4 0 0 0 0 2008–09 Slovan Bratislava SVK 55 14 37 51 40 12 2 7 9 16 2009–10 Slovan Bratislava SVK 46 15 39 54 30 15 5 14 19 20 2010–11 Slovan Bratislava SVK 33 11 12 23 43 — — — — — 2010–11 VIK Västerås SWE-2 12 5 6 11 8 — — — — — 2011–12 Poprad SVK 54 18 33 51 59 6 1 3 4 6 2012–13 Spišská Nová Ves SVK-2 30 20 20 40 40 — — — — — 2012–13 Poprad SVK 25 7 12 19 37 7 0 2 2 27 2013–14 Poprad SVK 24 6 6 12 4 5 0 2 2 2 2013–14 Spišská Nová Ves SVK-2 1 0 1 1 2 — — — — — 2014–15 Spišská Nová Ves SVK-2 42 13 33 46 69 13 6 8 14 10 2016–17 Spišská Nová Ves SVK-2 43 13 28 41 88 3 1 1 2 2 SVK totals 423 130 212 342 319 45 8 28 36 71 NHL totals 9 1 1 2 2 — — — — —

International