Height: 6-2
Weight: 210
Shoot: L
Born: 14 Mar 1944, Hodonin Czechoslovakia
| 
| 
|
Regular Season & Playoff Scoring Record (key)
| year | team | |||||||||||
| 1974-75 | Toronto | |||||||||||
| 1975-76 | Toronto | |||||||||||
| 1976-77 | Birmingham | |||||||||||
| 1977-78 | Birmingham | |||||||||||
| Totals: |
• Winner, Paul Deneau Trophy (Most Gentlemanly), 1975-76.
• Member, Czechoslovakia Olympic Team, 1968 & 1972.
• Member, Hockey Hall of Fame.
|
Big Ned: Toro's Find Behind Iron Curtain • by Reyn Davis • The Sporting News • January 3, 1976
Mention the name Vaclav Nedomansky in Prague, Czechoslovakia, and you get two basic reactions. "He wasn't a team man," said one official important enough to draw a nod instead of a gun out of a chubby soldier's holster as he stood guard at the Prague arena. Hooligans, you know. "Some players liked Nedomansky, some didn't. And he always played his best games when he knew the professionals were watching. He did not play so well in Czechoslovakia." Just 46 goals in 44 games in his last season. Then ask a cab drive: "Nedo?" he says, eyes sparkling. "Very great player. Play in professionals now. He's a very good professional. No?" Now 31, Nedomansky is just under a goal-a-game pace for the Toronto's Toros. He had 27 goals after 28 games for the last-place Toros in the WHA's Canadian Division. A year ago, Bobby Hull scored his 28th and 29th goals here in Toronto in the Winnipeg Jets' 28th game. Hull finished the season with 77 goals in 78 games, a remarkable feat. Nedo's chief weapon is a wrist shot that is said to be the best in the game. He rips it, usually low and destined for a corner of the net. It leaves his stick so quickly he often catches goaltenders off guard. This is Nedomansky's second pro season, following his clandestine departure from Czechoslovakia in the summer of 1974, He was holidaying in Switzerland when he decided to stay in the West, but first there were negotiations, in and out of Czechoslovakia, with the Toros. He defected, and in doing so surrendered the privilege of ever going back to his country. With him was a friend and teammate, Richard Farda. Now Farda, who barely got off the bench last season, is playing the right side on the same line as Big Ned, with a 21-year-old center, Jeff Jacques. Big Ned — Nedomansky loves the nickname. He has a sharp sense of humor. He is easy going and a staunch family man. English was a painfully difficult language at first. But he has progressed to the point where he can converse easily, though not as fluently as he would like. His pretty wife, Vera, speaks "immaculate" English. A gifted seamstress, she makes all of her own clothes. She also has a green thumb which she intends to put to use next spring when the Nedomanskys leave their luxury apartment for a house with a challenging landscape. Big Ned, himself, looks and dresses and drives as if he were born and raised in Canada or America. He is a very fashionable dresser, always well groomed, and he drives a Thunderbird. Last summer, the Nedomanskys returned to Europe for a vacation, though stopping short of Czechoslovakia or East Germany. When they returned to Toronto, Big Ned told a friend, "It's good to be back home." Naturally, he still dreams of going back to Czechoslovakia, where his parents live, along with many of his friends. But he can't, not without losing almost everything he has and facing certain arrest. This fall, Nedomansky was very hesitant to follow the Toros for an exhibition series in Finland, a country friendly to Russia. He feared he might be kidnapped. Back in Bratislava, his hometown, news filters back telling of Big Ned's accomplishments — despite the fact he is ignored by the tightly-controlled press in Czechoslovakia. No one is surprised he is doing well. As a tennis player, Nedomansky was a junior champion who has beaten the Czech international star, Jan Kodes. He played in the Czechoslovakian national soccer league. But for seven years he pleaded with political-hockey officials to permit him to go to North America to play professionally. Each year they promised his chance was imminent. Al 30, Big Ned decided he had waited long enough. There is a strong suspicion that the Czechs are now more guarded than ever aboul granting their top athletes the luxury of frequent off-season trips out of the country for vacations. It is true Nedomansky has not made it any easier on the ones he left behind. Bur the Czechs are also cognizant of the money that might be made if they did permit seasonal "leaves" for their older hockey stars — say, 30 and over — and charged the professionals a stiff levy for taking these junkets. Then some funds would be available to plow back into the club from which he graduated. Just as long as the Czechs are reasonably sure a player has contributed to the fulfillment of national athletic ambitions, that is. Despite attempts to downgrade him in Czechoslovakia, Big Ned is a super hockey player. |
|
Excerpts from Pro Hockey, WHA 1975-76 (by Dan Proudfoot)
Big Ned didn't loom too large in 1974-75 in the opinion of most Toronto Toro fans, but the fact remains he ended up with 41 goals and 40 assists, the third best total among Toros. He must have been doing something properly. Nedomansky left Czechoslovakia, where he had been an international star for years, to join the Toros. His reputation, his size (202 pounds, 6-foot-1) and his often relaxed play added up to considerable scepticism on the part of the fans. Nedomansky was his own critic when he was slow to score. "Out of three good chances, I feel a competent player should score," he said. "Ihere have been games in which I've had four or five chances and haven't scored. But the important thing is that you are making chances." The challenge of pacing himself over the long professional schedule, with the travelling to which he was unaccustomed, may have caused Ned as much trouble as any part of the game itself. Certainly, he knows Toros expect more, more often, in 1975-76. |
|
Excerpts from Zander Hollander Complete Hockey Handbook, 1975-76 (by Reyn Davis)
Czechoslovakia's greatest hockey player ... Came to Toros in series of intriguing international moves ... Nicknamed "Big Ned" ... Played eleven seasons with Czech Nationals and was named MVP in 1973 World Tournament ... Played soccer in Czech National League and is former Czechoslovakian junior tennis champ ... Wrist shot is considered as hard as anybody's in hockey ... Drove an economical little compact for a while in Toronto, then succumbed to temptation and bought a big Thunderbird ... Leading scorer for Slovan Bratislava in 1973-74. |
|
Excerpts from Pro Hockey, WHA 1976-77 (by Dan Proudfoot)
If Vaclav Nedomansky, the Czech star who left his homeland to turn pro, had been with a contending team in 1975-76, he might have been the top goal scorer in the WHA. As is, stuck with the Toros and their state of depression, he still hit for 56 goals, third highest in the WHA. Ned was responsible for lifting the team out of the doldrums, however briefly, when he scored his 50th goal. His teammates came storming off the bench to congratulate him, a moment remarkable only because Toros made a practice of seldom showing any enthusiasm or team spirit. The big center is especially accurate with his wrist shot, so that he's deadly when he gets the puck in the goal mouth. In one game he shot five goals, something only two other WHA players equalled. "We like to play him with Richard Farda, his old teammate from the Czech Nationals," says manager-coach Gilles Leger, "because they throw short passes around so well. What we want as the third man on the line is a winger who's good at digging the puck out of the corners." |
_______________________________________
Home • Book • Credits & Legal Stuff
(c) Scott Surgent