Roman Turek

Roman Turek (born May 21, 1970) is a Czech former professional ice hockey goaltender who played for the Dallas Stars, St. Louis Blues and Calgary Flames in a nine-year National Hockey League (NHL) career. He last played in the Czech Extraliga for HC České Budějovice.

Playing career

Dallas Stars Drafted 113th overall by the Minnesota North Stars in the 1990 NHL entry draft on June 16, 1990, Turek moved with the franchise to Dallas, where he initially played as the third-string goaltender behind Andy Moog and Artūrs Irbe before serving as the backup to Ed Belfour. He won a Stanley Cup in this role in 1999. Despite his backup role, he achieved international glory with the Czech Republic national team, backstopping them to a gold medal at the 1996 World Championships. In this year, he also played in Germany for the Nürnberg Ice Tigers.

St. Louis Blues The Stars, fearing they would lose Turek to the Atlanta Thrashers in the upcoming expansion draft, traded him to the St. Louis Blues in the 1999 off-season on June 19, 1999, hours after winning the Stanley Cup Final. Turek finally got his chance to shine as he topped the league with seven shutouts and won the William M. Jennings Trophy in his first season. He helped the Blues to the Presidents' Trophy that year and the Blues entered the playoffs with high expectations. However, St. Louis was eliminated in seven games by the eighth-seeded San Jose Sharks, with some aggravated Blues fans pinning responsibility on Turek because of some soft goals he allowed, including one in game seven that was fired from centre ice by Sharks captain Owen Nolan. However, he played a second season with the Blues while being challenged for the starting position by backup Brent Johnson. He put up good numbers again, this time helping the Blues reach the playoffs as the fourth seed, where they again faced the Sharks in the first round. This time, Turek helped the Blues eliminate the Sharks in six games and then helped them sweep the Dallas Stars, his former team, in the second round. However, in the third round against the Colorado Avalanche, soft goals plagued him again (including one scored after an attempt to scoop the puck into his glove with his stick) and again in some fan circles bore the brunt of the blame for the Blues' third round 4–1 ouster.

Calgary Flames

In the off-season, Turek was traded to the Calgary Flames on June 23, 2001.

In the 2003–04 season, Turek's status as the Flames' starting goaltender was altered drastically when, following an injury to Turek, Darryl Sutter traded a conditional draft pick to the San Jose Sharks for Miikka Kiprusoff. Though he struggled in San Jose, Kiprusoff's stellar performances in Calgary relegated Turek to the bench. However, Turek was a dependable backup, as Kiprusoff led the Flames to the 2004 Stanley Cup Final against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

In 2004, Turek restructured his contract to substantially drop his salary from $5 million plus bonuses for the 2004–05 and 2005–06 seasons. The restructuring brought his salary to between $1 million and $2 million, with potential earnings relying heavily on performance bonuses. The restructuring saved the Calgary Flames organization between $3 million and $4 million in the 2004–05 season.

Turek announced his retirement from the NHL on August 9, 2005.

Mask design Turek's masks all featured Iron Maiden mascot "Eddie". The artwork was done by Ray Bishop of Bishop Custom Designs.

International play 1994 Played for Czech Republic at 1994 Winter Olympics 1994 Played for Czech Republic at World Championships 1996 Won gold medal for Czech Republic at World Championships 1996 Played for Czech Republic at World Cup of Hockey

