Marian Hossa - the legendary Slovak hockey player, three- time Stanley Cup winner. Spent over 1000 matches in the regular championship of the NHL, in which he scored more than 500 goals.
Sports biography
Marian Hossa, whose photo can be seen in the article, was born in 1979 in the small Czechoslovak town of Old Lubovna. After the collapse of Czechoslovakia, this territory fell into Slovakia.
From an early age, Marian Hossa showed great abilities in hockey. Thanks to hard training and skill, the young talent began to be attracted to matches for various national teams of his country, starting from junior and ending with national.
As part of the main team, Hoss participated in four winter Olympics. The most successful tournament was in Vancouver, Canada - there the Slovaks stopped one step away from the medal, taking fourth place. In addition to the Winter Olympics, Marian is a participant in seven World Championships.
Career in the NHL
When the young hockey player turned 18 years old, he decided to continue his career in the most prestigious hockey league in the world - the NHL. In 1997, as a result of the draft, Marian Hossa joined the Ottawa Senators team. But there was no place for a beginner in the main team, so the young Slovak moved to the Portland club “Winter Hawks”, playing in the Western Hockey League. For “Hawks,” Hoss played 53 games, in which he scored 85 points. According to the results of the regular season, Marian was recognized as the best rookie of the tournament.
At the end of next year, the hockey player returns to the “Senators” from Ottawa, for whom he played until 2004.
In 2000, Marian Hossa became a participant in the tragic incident. During a game against the Toronto Maple Leaves, he accidentally hit a club in the face of defending rival Brian Berard. The injury was so serious that the victim nearly lost his eye and did not end his sports career because of this. Hossa visited Bernard in the hospital and sincerely apologized for his act. Fortunately, Berard quickly recovered and soon returned to the ice.
The 2000/01 regular season was a triumph for Hossa: having scored 75 points (32 goals and 43 assists), he became the second most successful player in the Senators, losing only to Alexei Yashin. Thanks to this, he was invited to participate in the NHL All-Star Game, and also signed a new 8.5-million contract with his club.
The 2002/03 season showed how effective Marian Hossa can be. The hockey player set a personal record by scoring 45 goals and 35 assists, which allowed him to again be included in the NHL All-Star game.
After the contract expired, Hossa returned to Europe for a short while, where he managed to play in the Slovak and Swedish hockey leagues.
Star return
Shortly before the start of the 2005/06 season, hockey fans of the most prestigious hockey league had a pleasant surprise - Marian Hossa was returning to them. The NHL has always remained a priority tournament for him. Returning to the Ottawa Senators, Hossa soon got into an Atlanta Thrashers club exchange, where he managed to update his personal performance record to 92 points.
But already in the next season, Marian improved his performance, having managed to score 100 points: he scored 43 goals and gave 57 assists. This allowed him to take part in the NHL All-Star Game again.
In February 2008, Marian Hossa moved to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Despite the injury at the beginning of the season, his performance is impressive - 66 points, the Stanley Cup final and getting into the composition of the participants in the NHL All-Star Game.
The management of “Penguins” offered the Slovak hockey player a contract for 5 years, according to which Hossa would earn 7 million a year, but he refused.
The summer of 2008 brought great changes for the Hossa. He signed a one-year contract with the current Stanley Cup holder , Detroit Red Wings, where he received the 81st game number. On October 18, Marian managed to excel for the first time in the new team.
In March 2009, Hossa received a serious neck injury after crashed his head into the ice arena enclosure. From the site he was carried out on a stretcher. But even this incident did not prevent him from becoming a top scorer with 40 goals. Also this season, his team reached the Stanley Cup finals, where they lost to the “Penguins” from Pittsburgh.
At the end of the contract in 2009, Hossa signed a contract with the Chicago Black Hawks, calculated for 12 years with an annual salary of 5.2 million dollars.
With the new team, the Slovak extreme forward three times won the Stanley Cup - in 2010, 2013 and 2015. In 2012, he again received an invitation to the NHL All-Star Game. March 3, 2013 the player celebrated a sports anniversary - he played in the thousandth game in the NHL.
Personal life
Marian Hossa is not one of those athletes who flaunt their personal lives. It is known that in 2010 he was married to Yana Ferova, who bore him two daughters - Mia and Zoya.
Marian’s father, Frantisek Hossa, was a famous hockey coach who once headed the Slovak national team.
The younger brother Marcel followed in the footsteps of Marian. At one time he played in the NHL and the KHL, and now stands for the Czech team Skoda Pilsen.