Roman Čechmánek

Czech professional ice hockey goaltender Roman Čechmánek played in his home country and in the National Hockey League (NHL) in the United States. Domestically Čechmánek was primarily associated with VHK Vsetín and also played for the Philadelphia Flyers and Los Angeles Kings in the NHL. He also enjoyed success with the national team, winning three gold medals at the World Championships.

After starting out as a junior player Čechmánek joined VHK Vsetín for the 1993–94 season and remained with the club until 2000. He was then part of the NHL entry draft in 2000 where he joined the Philadelphia Flyers, playing with them for three seasons. His final season in the NHL was with the Los Angeles Kings. For his performance in the 2002–03 season Čechmánek was the joint-winner of the William M. Jennings Trophy for conceding the fewest goals. Once he returned to Europe he played for several Czech sides, most notably HC Oceláři Třinec, in addition to spending a season with the Hamburg Freezers in Germany, and a season with Linköpings HC in Sweden.

On the international stage Čechmánek played for the Czechoslovak junior team, winning a silver at the 1989 European Junior Championships and a bronze at the 1991 World Junior Championships. For the Czech Republic national team he won three gold medals at the World Championships (1996, 1999, 2000), and bronze twice (1997–98). Čechmánek was part of the Czech Republic’s teams for the 1998 Nagano Olympics and the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, with the team winning gold in 1998. He did not play in any matches at the Olympics, however, serving as the backup goaltender to Dominik Hašek.