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs Regular season Playoffs Season Team League GP W L T OTL MIN GA SO GAA SV% GP W L MIN GA SO GAA SV% 1987–88 TJ Motor České Budějovice CSSR-JR — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — 1988–89 VTJ Písek CSSR-2 — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — 1989–90 VTJ Písek CSSR-2 — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — 1990–91 TJ Motor České Budějovice CSSR 26 — — — — 1244 98 0 4.73 .880 — — — — — — — — 1991–92 TJ Motor České Budějovice CSSR-2 — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — 1992–93 HC České Budějovice CSSR 43 — — — — 2555 121 — 2.84 .923 — — — — — — — — 1993–94 HC České Budějovice CZE 44 23 15 6 — 2532 109 3 2.58 .927 3 0 3 180 11 0 3.67 .866 1994–95 HC České Budějovice CZE 44 20 18 6 — 2586 118 2 2.74 .920 9 5 4 501 26 0 3.11 .915 1995–96 Nürnberg Ice Tigers DEL 48 — — — — 2787 154 — 3.32 — 5 — — 338 14 — 2.48 — 1996–97 Dallas Stars NHL 6 3 1 0 — 263 9 0 2.06 .930 — — — — — — — — 1996–97 Michigan K-Wings IHL 29 8 13 4 — 1555 77 0 2.97 .905 — — — — — — — — 1997–98 Dallas Stars NHL 23 11 10 1 — 1324 49 1 2.22 .901 — — — — — — — — 1997–98 Michigan K-Wings IHL 2 1 1 0 — 119 5 0 2.52 .928 — — — — — — — — 1998–99 Dallas Stars NHL 26 16 3 3 — 1382 48 1 2.08 .915 — — — — — — — — 1999–00 St. Louis Blues NHL 67 42 15 9 — 3960 129 7 1.95 .912 7 3 4 415 19 0 2.75 .882 2000–01 St. Louis Blues NHL 54 24 18 10 — 3232 123 6 2.28 .901 14 9 5 908 31 0 2.05 .919 2001–02 Calgary Flames NHL 69 30 28 11 — 4081 172 5 2.53 .906 — — — — — — — — 2002–03 Calgary Flames NHL 65 27 29 9 — 3822 164 4 2.57 .902 — — — — — — — — 2003–04 Calgary Flames NHL 18 6 11 0 — 1031 40 3 2.33 .914 1 0 0 19 0 0 0.00 1.000 2004–05 HC České Budějovice CZE-2 15 13 2 0 — 859 23 3 1.61 .924 6 6 0 360 3 4 0.50 .979 2005–06 HC České Budějovice CZE 31 15 11 5 — 1832 69 1 2.26 .924 10 5 5 618 19 1 1.84 .941 2006–07 HC Mountfield CZE 35 19 16 — 0 1995 88 2 2.65 .911 11 5 6 609 29 1 2.86 .914 2007–08 HC Mountfield CZE 42 29 13 — 0 2494 89 6 2.14 .929 11 7 4 641 17 3 1.59 .945 2008–09 HC Mountfield CZE 44 20 24 — 0 2463 104 4 2.53 .921 — — — — — — — — 2009–10 HC Mountfield CZE 38 14 24 — 0 2286 109 4 2.86 .906 5 2 3 298 22 0 4.43 .872 CZE totals 278 140 121 17 0 16,188 686 22 2.54 .920 49 24 25 2,847 124 5 2.61 .919 NHL totals 328 159 115 43 — 19,094 734 27 2.31 .907 22 12 9 1,343 50 0 2.23 .908

International Year Team Event GP W L T MIN GA SO GAA SV% 1988 Czechoslovakia EJC 5 — — — 273 9 — 1.98 — 1989 Czechoslovakia WJC 7 4 1 1 390 16 0 2.46 — 1990 Czechoslovakia WJC 6 4 2 0 326 14 0 2.58 .906 1994 Czech Republic OLY 2 2 0 0 120 3 0 1.50 .931 1994 Czech Republic WC 2 — — — 120 4 0 2.00 .892 1995 Czech Republic WC 6 3 3 0 359 9 2 1.50 .939 1996 Czech Republic WC 8 7 0 1 480 15 1 1.88 .952 1996 Czech Republic WCH 3 0 3 0 82 10 0 7.32 .833 Junior totals 18 — — — 989 39 — 2.37 — Senior totals 21 — — — 1161 41 3 2.12 —

Awards and honours Award YearNHL William M. Jennings Trophy 1999 (shared with Ed Belfour), 2000 Stanley Cup champion 1999 All-Star Game 2000 Second All-Star team 2000International Best Goaltender 1996 All-Star team 1995, 1996